"Normal"

A “normal” work day here is never normal as I would think of it in the US. On a “normal” shift in the US I may see 2-3 patients an hour, admit a few and discharge most. 

Here when I am “on shift” I round on all of the patients and then take care of any urgent medical patients that may come in. That includes NICU, peds, peds ICU, medical and medical ICU. It is definitely nothing like my days at work in the states. 

Our hospital is so very heavy towards Peds that on any given day 90% of the patients I see in the hospital will be pediatric. 

With that and it being malaria season, the hospital has been pretty full lately.  Malaria is one of those things that I think we take for granted living in the US. We don’t have it so it probably just doesn’t register in our minds. Malaria is contracted by mosquitos. You get bitten and then the malaria parasite attacks your red blood cells. The malaria parasites lyse the red blood cells that they attack causing, at times, dramatic anemia. It can also get into the brain causing cerebral malaria which is severe. Many kids with malaria develop seizures so one thing I know very well is dosing of all the seizure medications that we have. 

I think the best description I can think of is malaria is a thief of life. A healthy 2 year old playing one day, has cerebral malaria 3 days later and is either dead or now has cerebral palsy because he seized for so long and for so hard that his brain just cannot recover. I have seen kids come is so pale with anemia that they need multiple transfusions just to get their blood counts up to a number that doesn’t make my US medical mind cringe because it is so low. 

How do I walk in there every day and know that today I may have a child arrive at reception without a heartbeat but still so warm that she had to have just died on the way. 

I do because there are also so many stories of cases where God intervened though me or the rest of the medical team and they turned around. Kids with Hct of 5 that went home the next day after a transfusion and are fine. A woman in her 30s with a new baby that when she came was so swollen that when starting an IV, water came out. After beating our heads against a wall for a few days we starting down a plan of antibiotics and steroids and she was discharged with a smile and back to normal. 

The only way I can do it is knowing that whatever part I play, in restoring life or watching it leave, the Lord is also painting a story in the life of that family. A testimony that I will most likely never know of hopefully how they saw their loved one cared for with excellence and dignity regardless of the outcome. The Lord has used cases here of death and restoration of life to impact many. We have many village Bible studies that have been established solely as a link to a patient or family member of a patient at this hospital. Those are the truths that keep me going. Please pray that the Lord continues to use me and everyone on the medical team to impact the lives of our patients and families. 

I love music. I don’t sing well but I love it anyway.
I will leave you with the lyrics to a song that has become a go to song for me lately. Such good words. I encourage you to listen to it. https://youtu.be/FP003C5dP3k

Defender by Rita Springer
You go before I know
That You've gone to win my war
You come back with the head of my enemy
You come back and You call it my victory
You go before I know
That You've gone to win my war
Your love becomes my greatest defense
It leads me from the dry wilderness

All I did was praise
All I did was worship
All I did was bow down
All I did was stay still

Hallelujah, you have saved me
So much better Your way
Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better Your way

When I thought I lost me
You knew where I left me
You reintroduced me to your love
You picked up all my pieces
Put me back together
You are the defender of my heart
When I thought I lost me
You knew where I left me
You reintroduced me to your love
You picked up all my pieces
Put me back together
You are the defender of my heart

Goat, sheep, or child?

We play this game in Togo. We will be sitting in our house and you hear a sound and you have to decide if it’s a sheep, a goat, or a child. Sounds pretty easy but actually they can all sound pretty similar. 

I have been back in Togo for a little over a week now….there are so many familiar things here that are just so foreign to the things that happen in the States. I was asked so many times when I was Stateside about day to day life and about living here that I thought I would try to explain as much as I can as since I just returned all of the “shocking” things are still fresh in my mind. 

It is the rainy season in Mango, which means it rains almost every day.  This gives cooler temperatures but turns the dirt roads into ever-changing rivers and gullys. I ride a moto here everywhere I go so the drives are never boring. There have already been quite a few times of sliding or slipping trying to navigate these roads but so far I have managed to remain upright.  Oh I haven’t even mentioned the constant worry of goats, chickens, or sheep that are always in the roads and threaten to dart in front at any given time. It’s always entertaining to say the least. 

I also moved into a new place this time around and so this past week has been filled with unpacking, washing, and rearranging. I started back to work to this week too,  so no rest for the weary. One of the doctor’s said, “Oh it’s like riding a bike.” To which I quickly replied except the bike has a flat tire J. So here I am, attending C sections, doing exchange transfusions, treating seizing children. All just a touch out of my norm of ER medicine at home. It keeps me humble that’s for sure. I wouldn’t trade it because by caring for patients in the hospital gives me the opportunity every day to show a patient, a family member, someone who Jesus is. 

But really the sweetest times since my return have been the reunions.

As I am sure most of you remember, there was a sweet, sweet child (nicknamed “puddles”) here that died that me and another doctor had cared for for many months. Just before I left for the States, a Bible study was started in the village where this child’s family lives.  Also, “puddles” mom found out she was pregnant again just before I left as well. I prayed so fervently for her to have a good pregnancy and to have a healthy child. Well, I received a photo in June that she had another boy and had named him Soloman. Needless to say, I was excited to get back and to visit. 

Well a picture is worth a thousand words so…….

That smile is his brother’s smile for sure…..

I asked the chaplain that has been doing the Bible study in this village if he knew why she chose the name Soloman. This is definitely not a traditional name in their tribe. He said they chose it because in the Bible, when David lost a son and God gave him another one he called him Soloman. 

The Lord is moving in Togo folks…..this family had a great loss when “puddles” died and they are also a very dark and really demonic tribe so for Soloman to receive that name and for that reason is truly astounding. Deuteronomy 30:6 says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

So please join me in praying that the Lord would do just that so this family can truly love the Lord with all of their hearts. This study happens every Wednesday morning so please join me in praying for this sweet family and this sweet new boy.