Since last we talked...

So much has happened here.

A few stories...

Working in the OPD (outpatient department) last week, a sweet old Ambuya (grandmother in Shona) came to talk with me. She told me her knees ached, and her back ached, and her head ached. I examined her and checked her for arthritis. As we were finishing up she told me she was afraid to die. I told her that she didn't need to be afraid of that. Because of Jesus, she could go to heaven where her head and her back and her knees won't hurt at all. I told her that is where my Ambuya is and I am looking forward to seeing her there with Jesus someday. Hopefully I'll see this Ambuya there too.

The twin that I mentioned in my earlier post did great and has gone home with his mother. yay!

Several weeks ago I saw an older man who had leg pains and shortness of breath. After examining him and finding hard clotted blood vessels on his legs I believed he had a DVT and probably clots in his lungs. I put him in the hospital and started him on heparin and warfarin to thin his blood. Turns out we don't have the test here that helps to adjust the warfarin to the correct dose. Here we have clotting times, which I am unfamiliar with. So I'm trying to adjust his medicine, and asking the lab to check his blood every few days. The lab tech decides that I have already done the test twice and it was normal, so he won't do the test. I have to call and explain and argue to get him to do the test. The patient was with me for 2 weeks adjusting medicines. He spoke good English. Every day we would laugh together. He was anxious to go home, but I told him how important it was to get it right. Well, I left for my one month trip into town and another doctor saw him and the clotting time I requested came back a little too high, but the patient wanted to go, so the doctor discharged him home on the current dose to return in 6 days. I came back from Harare and the next day the man came back coughing up blood. We tried to reverse the blood thinning. But when I arrived to round the following day, he was in a coma in the "ICU" area of the ward. Looking into his uneven pupils, I recognized my worst fear. He had bled into his brain. I had to explain to the family today that he will not recover and will probably die soon, if not today. Please pray for Nelson and his family. I miss his banter and I know that he will be missed by many.

I struggle often with this paradox, that in trying to help I often see harm result. The Bible says Jesus experienced our struggles, but I wonder does he know what it is to make a mistake or a wrong decision and bear this weight?

A few days ago, we held a feast at the guesthouse. Currently, there are 19 people living here in 8 rooms! I was going to make Indian curry and invited people to have some. The others volunteered their help and by the time it was done, we fed 21 people with curry, rice, homemade chapatis (bread), mango chutney, samosas, and chicken stir fry. We all ate outside in the courtyard and it was a great success.,, only a bit of rice left at the end. I'm thinking if medicine doesn't work out, maybe a restaurant can be my back up plan. ;)

Tonight we were working on a Mexican feast (to feed 13) and had just finished setting everything out on the table. "Look at that!" I hear my boss, Dr Todd, exclaim for the dining room. Pleased that he is so impressed I walk around the corner to find the dining room, which moments before was filled with people, is now completely empty except for a baby trapped in her highchair. What Dr Todd was actually looking at when he exclaimed, was a Land Rover rolling down the hill past our dining room window with no one inside. It narrowly missed our guesthouse, launched off of a 4 foot ledge, plunged through a plumeria tree, and hit one of the missionaries cottages. Praise the Lord that no one was injured! (although the plumeria tree is beyond repair...) The house and Land Rover are both ok. They build things to last around here!

Here are a couple pictures of cute kids...

Elvis (his real name... and is that a "smoulder" on his face?)

This little guy was just too cute: