Happy Thanksgiving

Three high-on-sugar fools, livin it up before bedtime tonight. We had a fun afternoon with our Haiti family today and ate too much, just like all of you. Adoption friends, you'll remember teacher Susanne, she now works for John and Beth. She was at Thanksgiving today and got to see Hope and Isaac for the first time since 2002 --- it was really neat to reintroduce them to her. She looks great and has two little boys now. Her husband seems like a good guy too. Jen got out okay and was so much fun to have here. Thank you Jen for all the goodies and treats. We loved getting to know you better. You'll have to come back when Britt is here to enjoy you too.

People from MN often use a phrase that is TOTALLY acceptable, and not even recognized as wrong. John McHoul has picked up on it, and is now torturing me. When someone who sounds like John mocks your use of the English language, you've stooped to an all-time low. The guy is barely understandable, even 20 years out of Boston, he still sounds like Cliff on Cheers. I often ask, "Do you want to go with?" I have said it that way my whole life. John finds it ridiculous and is always asking me if the verse in the Bible is "Lo, I am with." When he first started teasing, I did not even get what he was teasing about because I know that no one in Minnesota would pick up on that poor grammar, it had never been pointed out to me. Never end a sentence in a preposition; except if it is 'with.'

We hope you all enjoyed a relaxing, enjoyable time with your families. Happy Thanksgiving!

Kid Pics

For Britt

Britter-
I thought you would want to see Jen at work. She got out here with us this afternoon and had a line of four or five patients waiting for her. This was the only new one today. Jen found out that this guy opened his own abscess with a nail. She cleaned it up and opened it a bit more, we'll watch it for you until you get back. She said to tell you that the armpit abscess is almost closed up.

Paige got off okay. She should get to MN around 11 tonight, just in time for turkey dinner tomorrow. On the way to the airport she was a little teary and Isaac said "I think I should pray for Paige, is that okay?" He proceeded to offer a really smart prayer for Paige and for her to have a safe and fun time.

I have a few more photos from our day in Port, I'll post them later. Tomorrow is of course not a Haitian holiday but we will be going in to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of our American friends, we'll be with the Tlucek's, McHoul's, and Manesero's. Beth managed to smuggle a bunch of turkeys down here so we will be eating traditional thanksgiving foods right along with you. Mom, you'll be shocked to learn that I signed up to bring the rolls.

Happy Thanksgiving from Haiti!

Troy, Tara, Ike, Hope, Noah and Peanut

PS- We love you Britt and Paige, we hope you have a great day tomorrow.

Wednesday Plans

We are packing up the four remaining kiddos and heading into Port. We need to go to get prepared for payroll Friday, try and get our mail, and bring Paige to the airport ... reducing the child number to just 3 little people.

Paige is flying with friends all the way to MN to see her family there, so no stress about that anymore. THANK YOU Marcia. My whole outlook on the day changed when that prayer was answered.

I have this secret little hope that while we are already in Port we will hear that our baby is waiting on us to come get her. Maybe it's not so secret.

When we drop Paige off, we are trading her for Dr. Jen Halverson, she is the Dr. who worked a bit with Britt in August, they practiced suturing pigs feet. Jen could not get on Marcia's flight so she will spend 24 hours with us and head back to MN on Thursday instead. Britt wrote Jen a novels worth of instructions, so at least she'll have something to read while she is here. ;) Jen has been one of a handful of physicians to really encourage and help Britt with dealing with patients here as well as giving her great advice for her future plans.

Jackie in Zimmerman, MN ... I never anticipated that Thanksgiving would stir up these home-sick feelings. It feels nothing like November to us here - I miss my fireplace and the view of little East Hunter Lake. And my sister. This is just to say, the note from you tonight was very timely and appreciated. A little kiss from home.

Rather than fall in the pity party trap, I will focus on the eight million things we have to be thankful for --- if I were to list the comparisons between the way we live and the way all of the people in our little village live, it would go on for days. Outside of those reasons to be thankful, we are so hoping that you all feel how appreciative we are of your support. Whether you are a part of our financial support team, someone who prays for us, or just the occasional blog reader ... ALL of that feels like love and support to us -- and we don't take it for granted. Thank You!

We have much to be thankful for.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.'

-Psalm 91:1-2

Sophia Update

Photos from June '06

This morning Troy took Sophia and her granny to the end of the road to catch a tap-tap to Cazale, to see Lori, for Sophia's eye infection. Or so we thought.

Sophia is now 17 months old and weighs only 12 lbs. We had her with us for three weeks in May and June, she weighted 8 lbs then. Only after the family assured us that they would not place her for adoption did we make a decision to have her go back with her family and help them feed her for awhile and check in on her. (The mom died five days after giving birth to Sophia.)

It was a sticky situation because we cannot become a foster home, that is not what Lifeline does, but we wanted to help her. We were sad that even though none of the family really has a plan for Sophia, they are not willing to let her be adopted.

Licia, who runs the rescue center portion of the ministry in Cazale, called to ask us if we knew granny was wanting to place Sophia back in the rescue center. We had no idea. Troy had talked to Granny on Friday and had given her a few things for Sophia and agreed that Sophie should see someone for her eye infection. The grandmother never mentioned she was planning to put her in the rescue center.

There will always be things like this that bum us out. And since we cannot understand why it has to go down this way, when we know for a fact that there were/are people interested in adopting her and giving her a family, rather then a rescue center, we must simply give it to God and stop expecting to make sense of the "why" part. That is what we are trying SO HARD to do today...Give it to God. All these confusing baby problems, they are weighing heavy on me.

This song is at the top of the Livesay's current 'frequent play' list.

Selah & Christy Nockels - The Faithful One

Lyrics-
I find no hope within to call my own
For I am frail of heart, my strength is gone
But deep within my soul is rising up a song
Here in the comfort of the Faithful One

I walk a narrow road through valleys deep
In search of higher ground on mountains steep
And tho' with feet unsure I still keep pressing on
For I am guided by the Faithful One

Faithful, faithful to the end
My true and precious Friend
You have been faithful, faithful
So faithful to me

I see Your wounded hands,
I touch Your side
With thorns upon your brow
You bled and died
But there's an empty tomb, a love for all who come
And give their hearts to You, the Faithful One.

And when the day is dawned
and when the race is run
I will bow down before God's only Son
And I will lift my hands in praise for all you've done
And I will worship You - my Faithful One

Y'ap Fe Spo

Every day during recess at school, a soccer game breaks out. For now, a basketball serves as the "foot-ball". Next week, it might be a coconut, tin-can or a rolled up ball of paper.

This morning might be the coolest temperatures in months and months. The thermometer says 82, and it is totally overcast. (A rare occurance in and of itself.) Hope just walked in with a blanket around her shoulders and said "Mom, Haiti is COOOLD."

This site says we are in for a few days of clouds, a welcome change.

Britt- When you check in, two things you should know. 1. Your dog has only punished us once so far 2. Your patients are getting decent care, seem to be improving, and nurse Paige plans to email you with the full report.

Goodnight

9. We are okay, we really are. Sometimes things pile up and it is easy to get overwhelmed. I, for one, don't cope well when I am sick. So, please know we are hanging tough and waiting on news of our baby. Thanks for the encouragement

10. Troy got enough diesel (he left to go find it before we heard it was a problem on its way to being solved) for a month after waiting two hours for it to show up, so gas problem or no gas problem, we're set for awhile. Thanks for the heads-up, all of you informants.

Sometimes Haiti is sad, sometimes it is entertaining, some times fulfilling, other times draining. But it is never boring. There is a new problem to solve every day.

Goodnight! Sleep tight.

For Those Keeping Score at Home...

1. Britt made it to Mexico last night, safe and sound. (Thanks God.)
2. No word from John M. today about our birthmother ... but then again,
3. Port au Prince is OUT of diesel ... so tap-taps have stopped running ... which means,
4. Troy is headed to Williamson to try and buy up all the diesel they have before it is gone so that we can run our generator and keep using lights and fans.
5. I felt perfectly healthy all day Sunday, and even up until noon today, now I feel terrible again. Dizzy, feverish, exhausted. I took the treatment dose of Chloroquine, now what? (For real, now what should I do? Doctors, what do you think?)
6. We are handling Britt's patients as best we can. Troy and Paige are large & in-charge.
7. No lies here, it is tough to stay positive at times.
8. We'll keep trying though.

Church Thoughts

When Tina (my baby sister) and I started running together we needed a goal. So being the clueless newbie runners that we were we signed up for a half marathon in Southern Minnesota.

We got there bright and early on a windy 34 degree day to sign in, just to realize that not only was it going to be our first time running 13.1 miles, but we were going to run it through thick woods and up and down huge hills. The whole race had about 1 mile of flat ground. We had no idea what we'd signed up for. Nothing like starting your new hobby off with a bang. I wanted to lay down and cry. We went ahead and ran it, but it was not pretty. We limped in (I limped, she trotted) to the finish line like sixth from last or some equally horrific thing like that. You should have seen those people, they were not messing around. 200 insanely fast runners and eight idiots who think faaarrr too much of their own ability.

Worse than that though, was that the church that was putting it on was one of those churches that stands for nothing and has no interest in anything resembling the way Christ taught us to live. I won't bore you with the details of how easy it was discern this. But it was. I forget the name of the church but I am pretty sure it was something like Church of the I am okay, you are okay, it is about me, let's not ask each other to be decent people or do anything difficult. Catchy name. I know.

It so bummed me out that I paid $25 to enter a race that was going to benefit the church of nothingness. Sadly, it seems that much of the "christian" church today has become this watered down, it is about me, wishy-washy kind of a place.

We live in a world of moral relativism. Whatever you feel is right, is right. There is no absolute truth. Do what you want, when you want. If it feels good, do it. That is what we are up against. A world that says there is no right and wrong and a world that protects almost every group before they will protect a follower of Jesus Christ.

It bugs me beyond my ability to express it well. So I won't try. I wonder if it is not our own fault for buying into the world's way of thinking for so long. Most of us go to church to see what we can get out of it, instead of what we might be able to offer in the way of using our own God-given talents. It's all about us now. We got all watered down and now it is easy to dismiss us as just another "religious group."

There are plenty of things that discourage me about Haiti. One thing that doesn't is their acceptance and respect of followers of Jesus Christ. Their passion in their churches is touching. They are not ashamed. In the USA you have to tiptoe around all the rules, be careful not to pray in the wrong spot, don't offend ... blah blah blah, etc, etc ... That is not true in Haiti.

Unlike the race I ran in Southern Minnesota, I KNOW what I signed up for when I decided to follow Christ. The work to be done is big. Defending our faith in a positive and loving and uncompromising way is our job. Changing our churches into something that resembles Christ and the way He told us to live is no small task.

-Tara (Who has not very much in the way of exciting Haiti news or stories to share this morning.)

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God, give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!
-A.B. Simpson

Therefore, since you have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding you, lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before you, fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him...so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3

It's not about the church meeting individuals needs, but about individuals joining the mission of God's people to meet the world's needs. -Christianity Today, January 05

Head West Young Lady

We are off to Port for church (IN ENGLISH!!!) for the first time in six weeks. We will bail out a little early to get Britt to the airport for her flight. She will be in three countries today. She gets to Cancun at dinnertime tonight if all goes well. She is armed with a credit card, cash, cell phone(s) that work in two different countries and a fan club at the curb, asking her why she is leaving. The little boys both call her "girlfriend" and they woke up saying "Ooohhh, why is girlfriend leaving today?" They'll get over it. Peanut on the other hand...Ugh.

Yesterday, Troy and I left the mission compound for six hours all alone. We barely knew what to do sitting in a quiet restaurant with no one asking for pop, ketchup, more this, more that. No body broke a glass, begged to swim in the ocean, begged to swim in the pool, begged to go back to the ocean. It was odd. We decided maybe 10 months was too long to wait to have our first date. We are aiming to do it again in five months. After lunch we went to that cheap beach with no one on it. We read and slept and chatted. It turns out that we still really like each other and enjoy having an afternoon together.

I better go before I make us late. Have a great Sunday. -Tara

Third-World Gas Stations

Buying gas in Haiti is an entirely frustrating/strange experience...especially out here in the "Provinces" where we live. Usually, I pull in at a station that looks very much like a gas station in rural America...only the windows of the building are often boarded up or smashed out, the walls are sometimes crumbling apart, and the underground tanks don't always have lids or covers over them. Oh, and the pumps look like leftovers from the Andy Griffith era.












If I'm lucky enough to have found a station that is actually open when I arrive, there are usually 7 or 8 people milling about the pumps, who usually greet me with a face that looks a lot like this:

Usually two of them are selling various unrecognizable fried food items that, even with my penchant for adventurous foods, I would never touch. Three or four of the others are merely socializing and pretending that they have an active account on their cell phones. (Showbusiness, as John McHoul calls it.)

A couple of them are usually searching for handouts, and eventually I find the actual gas station employee.

When I pull up to the pumps, I am often told "Pa gen gaz." - Don't have gas. I always reply "Eske'w gen diesel?" - Do you have diesel? At some stations, this is met with a great deal of indignation over how stupid I am...after already being told that they don't have gas. At others, however, the attendant will say "Wi, gen diesel". - Yes, have diesel. I still haven't figured out a better way to navigate this treacherous transaction.

If they indeed have diesel (whether there is gasoline or not), I then proceed to make a purchase. I tell the attendant how much I want to spend, while the other 7 people look on and watch me count the money. I am apparently not allowed to touch the actual pump at most stations...I assume that is analogous to stealing someone's job here...but I must get out and open the gas cap myself. The attendant starts and stops the pump on my behalf. Sometimes it is stopped a little short of the amount I requested...but they can't make change, so the amount paid is the same.

One time I "topped off" the tank to arrive at the proper dollar amount and almost started World War Three. Sometimes I just accept the loss of a few gourdes. (I was just going to throw them at chickens anyway :) Sometimes I excercise my Creole skills and play their game with them to get my change back. This usually includes them telling me that I don't need the change, which I can't necessarily argue with...but principle is a hard thing to explain in a foreign language.

Most attendants wear a purse or bag around their necks where the money is kept. Funny how there is never any change in there. I always ask for a receipt for my records, and then wait about an hour while painstakingly slow efforts are made to find a pen...find a receipt book or scrap of paper...write out the receipt...record my license plate number...and then put two or three rubber stamped symbols on it. During all this the crowd with nothing else to do follows my every move and sometimes ends up with a few extras standing around watching the show. I am always relieved to get back in the truck and on my way, and always say thank you...then I drive off dreaming of SuperAmerica and Holiday stations and trying not to cry.

-TROY

Dingo or Dog? You Decide

THIS is what you will find if you "google" the word DINGO-





This is the very best looking Haitian dog on the island. That is why Troy photographed it.

Dogs in Haiti, are in fact Dingos --- they roam free, people kick them around, they appear diseased and mangy, and they all look similarily sick and nasty.

We taught Jack-Jack to say "Maybe the DINGO ATE YOUR BABY!"

It never gets old.

Beauty of Haiti

Checking In

So many are praying about baby girl Livesay that I wanted to quickly tell you that we don't really know anything more.

Our birth-mom did not show up for her meeting with John M. - because she lives in a dangerous area, we cannot go find her.

We will just wait on God and His answers and attempt to grow to trust Him more while we wait. It's hard, but we want His answers, not ours. Waiting times always seem to be growing times.

The Chloroquine is starting to make a difference, I managed to be awake the whole day and other then body aches, I am fine. Thanks for your concern. I expect to be completely better tomorrow.

Troy and the boys went to Port to get oil for the generator and get that 4th tire put on the truck. We wish we had exciting/happy news to share --- but when we know something, we'll be sure to pass it along to all of you, our backers.

The really cool news of the day, a kiss from God ---- I was sitting at the computer FRETTING and worrying about some travel logistics for our girls for next week. I was just kind of talking myself down and praying for peace. Literally, I was telling God "I'm sorry I get so nervy and freaky and that I don't trust you more consistently."

The phone rang and it was our friends from MN, Marcia Erickson and Dr. Jen Halverson. They had known I was not looking forward to making Paige fly alone next week when she goes to MN for Thanksgiving with her Dad. They are here, visiting the southern part of the island and switched their plans to now have the ability to escort Paige all the way from PAP to MSP. Woot to that. These are awesome people God placed in our lives. He is good like that.

It was a very direct way for God to tell me to get my crap together and trust Him.

Then, an hour later I got word that we also have a back-up person ready and standing by in Miami if our girls run into any flight delays or cancellations on the way back into PAP.

I would love to say I never worry and I never distrust God. But that is not true, I often struggle when it comes to my kids. It is an ongoing lesson for me to put them in His hands and trust Him to care for the details.

I know we each have our own problem area ... I am not the only one who doubts His provision at times. I just wanted to encourage you all that when you seek Him, He will be found and He does not turn a deaf ear to our concerns. More often then not, it is us turning away from Him.

So, as Britt flies off to Mexico (Sunday) to attend a wedding, and Paige flies off to MN (Wednesday) please keep them in your prayers. They are both looking forward to a great week with their other families, we hope the time will be blessed for all of them.

With Appreciation and heartfelt thanks,

Tara & Troy

Thursday Things

By Tara-

Today was one of the less exciting days in Haiti. And that's okay. Troy spent the majority of the day doing purchase orders, spread sheets and boring accounting type things.

Paige did her school assignments and helped with the little ones. Britt did school and saw her patients. The baby with jaundice has already gained a pound, here she is today with Britter. The grandma was so proud when we told her she was a pound heavier. She is still pretty fragile and yellow, so please keep her in your prayers.


I slept half the day and acted like a weirdo the rest of the day. Malaria is a very freaky thing. I think it affects people differently, but both Troy and I notice that there seems to be a problem with the connection between your brain and your mouth. I was trying to say "Give them that," it came out "that them ... that them," on the third try it was still not what I wanted it to be. Malaria makes you feel partially retarded, and really tired and kind of emotional. I busted into involuntary tears three times today.


One of the involuntary cries was about the baby. Maybe it was just time to cry. Seeing how easy it is for these tiny little babies to get headed the wrong direction just makes me feel impatient. Please pray with us that we get good news tomorrow and that birth-Mom is feeling ready to move to the next step.

Britt is really hoping we can get her new sister tomorrow or Saturday, so she gets to meet her before she leaves. Don't start feeling all bad for her quite yet --- she is going to her uncle's wedding in Mexico ... as in a VACATION. She leaves on Sunday at 1pm. We're not jealous. Really.



Okay, we are. Really.


Now, it is time to sleep again.




If loving Billy Joel makes us dorks, so be it... we Love him.
Goodnight.

More Pics

My First Whitey

By Britt:

My mom hasn't been feeling well the last few days, struggling with headaches, dizziness and fevers off & on. So this morning we decided to do a malaria test on her just in-case. It came back positive. And some of you are probably thinking 'I thought they were taking chloroquine preventatively' but the thing is, my mom is the bomb and she took one for the team last week. We were out of chloroquine, one person had to miss it, so she didn't take her weekly-dose last week.

I am very glad it is so treatable and that the rest of us are doing well because I had another person, a son of an employee, come this morning with the typical malaria symptoms. I'll do a test for him later this afternoon. My mom did not totally believe the positive, so just to be sure that there wasn't some weird-thing going on with the tests, we tested Paige - who of course, came back negative. If you will, please pray for my mom that she recovers from this quickly. She says that she actually doesn't feel that sick (it just comes and goes) but will definitely be resting up over the next few days.

Tomorrow we hope to find out about our new sister, and when we get to go get her.

Have a great Thursday!

Medical Update

By Britt:

Today I did school, took a break to go to Sinyola's house to change her dressings, came back for a little more school, and then all my normal dressing-changes patients came. I also got to talk with my friend Lori which is always fun; she always has the craziest medical stories - I love it. It was a busy but productive day. I just wanted to post a few pictures of Sinyola's wounds; they are looking so much better after just two days of cleaning and bandages. But since I haven't written enough to not make the medical pictures show up at the top, here is a picture of me acting like a goon:

Almost forgot to take photo

so shininess is antibiotic

cream already on face.

Right arm, looks much better!! Mesi Jezi! --->





The worst of the wounds,

(left leg)

Now for the fun part of my day! After all the correspondence and advice from some awesome ladies, Lori and Sharon, it was determined that I could remove the keloid on Roseline's ear.

Welcome to the ' O.R. '
Complete with a grill and several motion lights for all those post-sunset operations.

First I numbed up the base of the ear so that she wouldn't feel anything while I cut and stitched. This is the before, her ear is all swollen from the lidocaine but I just wanted to show how much it was hanging off of her ear.

Then I cut gradually with a scalpel, but like I said it was just barely attached. Paige can tell you, I was kind of shocked how it basically just fell off on its own. It was bleeding pretty badly, but I had been properly warned and prepared for that (thanks guys!). So Paige dabbed while I sewed and this is how it turned out.


I warned Roseline before I started working that there is a chance that it will return. She said that she still wanted it removed and understood that possibility. I can understand that, even if I knew it was going to grow back, I would still want to at least try. It was bothering her quite a bit, it was heavy and a reason to be teased. She was as tough as nails and didn't even seem to notice when we injected the lidocaine. Such the price to pay for beauty! :) Here is the happy patient, without the heavy, dangly keloid.



So this is probably going to gross you out (that is if you haven't already 'x'd' the window) but after she left, I dissected the mass. It was the same throughout, just hard tissue (yes, tissue?). I tried to take a photo but it didn't turn out. It was a cream-ish color and hard. Weird huh?



She has another smaller one on her other ear that I didn't notice
yesterday. But I know, I should have paid better attention. (remember, tet chage!) I don't think this one is ready for removal and it is more attached so I don't think I will remove it unless it continues growing. Here's a photo, tell me what you (Lori, Sharon, Jamie, Nik, Jen) think:

Putting This Day to Bed

Written by Tara-

Britt will likely write about her excitement in the medical realm later. This photo is of that 17 year old with the ear growth. It was successfully removed late this afternoon. Paige found out recently that she loves assisting Britt and being the support and prayer person.





Troy and the kids working on burning trash. There is no BFI or Waste Management here, a perfect place for pyromaniacs.




Troy had to go to Port today. Here is what he has to say.



Dear Port au Prince-
Why do you hate me so much?

Regards,

Troy



I guess it was just annoyance after annoyance. He will one day realize the folly of expecting anything different. He had to get tires on the truck. But they only had three. Two steps forward one step back. They think they might have the forth tire on Friday. HA. Right.



We had ordered a few things and have also been waiting on multiple packages. One of Troy's stops was Agape mail today. Target had a bad-employee day and tripled the order of some items. Instead of one package of sheets, I got three. I also got three pairs of shorts, all the same. They picked a bad customer to mess-up on, the package will wait to go back to the states with mom and dad on December 1.



UPS left a curt message yesterday that they wanted to pick up the mistake portion of the Target order, had tried once, and that they will try again by stopping at the Sarasota address tomorrow. Good Luck with that UPS and Target.



Dad -- the chemistry chemicals FINALLY arrived for Britt. She had just written her professor to drop the class, so I think she has mixed emotions about it arriving. ;-) Birdie, please don't worry yet, we believe your package will still show up, but it was not there today. Add it to the list of things not to be controlled in Haiti. The chemicals for Chemistry had been floating around for close to two months, so there is still hope. *MAIL* on the other hand, arrives in about 10 days. Which means, if you want to send Paige a birthday card, you have until November 20 to mail it. (Hint Hint)




Lastly, we got a Christian Book Distributors order that we placed a decade ago, or so it seems. Most of the fun stuff was intended to be Gotcha Day gifts. We had fun giving each kid one small gift today. Ike got a Larry shirt. Noah got a Bob shirt. (Veggie Tales) Hope got the 'Lord of the Beans' DVD. Paige got two tank tops. Britt ... she is of a different cross-section of the teen population ... She got the Condoleezza Rice Story, a book she has been wanting for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another thing I love about Haiti, it is almost impossible to spend money on anything other than necessities. I never find myself standing in line at Target with about 12 things I had no intention of buying when I walked in. It certainly makes sticking to a budget a bit easier. Groceries, gas, and the occasional trip to the beach is it for places to spend money. (Plus, now we found that $2.00 a person deserted beach.) Yipee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We MUST watch 'Lord of the Beans' now. (Yet another great thing about Haiti. Family time is easy to find without crazy USA running, running, running.)


Have a great night, and know that we appreciate your cyber-support!

A Long Medical Post from Britt

By Britt:

Whoa, what a crazy last few days I have had! It will be good to get it all down on (cyber) paper so that maybe I can rid myself of this case of tet chage (loaded head). I am putting a picture of a cute baby at the top, see how considerate I am? :) I don't think that any of these pictures are *that* bad but you probably will, so if you aren't into burns, cuts, abscesses, jaundiced babies, keloids or road burn then don't scroll down. Okay so now that we've got that cleared up, I'm going to just start listing off the various cases/people. These are all from yesterday and today.

This is Jeanclauder, he is the two month old burn victim from this post. I got the rest of the story ... mom and dad weren't home so an older sibling was 'watching' him. A kerosene lamp fell/got pushed off of the table and landed on his arm. I am actually really pleased with how it looks, it is a lot better than I originally thought it was. He is a healthy baby otherwise so I think that it should heal in no time.


The baby below is named Lovely. She was born 25 days ago and weighs 5 pounds. Her mom is sick and in the hospital. Mom was never able to get baby to latch-on so we have (with the excellent help of Sharon Steen) eliminated breast-milk jaundice as the cause. So at this point we're not sure why this is happening but we're "degaje"-ing it and told grandma - who is caring for Lovely while mom is away and sick - to hold her in the sun for a short period in the morning and then again in the late afternoon while the sun isn't so strong. (I only knew to do this thanks to the advice from Licia and Lori in Cazale. What would I do without you guys?!) We've also given a can of formula; I hope to add Lovely to the widow's mite -- a special monthly fund especially for babies with sick or deceased mom's. If all goes well, she'll keep getting formula and hopefully get better as the days of 'sun basking' continue on. If you think of it, please pray for her, that she get used to the milk and bottle (she's mainly only been having water from a spoon) and for her grandma and mom.

Even with her yellow eyes, I think she is such a doll.

Okay so here's another doll. Her name is Rimen and she is seven. Last Thursday she fell out of her bed and got this nice shiner. The problem is that a.) it needed to be stitched and b.) they put tobacco on it which didn't really do much more than make it hard to clean up and make my mind spin. Tobacco? On wounds?? The thing is this was the second person in one day who came with their tobacco-dressed wound. The other person I asked 'why' tobacco works - they just said that it is something the old people do. So I don't know, but seems pretty weird to me. It's like the usual toothpaste with a funky twist. It is pretty wide and sort of deep, and will take longer to heal than it would of, had we stitched it. But now I get to see her sweet face for a week or more. :)


I am really bummed/angry, but I accidentally deleted the picture for my next patient. But I want to tell about it anyway because it is really weird/interesting. Her name is Erline, she is twelve and a dog bit her on the leg two weeks ago. It didn't look that infected, I cleaned it out and gave triple antibiotic and bandages for her to change everyday. But I made the mistake of asking what they did with the dog. I guess that this is the case with some people - not all - but they found the dog, cut off its hair, and then burned the hair. So I asked Robenson if this is a voodoo thing but he just said it's something that people believe or think works, but doesn't really have any direct ties with voodoo. It is a superstition thing, really weird ... I went on to make a bigger mistake of trying to figure out why they didn't just kill the dog, in order to prevent it from biting someone else. Seems pretty logical to me. Maybe some of my smart, experienced Haiti-dwelling friends can shed a little light on this weird practice.


This armpit belongs to a 17 year old girl named Polen. The abscess started forming fifteen days ago. I emailed my doctor friends, the Steen's, yesterday to ask if this was something that they thought I could do. They gave me the go-ahead and so we scheduled the little operation for this evening. The problem is, it had already burst so I really just ended up cleaning it out and packing it. I was kind of disappointed because I wanted to see the fluid that was underneath. Polen said that it leaked a lot last night and then some today. I did the same thing we did with Pastor Silanse, going in with the hemastat's closed & opening them inside, to break up any remaining pockets of pus. Then I 'pressure-washed' it with water and betadine. I packed it (with betadine soaked gauze strips) and bandaged it. Thank you to my assistant Paige for all of her help. She will return everyday until it is healed.


This started two months ago after she got her ear pierced and it got infected. I am thinking this is a keloid but correct me if I am wrong. It is very loosely attached, literally hanging by a thread. I am discussing it with my advisers (who I love, appreciate, and adore) to see what might be done for her. It is too early to say if I will do it or not, but it could be a quick snip and a few stitches, but we'll just wait and see. I'm open to hearing more opinions ... let me know if you want a better (close-up) photo of it. I hope that it is something that I can do, but if not, I will have no problem sending her on somewhere else.




I don't know how many more photo's will load to this post so continue down below for the motor-vehicle accident patient. The pictures will be at the very bottom.