July 2

2 Jul 2009 – Day 22

Greetings in the name of the LORD, a strong tower.

With Russ gone to the Mercy Ship in Benin and Dr. Martin still not here yet from his one week airline delay, its been a busy week of every other day on call again. But last night I slept the night through with no phone calls! The last several have been filled with moto/car accidents and death so to have everyone doing well is truly a blessing.
An interesting experience Monday night on call. We had admitted a sick, sick old man in the morning. Severe pnueumonia and diarrhea, as well as several months of wasting. The story was typical for AIDS so we ordered the HIV test as well. It was positive which meant his pneumonia was likely TB so we ordered that as well. Ephraim and I talked with the old man mid afternoon about his HIV test and his prognosis (slow recovery, enter government AIDS treatment program, etc..) and he expressed his fear about this diagnosis. Apparently a man in his village also received this diagnosis and died. We shared some hope that our IV fluids and medicines could treat his current sickness and he could get help from the government. Then we talked of Jesus and his frequent reminders (commands?admonitions?) to “fear not” and “take heart” (I have overcome the world). The man was a Christian so we prayed together. It was actually a brief but sweet time of fellowship.
Numerous times throughout the rest of the afternoon the two daughters asked to take him home to die. I talked with them at length about giving the medicines time to work (at least more than 4 hours, please…….). Well, sure enough, around 2am, the nurse called because he was much worse. When I arrived he was near death and the daughters were visibly upset (because he was dying or because the yovo doctor was so stubborn?). It is a terrible thing to die in a hospital, I think partly because taxi drivers charge exorbitant fees to transport dead people (40,000-50,000 cfa ($80-$100) versus 3,500($7) – the average income is about $1 a day (500 cfa) so the regular fare is about a week’s wages!). I asked about transport options now but because it was the middle of the night it would also cost a lot more. The nurses called around and we found a taxi driver willing to take the family for 18,000 cfa ($36). I volunteered to pay the fare, we asked him to come quickly. We disconnected the oxygen and carried the man (quickly) out the door and up the steps to the taxi – as he gasped for air I sensed the Togolese nurses actually quicken their pace to a near run. We got him in the taxi alive and off they went. The family was exceedingly grateful and thankful – and here I was feeling bad about keeping him. I found out later he died not 15 minutes into the 2 hour trip – but considered here to be a successful evacuation. I’ve been thinking about him a lot. I was glad we had a chance to pray together, and I was glad we could serve the family and help them avoid a monster bill, but how different from medical ministry in the States! One could make a compassion ministry out of paying cab fare for families of deceased patients.



Akpe na Mawu (We thank God)

Yours in the service of our LORD,

CADT (The Robertsons)