Weekend Getaway

I wrote previously about a fellow missionary named Bob who coded on Jan 4th. He is physically much improved, but mentally only making very small improvements. He is still essentially in a coma and does not respond to commands though he opens his eyes frequently and moves all four limbs. We continue to pray for complete healing!

This weekend I was able to get away to some tiny little islands just off the Honduran coast called the Cayos Cochinos. There are 2 large islands and 11 small keys. There are three Garifuna villages on them and I had visited one called Chachahuate this summer with my friend Amy. There is no running water or electricity and the island is tiny! They survive by fishing and bringing food and fresh water over from the mainland. There is a nurse that comes down for 2-3 months out of the year, but the rest of the year they have no medical care except to take a boat to our hospital. We hope to eventually set up a regular visitation to provide medical care and education and to support the tiny little church that is there.

We were very fortunate to stay with a new friend Lori, who is retired and lives in paradise!!! We stayed in her guest house, laid in her hammocks on the dock, went snorkeling all around, hiked up to a lighthouse at 6:30 am, visited two of the Garifuna Villages.... We had a fabulous time! It was a wonderful weekend away to just relax and enjoy the beauty of nature.

Toucan

This evening I saw 8 toucans fly from tree to tree around the grounds here. It was really amazing! I've never seen 8 toucans, not even in a zoo! That reminded me that I never posted the photo of the poor toucan that got blown out of a tree during a big storm a while back. One of the gate guards found him on the ground and brought him over to the hospital. The bird was fine and was released once the storm was over. But not before blinding him with a million camerea flashes!

Off to the mountains!

Today was a wonderful getaway to a lovely mountain community of Honduras. I went with several other missionaries up a crazy dirt road, then a steep and windy foot path to a beautiful little home with the cleanest dirt floors you've ever seen. We went to celebrate a birthday, take some medicines and have a worship service.

It was a great day and we made fresh corn tortillas. We took the corn and ground it up by hand in the little mill, then smashed it up finer on a rock, then patted it into tortillas and cooked it on a metal sheet over the fire. I've made many tortillas before, but it was cool to do the whole process from start to finish, and then eat them of course!

Bob

The last two weeks have seemed like an eternity. It has possibly been the most emotionally stressful period in my life. On January 4th, just before 8am, as I was preparing to start clinic, one of the nurses yelled for me to come over to the hospital right away. I ran across the building, entered the men's ward and found my friend, neighbor, fellow missionary lying lifeless on the hospital bed. Bob had been in the hospital for one week with a duodenal ulcer and diverticulitis, he was going to be discharged that day. We immediately started CPR, shocked him once, other docs arrived, we gave meds, his son-in-law (the surgeon, Jeff) intubated him, his daughter (Roseanne) was helping push meds and checking for pulses. It was definitely the most traumatic code of my life, but such an amazing joy when he came into sinus rythm and he suddenly had bounding pulses. Our working diagnosis is Pulmonary Embolus. He started breathing on his own after a while and after several hours of intense work, we moved him into the post-op area which we slowly transformed into an "ICU".

Dr. Greene, our Cardiologist, is an absolute star and the two of us took turns caring for Bob around the clock. His blood pressure and fluid status were all over the board for days, he had several runs of V-tach, then A.fib, then A. flutter, then back to normal sinus rythm. He had many periods of apnea and one night from 2-4am I bagged him (breathed for him) and couldn't get him to start breathing on his own again. We don't have a ventilator. Talk about holding someone's life in your hands! I've never had the experience of breathing for someone, let alone someone I know and love, and begging them to breathe again. I was literally begging Bob to breathe, begging God to spare his life long enough for his kids (who had just arrived late that night) to spend some time with him. He finally did start breathing on his own again, but by the time the sun came up and the family arrived, I was sure he wouldn't make it through the day. That was one of my lowest points.

But he did make it through the day and his body has continued to improve to the point that Dr. Greene and I don't have to be constantly in the hospital and can actually sleep at night. However, his mental status is grim. He makes small neurological improvements day by day but still does not follow commands. Besides being stressed out, tired and worried about Bob, watching his wife and daughter grieve and cry daily has been awful as well. I could write volumes about the blessings and dissapointments, the laughter and the tears of the last two weeks. I have learned a lot, forged strong bonds with the family and other friends, been strengthened and encouraged by the Lord when I thought I couldn't go on, and been incredibly blessed by the support and care of the community here. Maybe someday I'll look back and say it was a good experience. Right now it is just hard. I do thank the Lord for placing the right people here at the right time just when they were needed. In the midst of tragedy and sorrow, God has been faithful in so many ways. Its hard to see the 'big plan' from our limited point of view, but we pray that somehow God will be glorified through this situation.