Tuesday night I swam in the ocean. There is a rocky beach and the sounds of the ocean are always in the background. The water is cool enough to melt all the heat and cares of the day away.
Afterwards we had a game of spades. John said he did not know how to play, which or course meant that he beat us all. Walking back to my cabin, I saw the full moon shining brightly on the water.
Wednesday we went back to St Paul's again to see the young kids, this time with their parents. As we pulled up to the school in Pere Deravil's truck, the red hibiscus flowers and purple morning glories were in full bloom. The little children with their school uniforms and matching hair bows were grinning and pointing at us. Drew and I agreed that we feel very privileged to get up in the morning and come to work in this place.
Today Lauren worked with me and Kelvin worked with Amy seeing patients. Amy became a pediatrician in short order, and actually saw the sickest children. One girl had a severe ear infection with swollen lymph nodes and possibly mastoiditis. Amy thought she should go to the hospital but we decided to treat her with the injectable antibiotics we have and check her again in the morning. Another child had ruptured ear drums from multiple ear infections. Every time I come to Haiti I feel like there are 1 or 2 lives we save. Today our patient with the mastoiditis was that patient. If she did not die from that infection she would surely be deaf in that ear. That's worth all the money and effort we spend to get ourselves here, I think. Also we saw a mother with a one month old baby who came in saying her baby slept a lot and did not eat well. Turns out the mother has mastitis. I examined the baby, Amy examined the mother and Allie worked with the mom to get the baby to latch on better and also helped the mom massage her milk ducts. Truly a team effort.
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Afterwards we had a game of spades. John said he did not know how to play, which or course meant that he beat us all. Walking back to my cabin, I saw the full moon shining brightly on the water.
Wednesday we went back to St Paul's again to see the young kids, this time with their parents. As we pulled up to the school in Pere Deravil's truck, the red hibiscus flowers and purple morning glories were in full bloom. The little children with their school uniforms and matching hair bows were grinning and pointing at us. Drew and I agreed that we feel very privileged to get up in the morning and come to work in this place.
Today Lauren worked with me and Kelvin worked with Amy seeing patients. Amy became a pediatrician in short order, and actually saw the sickest children. One girl had a severe ear infection with swollen lymph nodes and possibly mastoiditis. Amy thought she should go to the hospital but we decided to treat her with the injectable antibiotics we have and check her again in the morning. Another child had ruptured ear drums from multiple ear infections. Every time I come to Haiti I feel like there are 1 or 2 lives we save. Today our patient with the mastoiditis was that patient. If she did not die from that infection she would surely be deaf in that ear. That's worth all the money and effort we spend to get ourselves here, I think. Also we saw a mother with a one month old baby who came in saying her baby slept a lot and did not eat well. Turns out the mother has mastitis. I examined the baby, Amy examined the mother and Allie worked with the mom to get the baby to latch on better and also helped the mom massage her milk ducts. Truly a team effort.
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sent from Haiti by Dr. Susan Nelson
A followup note about the little girl with the severe ear infection: We saw her every day while we were there and she continued to improve. The injectable antibiotics worked their magic.
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