The Journey Continues

Well, good news! They have started to build our kitchen. We may have a counter after all! And if we are lucky a few cupboards. Teagan's rat shower (as we call it) was ripped out today and will be replaced with a tile shower. We found the lovely home of about 5 rats under the shower consisting of old socks, medical gloves and scraps! (If you were on a previous work team and have lost a sock...let Laurens know and he will send it to you) Laurens has been hard at work alongside the Haitian construction team learning his Creole.

I have spent the last few days working along side the MD's in the clinic as well as visiting sick children in the villages and orphanages. I can only say that the days have been exhausting. I am getting used to the Haiti heat and boy do I sleep good at night!

I find that everyday, I have new stories to tell and I know that it will continue to be a regular thing. Let me again tell you of 2:

The other day right at the end of clinic in the village a mom came with her little girl. We were almost completely packed up, it was getting dark, and we we about to jump in the truck to get home before dark. She looked like any other girl we had seen and we had to stop clinic sometime, so we told her we were sorry but we had to go. Then her mom lifted her shirt up. What I saw both intrigued me and shocked me.

 This little girl had what appeared to be at first glance a very large tumor on her back. As a Doctor of Chiropractic, I could not turn my back on this little girl, I went over to feel. I was amazed to feel that the mass was rock hard and appeared to be a deformity of her spinal column (severe kyphosis)! Unfortunately, without x-ray or MRI to confirm, there was not much I could do. We asked the mom if another doctor had ever looked at it before and she answered, "yes, but they say there is nothing they can do". This is true. For this lady, there is nothing they can do. She can not even afford the first step.. a set of plain films. The sadness and intense worry in her eyes was caught on film in the picture you see here.

This is where angel Angie steps in. Angie is a dear nurse that I have worked with this week from the US and she put forth the money to pay for the x-ray and the transportation to Port -au- Prince to get it done. We have now sent the money and requisition with the mom and all we can do now is pray that this mom, who has lost everything in the flood uses the money to get the x-ray instead of much needed food or clothing. Regardless of her choice, it was money well spent. I hope to have the film in my hands soon to know whether there is help to be had for this little 6 year old child.

The second story is that of a 17 month old baby. She came to the clinic today because she was "sick". This poor soul, was all of 10 pounds (the size of Bridgely when he was born!). She should have been walking, talking and laughing by now and she could barely lift her head. She had depigmentation all over her body, most of her orange hair had fallen out. Her legs were swollen from cell lysis, her skin sunken so you could see the outline of her skull. I have not included her picture as I have only taken it for medical purposes, but she was the worst case of malnutrition we have ever seen. Her mom only feeds her one time every 3 days .... if she has food.

As a rule, I always "keep it together" as a health practitioner but I almost lost my composure on this one. I think it was the horse desperate cry the baby had that clenched my heart. I pray for her tonight and thank God that this baby will improve with the food we bought her and the vitamins and iron we gave her. I can only pray that it lasts. 

We love our work here and we thank God for this opportunity.

Dr. Cheryl