Medical pics

Most of the photos I take around here would not be appropriate to post on the web. They would probably make someone vomit or pass out or something. But here are a few from the last week that are not so gross as usual.

There is a baby named Hector that I have had the priviledge of seeing every two weeks since he was three weeks old and his parents brought him in for club feet. I have been casting his feet for 6 months and the right foot is much improved but the left is still severely clubbed. His parents are amazing. They have to hike 3-4 hours down the mountains to the road and then catch a bus here. They are my most faithful patients. They have only missed one appointment in 6 months and that was when the whole north coast was flooding and they couldn't get down the mountain. Finally an orthopedic surgeon came down for a week to help out and was able to do a tendon release on his left foot. What a blessing for this boy and his parents!

A little boy fell off a wall and landed on his forehead, splitting it wide open.

I sewed him up last week but he came back for his recheck in three days with a forehead full of pus! He was on antibiotics, but we had to drain all the pus and change antibiotics. He was so good about the whole thing. Today he came back without all the pus!!!

This is a photo of Dr. Jeff's invention of a hyperbaric chamber for

my patient's terrible diabetic foot ulcer. I have been stressed out about her for weeks as her diabetes and hypertension were out of control and her foot infection continued to worsen daily in spite of antibiotics. We finally found some vancomycin that someone had donated and that finally turned around the infection and it looks like she won't be losing her foot. Thank the Lord!

And then there is the walking miracle guy who was shot in the head three times and is still alive and talking. Amazing. Only one bullet penetrated his skull and barely.

And finally, Irina, one of our lab workers finally had her beautiful baby girl and brought her in for a checkup today. I was following her in her prenatal visits and she was huge and miserable with tons of swelling in her legs. We were so excited when she finally popped that baby out!!!

A cool breeze...

Its amazing how the weather affects us. A beautiful sunny day can raise your spirits, a dreary day can make you solemn, excessive cold makes you want to cuddle up by a fire, excessive heat wilts you...so, I can't even describe how nice it is to have a cool breeze this afternoon. I have been sweating non-stop for a week. Wilting is not a strong enough word. The heat and humidity have been so oppressive with not even the whisper of a breeze that even the Hondurans have been complaining. Waking up in the night multiple times sweating even with the fan on me, taking 2-3 cold showers per day to cool down and rinse off the sweat and dust, being so, so tired. Basically it has been miserable around here. So imagine being trapped in a too-hot sauna for a week and then finally being released out into the cool fresh air. Aaah! Sweet relief! Even Jasmine is much more playful today. I was beginning to wonder if she was sick last week because she was just laying around all the time.

So, that's my expose on the weather. Another reason to have lifted spirits is that most of our docs are here right now which makes clinic so much more bearable. Plus my hospital patients are doing better, which is always nice. So I went from an incredible paucity of doctors with multiple very sick hospital patients and super busy clinics and wilting heat to more docs to share the load, patients getting better, and a wonderful cool breeze! Praise God for cool breezes!

Some random photos

Life has been crazy busy here, no time to write. Too many patients and not enough docs! But still time to play with Jasmine who is getting taller and sweeter every day! Here are some random photos: