Sunday Snorkeling and Second dessert

Well, I leave on Friday and am excited to be with family again, yet feel like I am leaving another family here behind. I am oh so thankful that God brought me here and am hopeful that in His good will and timing I'll be back. The community, both within team Helene and on the island, has far surpassed my expectations. They have blessed my life in ways I cannot and will not forget.

We have a lot to be thankful for, as always. The meeting on Friday night with Team Helene and the community leaders went remarkably well. A trial still will likely happen, but fortunately, almost the whole community here is backing Team Helene. It's really complicated and is still a major prayer need.

Yesterday was a blast! We went to Church of God in the morning, where Sister Cheryl really shared her heart with the church. Then we spent the afternoon snorkeling out in the open sea - oh, what a wonderful place to be! (sorry, that was cheesy) The reef was even more beautiful than I remembered it, with huge schools of fish, a big spotted sting ray, starfish, and all sorts of colors. We came back to a FABULOUS Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, gravy, stuffin', green bean casserole, smashed taters, pecan pie, punkin' pie and ICE CREAM! Wow, I forgot how much I missed ice cream after 6 weeks of not having it! What a delightful meal, and wonderful company to share it with. Since we ate early, we ended up watching 2 episodes of "24" and then going down to the kitchen for second dessert! What a night! :) Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we watched 3 more episodes of "24" after that! Whew!

Today was busy - we had well over 20 patients with a large variety of conditions, including well pregnancy check-ups, hypertension, viruses, and arthritis. It was a pretty hot and tiring day, but we kept hydrated and happy nonetheless.

YAY FOR PICTURES! MORE PICTURES OF MY EXPERIENCES ARE NOW AT http://spu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008991&l=b9201&id=42901188.

The-Great-Jungle-Mud-Hike-Adventure

Imagine yourself swinging through the jungle on a vine like Tarzan (or Jane, if you prefer), drinking some tasty H20 from a vine, picking up mangos for later and trudging through a smelly swamp of mangroves wondering if you will be up to your waist in mud at any moment. These are just a few of many fun times we had today on our Great Jungle Mud Hike Adventure through the uncharted territory of Helene. Exciting? Absolutely.

Perhaps the coolest part was climbing into a bat cave, ever so quietly, and then shouting "hey!" No sooner did we have about 50 bats zooming over our ducked heads and out of the cave into the daylight. Ewings was our fearless guide, who kept us laughing and in suspense at every turn. Other images that come to mind: Barbed wire and butterflies. Big blue crabs. Snickers (the stray dog who nobody likes but she follows us around everywhere, anyways). Giant coral cliffs and conch shells. Coconut juice and sea grapes. Bathing in the clear blue sea. Ahhh, this is the life.

TGIF

Friday already! We had another great week. Best part of my week? A new addiction in the form of a TV series called "24". (Not really, but Jack Bauer is the new McGyver if you ask me.) Best part of my day? Seeing Papa Lee! He's back to Helene and he's just as talkative as ever, which means he's feeling good. He told us he is in no pain, plus he's no longer critical, which is wonderful. His daughter told us he has bladder cancer, which is not good news. However, I'm so glad he's pain free and looking better. Also, he's spiritually ready to go home to Heaven at any moment - only God knows how much longer we'll get to have him here. We had another fun rainstorm today. Looking at the sky it was like night and day - fluffy white clouds right next to dark rain clouds over the gorgeous Caribbean Sea. In clinic, we got to see lots of people, notably, Liorlyn came in. We are almost 100 percent certain she has a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) and are concerned about the clot migrating to the lungs to cause a PE. We gave her Aspirin 325mg/day and an injection of Lovenox (low molecular weight heparin). She's going off island tomorrow to get it checked out and further treated.

Major prayer for a meeting happening tonight with some of the community leaders regarding the future of the clinic. I shouldn't say much more than that.

That's all for now...we had a massive dance party here last night w/Brenda, Tisiana, Micheal, Jonathan (teenage islanders) and the team. Ewings is taking us on the Great Jungle Hike Adventure around the parameter of the island tomorrow! Oh, how I love this place!

My first SUTURING

I can't believe I left out my first suturing experience on Wednesday's post! Hansito came into the clinic having accidently sliced a deep cut into his thumb. I asked Mike, "are you going to suture that?" and he replied, "No, YOU'RE going to suture that." After recovering from slight shock, we prepared his finger with a digital block and donnned sterile gloves. Mike taught me well and I actually had fun sewing his finger back up. There was quite a bit of blood, but he was not in pain because the lido was doing its job. I would definitely not get that opportunity in the states!

Yeseterday it RAINED and it POURED RAIN. Plus, we had great lightning and rolling thunder to go along with it. It was amazing how fast, hard and big the rain drops came down. I couldn't resist going outside and playing in it for awhile. Thankfully, it slowed down by Bible study time at northside w/Liorlyn, Kiera, and her 1-month old, Kioli. We looked at Galatians 2 and it was just amazing. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (ch 2, v 20). I really can't describe the way I felt during those hours except to say that it was a "God moment." Liorlyn is so passionate about Christ and seeing her loved ones come to know Him. She loves this island and is brokenhearted over the drug and alcohol use here. She says she just doesn't understand how the most comfortable place to sit on the whole island is in a church, however, the bar is more crowded than that and there are no good places to sit there. She also told me about her mother, who died at 63 (before the clinic) because she was diabetic and her father couldn't make enough money to buy the proper meds she needed. How thankful she is for the clinic and the ability to get free meds from us. It's neat to hear how God has provided this place, and what conditions were like before. Liorlyn also had great words of encouragement and prayer for my life - about starting a new job and being a witness there, about how Daniel (in the Bible) had such boldness and faith, and a verse from Psalm 30, "...weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Amen and amen.

Thursday Thoughts...

Breesa died yesterday morning, but it was for the better because she was pretty mangled and it was pretty obvious that she was bleeding into her lungs.

I got really excited today and wanted to share about Ms. Betty. She's doing great - pressure 120/80, sugar around 160, AND her sacral wound has healed! We got to take the cath out today, which was celebrated with a "praise the Lord!" by her and us. Julianne and the others take such good care of her. Aside from that, we're still not sure if they'll get Papa Lee back here because the doctor needs to sign for his discharge is presently not there. I think I mentioned that he has prostate cancer and they decided not to operate. So sad, yet, he's had a long life and he's ready to see Jesus. It's been wonderful having the PA "Dr. Mike" and his wife, Sarah Voorhis, here. They love it so far and add so much to the team!

Wow, I'll be home in a little over a week! I'm both sad to be leaving but happy to be returning with such great experiences. I have learned so much by being here - meds, treatments, diagnoses - it's all so interesting. Yesterday, we saw people with cellulitis, mastitis, scabies and colds. Who would've thought that Head & Shoulders would be the most effective treatment of scabies? The Permethrin in it is the key ingredient! Alisa and I got the pray with Ruth, a Spanish-speaking woman who is really struggling right now because she is overjoyed about being preganant (3 mos), yet, her husband wants her to have an abortion. She refuses to do that, thankfully, but broke down crying in the clinic yesterday.

Even more, I've been learning about why God brought me here. At first, I thought my whole point in being here was to serve God. But, He has shown me that my purpose here was for God to love me, and for me to love God. I have had to step back from the business and distractions of life that I get caught up in all too often. I am so often more a human "doing" than a human "being." When that happens, I can easily forget that my primary purpose in life is to allow God to love me and to delight in that. Service is secondary to that relationship - and needs to flow completely from that, too. Otherwise, I'm just serving out of my own strength and not out of the love of Christ.

Breesa

Today we got to show Mike the island by going on our Tuesday home visits. Esley, a 30-year old man who is paraplegic, has yet another infection and we're worried about it moving to his kidneys. Because he is resistant to so many other antibiotics, we gave him Levoquin. I hope that treatment will help. We then visited Ms. Nella, who is a dear woman but wasn't very happy with me because this week I did not bring her the meds she hasn't been taking. Unfortunately, her pressure is still up to 190/110. The team decided that when a patient is noncompliant with taking meds, it's important to stop giving them until they can show that they can be consistent. Sometimes it's tough teaching people how to be responsible for their own health!

Among other things, we swam to Ross Key today. It was quite the workout for me as a novice swimmer - 1 1/2 miles there and back. Whew, I can run that no problem, but swimming is a different story, especially when you're going against the tide. But, it was SO worth it! The reef was absolutely gorgeous! I felt like I was in Finding Nemo.

To our devastation, we came back to hearing that one of the beloved three clinic cats (who I have been feeding for the last 3 weeks) was seriously mangled by one of the island mutts. The dog had her by the neck and was swinging her around like a rag doll. Poor Breesa actually survived the trauma and we found her under the porch, breathing extremely fast and shallow respirations. Mike grabbed heavy duty gloves and towels and pulled her out. She was on our clinic table and seemed so close to death that we decided to put her out of her misery. Yes, that's right, cat euthenasia (sp?). Mike gave her 15 mg of Morphine IM, an amount we assumed would slow her breathing for a painless death. To give you an idea of how much Morphine that is, normally in the hospital a patient is given 1-2 mg for pain. Guess what? She is still alive!! We think she'll survive (on her 8th life). I'll keep you posted on her condition, as we've now added "Veterinary medicine" to the clinic's capacities.

Digital block

We had a very quiet and relaxing weekend, complete with church at the Northside, swimming in the sea, and a hike to Rocky Point. The message at church was really good, all about how it is more blessed to give than receive. It was just Erin, Rock, Janis, Larry and myself here this weekend. Saturday morning I had a taste of southern US culture by eating grits for the first time...mmm. Now I've had a full cultural experience. Yesterday, we welcomed in Mike and Sarah Voorhis from upstate New York. Mike is a physician's assistant (PA) with 9 months of ER experience and Sarah is a 6th grade teacher. They both have a passion for missions and are wonderful! This morning we had a girl come in with half of her thumbnail hanging by a thread of skin. Mike taught Alisa and I how to do a digital block on her thumb, which is a fancy term for numbing the finger with Lidocaine in 3 spots. It was pretty fun and after a minute the patient felt nothing. No suturing was needed, though. Well, I think that is about it for now, folks. Blessings!

Whoa, another week!

This week has been good. I've been slacking on my blogging lately, partially from being busy, and, partially due to the fact that island life is becoming relatively routine and normal to me. It's still exciting, yet, the days are starting to roll by so quickly and they all kind of mesh together. Let's see what I can remember.

• Monday, we had clinic as usual and then made a guest appearance to the 4-6th grade class to talk about how plants help people because medications can sometimes be created from them (examples: digoxin for the heart comes from the purple foxglove plant, aloe vera helps the skin, penicillin was discovered from mold, etc.). It was fun to see how engaged they were. Monday night, Erin, Sherry and I had Bible study on Ephesians 4, which holds many great truths. Paul starts off the by urging us to, "to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." It's a great verse for self-examination - sometimes I wonder if I am living up to God's calling for my life, or simply living to please myself. Sherry likes verse 26 most, which states, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry."
• Tuesday morning Erin came with me on home visits to meet some more people in the community. We had a good time talking with Ms. Nella. However, she hasn't been taking her medications lately and her pressure is up to 165/110 and I talk to her about the importance of taking responsibility for her health. She told me she doesn't like taking pills when she feels good and I tried to teach her how important they still are, even when she feels good. I do really love to listen to her. We got to pray with her and she prayed for us. That afternoon, Alisa and I went to see Ms. Indiana and check with one of Mr. Lee's sons to find out how he's doing. Papa Lee is still "off island," but it looks like they are not going to operate because his heart is so weak and they are fearful of what anesthesia would do to him.
• Wednesday must have been unremarkable because I remember nothing about it except that we ran clinic. Oh, and we played CRANIUM!!!
• Thursday (yesterday), Alisa and I went to Northside to visit Nila and Betty. Ms. Nila did not take half of her pills this week and, as a result, her blood sugar and pressure are up. I've found that it's difficult to convince patients of the importance of taking medications as a way to prevent detrimental health consequences (i.e. stroke, heart attack, etc). We had 2 new missionaries to Roatan, Roger and Pam, spend the day with us. I brought them to Northside to show them a major construction undertaking going on. The men (Rock, Joe and Camas) have been working really hard on the house that Teddy is buiding. Teddy is the pastor of Northside church and currently he, his wife and their 3 (?) kids are living with his parents. His wife, Heather, comes to the weekly Bible study Dierdre put me in charge of while she's gone. Heather is pregnant and due this fall. I've been impressed by the progress they've made on the house in only a few days.
• Today we closed clinic because the whole team left to go down island. I worked all morning and all afternoon trying to shape up the pharmacy and clean up the clinic. We have a MD and his wife arriving tomorrow - yay! I'm excited and hope to learn a lot from him. It's been a joy to get to know Erin, Rock and Janis this week. They all have such servant's hearts, willing to do anything to help. Devotions have been tearful this week, as people have really been sharing about how God is working. I love the community that is experienced here.
• There were many highlights this week, including...
• LUCY! Lucy is the daughter of Dr. Spiro, the stateside medical director of our clinic. She spent 2 weeks with us and left today - we both cried when we hugged goodbye. She went to SPU and graduated 3 years ago w/a theology degree and is now going into counseling in Seattle. I loved spending time with her, especially the morning we woke up at 5:30am (yikes) to walk to Rocky Point as the sun was rising. She has such a fun, quirky sense of humor, is laid-back like me, and is SO encouraging. I hope to see her in Seattle sometime soon.
• A dance party last night with Tisiana, Brenda, (two 6th grade girls) Alisa, and Lucy.
• ooh, time for dinner! Thanks for hanging in there with me, this was a long one!

Halfway!

Whoa, where is the time going? I feel like I am just getting the hang of things here and in a couple of weeks I will be getting ready to leave. I'm thankful that learning the names of the locals, understanding the way they speak, and building relationships are starting to pick up. The kids especially grab at my heart. Today, Lucy and I were sitting out on the porch and they just swarmed around, playing with our hair and later we played "go fish." This weekend has been fun - we've been taking care of Batina's 2 1/2 year old, Angelina. She's not exactly Angelic, however, she is absolutely adorable and we all love her. Now she is back with Batina, who is starting to recover from her hemorrhaging episode, thankfully.

Friday at the clinic we had another small emergency when a girl came in who had slammed the tip of her finger off in the door. We treated her and all is well, as she comes in regularly to have her dressings changed. Also on Friday, Alisa taught me how to start an IV. Have I been successful yet? Well, no. After sticking Alisa 4 times (what an encourager and brave soul she is), I decided to give up for the day. I can hit the vein alright, but, when it comes to threading the plastic catheter into the vein I struggle. Then I tried to start one on myself and that was far less than victorious (especially since I have such torturous veins in my left arm from a Vascular Malformation). I was so discouraged but am starting to grow in confidence. I know it is not a good indicator of how good of a nurse I am, but, it is a skill that I really want to learn how to do well because patients aren't exactly forgiving when you're poking them with needles. And funny thing, I've heard people say, "he/she's a good nurse" or "she's a bad nurse" based solely on how well they do with needles. What they don't know is that I'm probably more scared to poke them than they are to get an injection! :) I'm trying to get over that...

Saturday we went on a jungle hike over to the red cliffs, which resemble cliffs from the movie Cutthroat Island, I believe. It's hard to describe just how magnificent they are. I still can't get over how clear the Carribean Sea is and how the beach is just teeming with life. Even the smallest of shells will have something moving it around. I'm glad to see that there are still gorgeous places in the world that haven't been made commercial, that can still exist in all of their untainted splendor. God really gets my attention when faced with such beauty. How creative He is!

Today was a really fun day! We went to a resort-type place in Roatan called Parrot Tree. Some missionaries from Tampa, Greg and Angela, planted a church there and it was their last Sunday after 6 years. They were called 6 years ago to minister to ex-pats living at Parrot Tree. I met a lady from Romania that told me to check into VIMM (Volunteers in Medical Missions) because they go all over the world and are continually needing nurses. (Don't worry, Mom, I am slowing down for a few years). There were few dry eyes in the church as they were saying their goodbyes. Greg preached from Ezra about God's enduring love. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is GOOD, His faithful LOVE endures forever. Today we have also welcomed in 1 individual, Erin, a schoolteacher from Spokane and 2 couples, Rock & Janis and Lenny & Cindy. They are all from the motherland, Washington. It's funny how many Washingtonians come in and out of this place. It's fun to have more people around, especially since we had to let go of Sheila friday because she's settling her daughter, Susanna, into college. Rock & Janis, as well as Erin, will be going to Seattle on the same flight that I am flying on August 26th. That will be fun. I have a feeling these next 3 weeks are going to fly by even faster than the first 3. Lucy is here for one more week and is one of the most gentle and encouraging people. It's fun to have the SPU connection with her (Janis also went to SPU). I went to night church and it was funny because partway through all of the power shut off and it was completely dark. The pastor preached on anyway! I want to seize every moment of the rest of the time I am here.

The afternoon at Northside - on my own!

This week I've been doing home visits on my own - yikes! I kick myself because I wish I would have suspected something with Papa Lee when I went to see him on Wednesday. I just found out that he had to fly to the hospital in La Ceiba to see the urologist. It's still a critical situation for him.

Home visits are mostly basic nursing - checking sugars, pressures, prepping/giving meds, changing wound dressings, etc. I love it! It's nice to be able to go at a relaxed pace and really spend time talking with people, and praying with people. Nila's sugar is back down (yay!), Liolyn's and Ms. Betty's sugars are also well-controlled right now. Lowell's BP was 160/100, but that's better than it was last week. We had Bible study (Galatians 1) today...what a holy moment of talking about the Word, praying and worshipping together. The main gem from the study is, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galations 1, verse 1). I am guilty of not wanting to disappoint people and wanting to be a "people pleaser," yet recognize that it is more important to serve Christ above all, regardless of what others may think of me. I really enjoy the time I get to spend with those women - and God. I've been dripping sweat all day long (it's so unprofessional to be with patients, with glasses sliding off of my face...then again, nothing is professional here). Whew it's been hot and humid lately.

A few words...

"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." -John 5:17

"God does not give us overcoming life - He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength...Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment, "To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life..." (Rev 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment." -Oswald Chambers

2 Emergencies in 2 days

Yesterday Papa Lee was rushed off the island because he was hemorrhaging - his bladder was full of blood. I'll spare the rest of the details because they are quite graphic. Still, we're praying for him because it could be life-threatening and surgery is not ideal for even the most healthy of 94-year olds. We love Papa Lee - he is the oldest on Helene and a father to this island (both literally and figuratively).

This morning at 6:30am Batina's significant other, Hansito, came to the clinic and told us that she had been hemorrhaging all night. Alisa and I got some gear together and rushed over to their place (luckily, it's right next door). It was obvious she had bled a whole lot - and at such a strange time. Usually OB emergencies happen within the first few hours or days - she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl over 1 week ago. Her pressure was 105/80 and her uterus was hard - we suspected an infection from retained placental fragments. In the pitch dark with only our headlights to guide us, Alisa successfully put in an IV ("blind" - just by feeling for the vein - what a champ!), while I put in a catheter. Our technique could not possibly be completely sterile (my nursing profs would've gone off the handle), but it got the job done the best we could. As soon as we could get a boat for her, we rushed her off to the hospital at Oakridge. It's a good thing she went because she was in serious need of blood replacement. Alisa went off with Batina while I got to spend the morning holding her adorable little girl and playing with her toddler, Angelina, while chatting with Cleo, a 16 year old islander. It was neat getting to know her and learning about her time spent in the mainland of Honduras.

Your prayers for Papa Lee and Batina are appreciated!