July 25, What happened?

In the hospital, a young 2 ½ y/o boy had come in with sepsis. The story was that he had a swollen right leg and a blister on his right medial foot that the grandmother had tried to drain a week ago. He now had a taut, swollen right thigh, moist cough, and very distended abdomen with a heart rate of 144 and pox of 75%.  I wasn’t sure that he was going to make it through the night. His lungs were coarse and there is only one oxygen concentrator for all of the medical wards, which works when there is electricity, which is sporadic at night. His right upper arm was slightly swollen; we couldn’t feel any abscesses in his swollen thigh; his abdomen was distended and he hadn’t passed stools for the past week; he also had an altered level of consciousness in which he would not focus his vision on you or anything, just kind of stared off into space, and had a sardonic-like smile.  Over the next few days, with antibiotic therapy, nursing care, and a lot of prayers, he is getting better. The swelling in his arm has dissipated, his cough is less (pox 93%), his belly has softened after enemas and paraffin tx, and the swelling of his thigh has reduced enough to reveal multiple abscesses. Probably for an incision and drainage soon. Thank you for your prayers.
 

Just a little FYI: The language they speak here are Pigeon, Kom, and English. Pigeon has many English words in it with different organization of expressions. For example: If you’d like for the patient to sit on the examining table, the term is, “Climb for bed”. If you’d like for them to lay down for an abdominal examination, you say, “Sleep for bed”.  Have you lost any weight is “Is your body small for skin?” If you’d like them to take deep breaths, you say “Breathe deep.”  Diarrhea is “posh”, vomit is vomit, cough is cough. Tuberculosis is “Strong cough”. Fever is fever, or “Is your skin for hot?” Pain is “hot”. For example, when checking for dysuria - “Is it hot when de piss?”  And by the way, just when you think you have the pronunciation down right, you’ll say it in your best American Pigeon, and they still won’t understand you. Our translator still has to sometimes repeat exactly what we’ve said, but with familiar accent and then they understand.

In Kom, it is a little more foreign. “Lay down” is “Ninyi”. “Sit up” is “Lolli”. “Deep breathe” is “Z’usa”.  “Say ahhh” is “Zese ahhh”.  “Where is the pain?” is “Fos ia de hot?”.  “Goodmorning” is “Tulima,” the response is “Aye, Wulime”. Or, “How did you sleep?” is “Aye wachima junga?” and the response is “Aye, machime”, which means you slept fine. And I always sleep fine because if I didn’t sleep fine then that would lead to a whole explanation that I am nowhere near translating!! “I’m sorry” is “Asha.”

This morning, a young lady came in comatose, pupils fixed and dilated, no doll’s eyes. The story was that she was fine yesterday, had some had not been ill, no history of headache. Last night she had some problems sleeping (unclear why) and this morning she awoke and told her mother that her head hurt, and collapsed.  They tried to give her some traditional medicine to wake her, but it did not help and so they brought her to us.  We placed an NG, oral suction, and placed her in what they call “cardiac position” (HOB elevated).  Within a couple of hours, she passed. SAH? Ruptured aneurysm? I suppose we’ll never know. God rest her soul and be with her family…

Today Milan felt the pain of teaching. The usual instructor that teaches grammer and reading was not there as he had a funeral, so Milan taught math (division of fractions) for 4 periods today and was exhausted. The children seem to be catching on to the concepts, but it has taken time. And of course on their break, Milan plays a mean game of futbol with them.  He says that they are really good, especially one young boy is superfast.

July 6, Wednesday

Day at the orphanage: Made beds, folded clothes. Invented a playtime that Milan has named “Mariokart” in which he put each child in a little wagon and pulled them around the building. The little ones loved this.  I have seen Milan work with Terrence and I am very proud of them both. Milan has an immense amount of patience and Terrence has a persistence and resolve to learn.  Terrence is now doing large number multiplication and is learning division for the first time.  He is reading better and better each day. Later, Sr. Hilda beckoned the boys for some help. Sr. Hilda is the nun that Milan affectionately calls “Sr. Francis” because she is so good with the animals. The cows come when she calls them and the 2 shepherd looking dogs (Apollo and Shepherd) follow her everywhere. Anyway, Sr. Hilda needed wood brought up from down the hill for the orphanage. The three boys and Sr. went down this very steep hill and 2 more hills down and brought firewood up. It was there that Milan found a beautiful view of Njinikom. That same day, he took me down there after clinic, and the view IS breathtaking. I could just sit there and adore His creation. Milan has been there every day so far.  In the afternoon, he fed 3 little ones because none of them would hold still, they would come and go, easily distracted.

Listening to a fetal heart with a pinard horn

The Clinic: A gentleman with a posterior fracture dislocation from a year ago, hoping for surgical intervention. And different patients with a hydrocele, fever, abdominal pain, back pain, typhoid, and urinary tract infections. They had adoration in the clinic chapel today. I managed to get there for a ½ hour and sat there praying for the patients, Milan, our family and friends back home, caregivers, and all those suffering.  I talked with one staff member to gain a better understanding of why patients would default on HIV medication. Their opinion was that often times, even though the medication is free, they didn’t have the money to even get to the clinic. Some have to come from hours away. Some have to wait for their husbands to give them money. Some choose to go to traditional medicine where they may be told that they don’t have the disease or that they can heal them of it. It is these I pray for as well…

July 3, Sunday

The one day that we can sleep in, we can’t. Our bodies are now on schedule, with the help of the 5am rooster here!  

On Sundays, Milan and I take balloons and sweets to the kids in the pediatric wards and visit with them. Sometimes Milan will give them a yoyo show or we’ll hit the balloon back and forth to get some smiles.

July 2, Saturday

Some of the type of patients that we have seen this week: a 4 year old girl with ricketts of both upper and lower extremities; an 8 year old girl with polyarthritis - once we got the swelling down in her joints and limbs, many pus-filled lumps were visible on her anterior left lower leg, she went for incision and drainage and is healing in the surgical ward; a 2 week old baby that weighs 2kg, finally taking the breast; a gentleman in his 30s with cold and allergy symptoms, wheezing, with a family history of asthma. (I felt like I was seeing you Mom!) 

the "veterans"

In the evening, Father Dominic had invited Milan to play soccer, but it poured rain. While he didn’t get to play, later we did get to watch a championship game played by 2 teams. In fact, Milan got to do the kick off!!  It was Athletico (teens and 20s) vs. Veterans (older, some gray). Wet and muddy! Great, long kicks across ½ - ¾ of the field. Lots of heading! And a few times they did great getting the ball across the field with kicks or heads the whole way. The ball never touched the floor.  We couldn’t stay for the whole game, but I must tell you that the Veterans scored the first goal. Did I expect anything different? For us ol’ foggies!

July 1, Friday

Milan playing drought

A typical day goes like so: 5am wake up/shower and 6 am mass. I wake Milan at 6:45 for an omelet and toast and then we head out. I walk him to the orphanage and then I walk back up to the hospital to round with Tim until somewhere between 10-11. Tim and I then see patients in the clinic. At noon I leave the clinic and bring Milan to our house to give him lunch, and he is ecstatic that we found something very similar to Ramen noodle soup here. That small finding has made a world of difference, go figure. After lunch we head back out and I go to the clinic while he heads up to the surgical ward to play a game called “Drout” with some of the younger patients. Drout is very similar to checkers except you can jump people backwards as well. Other games they have is Ludo, which is like our game Trouble, and a card game played with regular playing cards that is like our Uno.  

One particular patient named Julius who has been there for 2-3 years has befriended Milan and is teaching him the games. After clinic, which is until the last patient is seen, usually around 3, Tim and I will re-round on some of the more critical patients or the ones who had pending labs/Xrays. Once we return home, we usually read up on the diseases we saw or issues with the patients while Milan uses the internet. Tim takes calls from the hospital and goes down to admit any patients or check any patients that have issues. 

Dinner is prepared by Felicitas and Priska, and around 4:30-5 we all 3 eat together. Following dinner Tim, Milan, and I play Uno, read, or just chit-chat.  Our last conversation was about all the different pets we have had. I was happy to meet another adult who enjoys the ferret! Shower time is about 7-7:30pm for Milan and we read till about 9pm (he is a fan of the Redwall series). That’s it.  We haven’t really deviated from this, but we do try to get creative and take different paths on our walks or I’ll try to yo-yo which is not very exciting as I can only go up and down.  Rain is pretty much guaranteed each day, sometimes a pour down. Usually many clouds, little sun. The corn harvest is happening soon and I am excited to see this.

June 27, 2011

Today is Sunday.  What to do on a Sunday in Njinikom?... 

Well, we had attended Saturday evening mass within the hospital chapel with many patients and that was very nice. It was like a complete circle of why we are here. The Sisters, Priest, patients, and caregivers, all of us… celebrating and glorifying God together. It was very special to me.  I have made many mission trips before, mostly with non-denominational groups, and the experience has been just as great. To share God with those of different faiths is a unique experience in which there is openness, curiosity, and a variety of spiritual expression, while still together sharing the commitment to loving God and loving others.  

This mission is one in which we are praying together in a familiar faith. Sharing morning mass in the convent with the Sisters is a blessed experience. Their voices are like angels, the songs express their tender love for Jesus and Mary with a beautiful rhythmic beat from their traditional instruments, and just being in their presence… which carries a fragrance of devoted love to Christ. 

The Orphanage

Milan had his second day in the orphanage and it is going well.  He usually teaches reading and math to Terrence when he first arrives, then they play with the little ones, feed them, play and put them to bed. Then the older ones have some play time of futbol (soccer).  

The older children have their responsibilities in the orphanage; cooking, washing, holding the babies, changing them, etc., before play.  This is a little bit tough for Milan as he is not used to the responsibilities of little ones...  Louis is the one that Milan is feeding in the picture. He is three years old and has some sort of paralysis of his lower extremities. He usually drags his lower body around on the floor with the good strength that he has in his arms. His mother abandoned him perhaps a year ago, and his father comes to visit him every so often in the orphanage. Louis is the happiest, most bubbly child there. His big brown eyes and huge smile just draw you to him. And, as Milan would tell you, he's the best eater!

We made it!

Got here okay, getting ourselves acquainted on Njinikom time and weather.  

Milan finished a 400 page Redwall book during the 3 1/2 day journey here.  We left Windber about 1:30pm on the 14th of June and got to the Pittsburgh airport okay. Sat in the plane for 4 hours on the ground before they decided that the mechanical malfunction could not be fixed and the fuel tank was not good enough to go over the ocean to Paris.  So... they flew us to NY Kennedy airport where we waited for a plane to come from Atlanta to pick us up and take us to Paris. That was about 1am on the 15th.  We got to paris about 2:30pm their time (they're about 6 hours ahead of PA). 

Once there, with the delay, we missed our connection to Douala and had to wait for the next day's flight. It was a 4hour wait in line for the complimentary hotel, but we met 2 gentlemen from Kosice, Slovakia who I ended up having to translate for. The following day we left at about 2pm and got to Douala at almost 9pm (with 1hour back from Douala-9pm to Paris-10pm).  

We were so happy to see Sr. Xaveria and Emmanuel, our driver.  I considered myself pretty tan amidst my American friends, but in Africa, I am very white!!  There were many, and I mean MANY helping hands at the airport, and even Sr Xaveria had some difficulty explaining to them that we did not need assistance.  Anyway, we got to the car and came to our place of sleep at the Shishong hospital with the Sisters there.  We had french fries, green beans with carrots, and some beef stew with orangina (an orange soda).  All of the Sisters were very nice, welcoming us and embracing us.  The following morning we didn't leave as early as planned which allowed us to witness the raising of a blue water buffalo on top of a building.  No, not the animal... not that exciting!! But a huge blue container, (the size of a buffalo) that had to be hoisted on top of the builiding for the well to function and provide water to the hospital.  That was a very long process, and I'll figure out how to connect video so you may see this.  Needless to say, most of the hospital was outside coaching them and suggesting different ways to getthis buffalo up... and at the end was a great round of applause.

And then began the 8 hour drive to Njinikom... Thanks God, neither of us got carsick.  That was but by the grace of God. About 3/4 of the roads were paved, while the last part of the trip was dirt roads and very bumpy.  We stopped for the most delicious pineapple, so sweet, and a fruit called Leechee.  Half way we had lunch of pizza, which was surprising to me, and it very good too.

So this brings us to now, today we slept in because we had such a hard time getting to sleep. Milan and I were making up stories and telling them to each other to help get each other sleepy. We hope to visit the orphanage today and will attend mass at 5pm.  We have lunch and dinner with Tim, the doctor here that lives above us, and he is very nice and great to have conversations with.  He is thoroughly impressed with Milan's yoyo and spintop tricks.  Milan needs tape to fix a spintop so we'll see if this is possible.
 
We will update soon, hopefully with pictures next time.