August 13

13 Aout 2009 – Day 64

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to follow my laws. – Ezekiel 36: 26-27

More joys and sorrows, more hills and valley (…..and many many days on call!) I’ve been on call every other day for 2 weeks now and I’m counting the hours until Dr. Bont arrives on Sunday!

One of great joys here is seeing very sick patients get better. The ones that arrive in a coma, with troubled breathing patterns, where we explain to the family that the patient might not survive, we might pray with the family and try a few (the typical) medicines, but really their life is in God’s hands. The Pediatric ward was like that today. I was up much of the night trying to keep one of our 28 week premies alive, he died around 4am. But during rounds three of our comatose-seizing-with-malaria-one-vomit/aspiration-away-from-death children woke up! Yes, THREE. Synchronized healing. It was wonderful.
PE-5, a 2-year old, had only been deathly sick for one day – he was sitting up acting normal asking for food (I love when Quinine works that fast!).
PE-4 is the patient I mentioned last letter – 2 year old girl with malaria and seizures – the Moslem family I almost didn’t pray for because I was angry at faker-guy, but ended up praying with them later, with the echoes of “amen” from around the room. She has been in a coma ever since arrival (1 week). Her breathing had improved, her seizures had stopped, her kidney failure had reversed, but she just hadn’t woken up from her coma. Things had been looking dismal (the longer coma lasts the worse the prognosis), we had started tube feedings with water and then bouille (porridge) in preparation for having the family take her home. (Because of the absence of specialized rehabilitation facilities and the relatively steep cost of inpatient care, we try to get patients home as soon as we can. This often means families are responsible for Foley catheters, NG tube feedings, range of motion physical therapy and dressing changes. It involves a bit of teaching and lots of wishful thinking but works out well more often than I would expect. Luv is a good example of a positive outcome.) Well yesterday she opened her eyes for the first time and this morning the family called out to me (“Yovo! Yovo!”) to show she had pulled her NG tube out herself, was trying to sit up, and was looking around! I think she even had enough strength to glare at me (scary white person). I started clapping and praising God (akpe na mawu!) and we were all having a joyful time. (And I really mean “all”, the whole room grieved with the mom of the 28 weeker who died in the night, and the whole room celebrates with families when things go well.)
While we were standing there having joy, the mom of PE-3 started slapping me on the arm. “Yovo, Yovo!” PE-3 was another 2 year old girl in a coma from malaria and seizures. She arrived two days ago, so not as worrisome as PE-4 (but who am I kidding? If the kid’s in a coma, I’m worried! 2 days, 7 days, coma is coma!). PE-4 heard all the commotion, opened her eyes and was staring right at me! Sometimes a little joy is a good thing. It was refreshing after a tough week.

With Drs. Briggs and Ebersole gone I’ve tried my hand at ultrasounds to take the burden off Todd a little. Monday was my call day and I think we did six. Often they are fairly straightforward -- check pregnant moms for accurate dates, confirm twins and check women with fibroids in preparation for surgery. Fibroids are masses of muscle in the uterus that can be HUGE here, and very painful, and definitely decrease fertility. The surgeons try to remove them for infertile women who desire to become pregnant. Once we see one on ultrasound the next question is “Do you want to be pregnant?” Most do, of course, which makes the surgery more technical. If not, the treatment is just a hysterectomy. One of the ladies was in her mid-thirties and had no children. So I was a bit surprised when she said, “No” she did NOT want pregnancy. For the first time (it was a busy day) I turned and really looked at her and noticed how sad she appeared. Was she married? “Yes” What did her husband think? (The men have the money) (Now we get the real story….) She had been diagnosed with this fibroid 8 years ago at another hospital, had been told it would make pregnancy difficult, so the husband left her. Just left. No baby, no commitment. Gone. No wonder she looked so sad. What was different now? Now the fibroid was so painful she wanted it out. How very sad. Thanks be to God His faithfulness is true and His promises are forever……UN-like ours, yes?

Sunday night Cari and I shared our testimonies at the evening worship time. It was nice. We shared our slideshow from two years ago and I shared several life verses including the one above. Cari shared what God’s been teaching her about hospitality (did you know the word “hospital” comes from the Latin root?) Dan and Rachael Stoner arrived Sunday for a survey visit and gave their testimonies Tuesday at prayer meeting. They are pilots and have committed to the mission here. They are in the final phase – just need to raise support. It was great to hear about that part of the ministry – a plane here could open up all kinds of doors. We walked down to the hanger Tuesday and the boys got to sit inside the plane – a little 6 seater. Speaking of missionaries who could use our financial support (!) there is a surgeon and his wife in MI who are committed to a career here, but they still need to raise over half their support. The hospital could desperately use them, we’ve been without a full-time surgeon since Bob Cropsey left 7 years ago.

Anyone looking for a career missionary to support – to get magnet family pictures for the fridge, monthly prayer letters, and once-every-four-years visits from fatigued missionaries home on furlough? 
(Besides us, I mean?)

While I’m thinking about that, visits from friends and family back home can be an incredible encouragement to the missionaries out here. Anyone want to visit us while we’re on the field next summer? Your letters and messages have been a blessing for sure, thank you again to everyone who prays for us and writes to us, please don’t stop (but just in case some of you were feeling a prompting about international travel………)

We hope you are also well. The summer is winding down and school is near. We pray you find rest and peace solace in the presence of our LORD. Thankfully he has promised to save us from all our uncleanness! (Ez 36)

May you seek the LORD while he may yet be found. And mawu ne no kpuli wo (May God go with you).

Yours in the service of our LORD,

CADT (The Robertsons)