Traveling Light

30 and counting

2011-06-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

No I am not talking about my age...

I am happy to announce that we have had 30 training sessions since January of this year. Whoo hoo. Most of our trainings have been centered around resuscitation. We now have 6 nurses trained as BLS, PALS, and PEARS providers, and one nurse trained as a PEARS instructor and two volunteer staff members trained as BLS, PALS, and PEARS instructors. I am hoping to have another PEARS, BLA, PALS training in August with another 6 staff members.

PEARS class

Sharrie Tall, helping out setting up for trainings.

And Two Were Added

2011-06-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night a man came into the hospital asking for help for his newborn twins, a boy and a girl. I had just finished recovering a patient in the PACU and though that my day was done...Oh little did I know. Those that are in the hospital would appreciate this. We know that there are two words that one never says, those words being equal to a curse word... yep you guessed it the Q word or the S word (quiet or slow). Those two words can spell the end of a beautiful day or night. Well here in Haiti since we actually live in the Hospital those two words should never ever be uttered... Apparently there is another word that should be added to the list "I'm done" Never...Never say that word!! Saying I am done indicates that you are asking for the craziness to start. Ok...back to the story .

As I was leaving the PACU I began to talk to a friend of mine and decided to go to her house with her to pick up some clothes (she was the doctor on call for the night). As we were leaving to go with her to her house, no sooner were the words "I'm done for the night" out of my mouth when this man comes up in frantic but calm manner (hard to explain) saying that he needs help for his twin babies. Apparently his wife went into premature labor gave birth at another hospital/clinic. They stated that the hospital did not have an NICU to provide care or a pediatrician available that could take care of the babies. The hospital heard that we had an NICU ( which has been closed for over a month now until we can train our nurses), and we also don't have a pediatric physician at night nor could we call one in. Seeing the mans face when we told him that we did not have physician there to take care of the twins broke my heart. I began calling the other hospitals that had an NICU, either no one answered the phone, they were full or they did not have the personnel.

Dr. Spendie remembered that Dr. Regis had a maternal child clinic down the street so we went there to ask if the would accept the babies (by the way the family had no idea what heir gestational ages was, according to the dad, mom was either 6 or 7 months along). So... off we went down the street to Dr. Regis's clinic... guys if you know Haiti crossing the street is like taking your life into own hands... anyways, when we arrived at the clinic we were able to call Dr. Regis at home as asked him if he would accept the babies. Thank God he said yes (whoo, off the hook)... however only if we would admit them to our hospital (back on the hook :).

Baby boy

Dr. Spendie went to her house to change and I went back to the hospital to prepare the NICU for the babies. I write this post in sort of a joking way but all through this I was praying and still am for the babies. Our NICU has two incubators, neither one works. They do not have mattresses, they do not hold any heat and the access ports do not have any coverings... essentially the incubators are empty shells. We placed folded bed blankets to make a soft padding for their beds, a spot lamp that functions as a heat lamp when brought really close, and for coverings we tore a plastic bag and taped it over the ports.

About an hour later the babies arrived, the first one a boy, weigh 1.36 kg the second baby, a girl, weight .65 kg. Both babies arrived on oxygen at 2 liters via nasal cannula wrapped like little mummies in cotton. Both had increased work of breathing, the baby girl's temp was 35.6 C and she was pursing her lips blowing puffs of air out.

Dr. Regis was able to place an umbilical catheter in the baby girl so she could receive fluids while we were able to get a peripheral line in the little boy. Since mom was still at the other hospital and dad was not around I decided to kangaroo the baby girl (well a modified kangaroo) I had a T-shirt on. Her temp finally came up and her breathing began to stabilize .

On Thursday night in the middle of bible study one of the nurse called me to the NICU the little boy began to have some problems breathing. His sats were in the low 50's I was able to use a bulb suction to do somewhat of a deep suction and remove some really thick secretions (Thank you Sinai/Rainbow team for thinking to bring them) . After about an hour his breathing began stabilizing. I had asked the nurse to call Dr. Regis to come in as soon as I came into the room when I noticed the baby's breathing... I have to officially say that he is now one of my favorite docs.... He came in less than 15 mins to assess the babies ( which in Haiti traffic is amazing).

It is now Sunday night and the babies are still holding on. Please keep praying for them.

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times

2011-05-16T01:53:00.001-07:00

Late post started 5/16/11

It is 4am and we are still up. That beginning alone should alert you as to the type of night that we are having.

The Best of Times:

This past week has been a week full of celebrations. PULSE (Pediatric Universal Life Saving Effort) was here to provide a four day training course for the nurses and physicians at the Adventist hospital and the General hospital here in Haiti. By the end of the training several of us were certified as BLS (Basic Life Support) instructors, PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) instructors and PEARS (Pediatric Emergency Assessment Recognition and Stabilization) instructors, the others were certified as providers. PULSE also donated several manikins to our training department so that we would be able to hold courses here at the Adventist hospital in Haiti, in addition they donated supplies for our NICU and Peds unit. Needless to say I was speechless with joy (speechless is not something I do very well, ha ha).

This week we also celebrated the birthday of one of our local awesome docs, Spendie. On Thursday we celebrated the birthday of Lynn our orthopedic coordinator, on Friday we celebrated Brian's birthday (a few day's earlier but hey), and today we finished the week at the beach for nurses appreciation week and the actual celebration of Brian's B-day... I told you there were a lot of celebrations. Ok, back to the story. It was an awesome fun relaxing day at the beach... then the fun ended.

The WORST of times:

On our way back from the beach we came upon an accident. We stopped to see if we could help but not much could be done. Three people were dead on the road, another was in the ambulance with a head wound and several more were transported to a nearby hospital. I have seen death before, but I was not prepared for what we saw. For some of the others in the car it was the first time that they saw death ( I pray that the image does not stay in their head).

Later that evening an orthopedic surgery a patient threw a pulmonary embolism, fortunate it was a small one. He was started on anti-coagulation therapy and is doing well.

A few hours later a three day old infant in our NICU began having respiratory difficulty. She is stable now...

Sorry for the brevity of the post, but as I started it at 4 am and we are still up... I am going to bed... ops.. I meant I was going to bed, just got a call off to NICU

Later.

Traveling Light: CPAP- simple solution to saving a life

2011-05-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

Traveling Light: CPAP- simple solution to saving a life

CPAP- simple solution to saving a life

2011-05-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Unshed Tears

2010-10-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a mother sat outside our hospital with pictures of her and her children... she was not asking for money or food... she had a sign in English asking someone to adopt her youngest child because she had no way to continue feeding him. For eight months she has been breastfeeding her son, as he is growing her milk is no longer enough to satisfy him. This woman, who obviously cares and loves her child felt if was better to part with him than to let him starve.

This evening two women working at a local orphanage explained to me that several of the children at the orphanage were left by parents who were unable to take care of them. The mother of one of the babies who was a patient at our hospital came every day and night to take care of her baby, yet had to leave her when she was discharged from our pediatric unit because she does not have a place to live, much less money to care for her.

I spent the better part of one hour listening to one of the hospital employees telling me how she is beginning to get discouraged, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. My conversation with this strong beautiful woman started when I saw her studying English, within 15 minutes of our conversation I could see that my friend was not her normally happy self, that something was bothering her. When she began to share with me her discouragement I had no words, saying "I'm sorry" felt inadequate and "I understand" did not ring true either. She is currently living in a tent on the hospital ground with her only son.

It is eight months after the earthquake; money is scarce , food even more so and people are still living in makeshift shelters or if they are lucky under a tent.

Almost every day it rains here in Haiti, when I ask how they endured the night the common response is " we survive".

I wish I could end this blog on an upbeat note, give me a day or two... but for now... ;(

Traveling Light: Singing does help after all

2010-09-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

Traveling Light: Singing does help after all

Singing does help after all

2010-09-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Night

Tonight one of my patients who is a paraplegic was crying because she was in so much pain because of the spasms in her legs. The mother of another patient and I decided to sing to her as I massaged her legs. We told her that the singing would either be really good or just bad enough to make her forget her pain. At that point the only thing we could do was make her laugh. We sang for almost an hour until she fell asleep. I'm not sure if she the singing was good or bad but thank God something worked.

Not to be a downer, but for some reason tonight my heart hurt as I looked around and saw all these children with serious injuries, some orphans, and some with parents living in the hospital
with them because they have nowhere else to go. I keep thinking of what is going to happen to them when they have to get discharged... where will they go...

Wednesday Night.

Last night as I was in another patients room having a small worship with them, in the middle of singing I saw a big stinking spider crawling around the room... that was it for me... I swear I almost tossed the kids off the bed trying to get away from the thing...that is until this 11 year old boy with this massive wound on his leg with metals and screws coming out of every which way asked me "do you believe in God?" I replied "yes" (all the while keeping an eye out on the spider), then he asked "so why are you letting the devil distract you with fear?" Dang it... that little bugger was right. What came into my head was Philp 4:6-9 be anxious for nothing...
I am sitting here worrying about so many things and forgetting to give it to God. Why am I letting the devil distract me...

This morning I woke up with a song in my heart and for at least one hour before I left my room, before I interacted with anyone else... I decided to sing.

Marc
S.A.L.T (sisters actively living the truth)

Out of the Rubble-Haiti story.

2010-09-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Out of the Rubble from Loma Linda University on Vimeo.

Living Love Out Loud

2010-09-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

This week I have seen what real love looks like. In the middle of their suffering two women put aside their personal pain to to help someone else. There is a young girl at the hospital who suffered a spinal cord injury that left her a paraplegic. After going though several surgeries at another hospital she was essentially cast aside. She later developed multiple decubitus ulcers, on her right hip and on both her heels. This young lady also has wounds on both her legs which she explained to me were caused by rats. She described to me how she could see the rats eating away at her but did not have enough strength to call out for help. She is now at our hospital in Haiti receiving care.

For a long time Mai Mai's (pronounced my my) family were unable to come to the hospital to visit or take care of her for various reasons, Two ladies that are in the hospital saw that she did not have anyone to take care of her decided to cook for her, buy her food, clothes and even wash and turn her several times a day. The amazing thing is that neither of the women knew the young lady previously and neither had any source of income. Out of their meager savings they decided to share what they had with Mai Mai. One of the women has a baby girl in the hospital to take care of and the other is a post op patient who still has not regained her full strength. Both of these women saw a need and have quietly gone about to take care of this young lady to the point that I believed them to be family. It was only as I was giving out some instructions pertaining to the girls' care that they quietly informed me that they were not related to her.
I wish you could see how these women are treating this young lady as their own, with such tenderness, they treat her like a beloved family member.

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing,therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
- Stephen Grellet,

On my way

2010-09-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

Captains log... LoL I always wanted to start with that... I am sitting here in the airport waiting for my flight to board for Haiti. Ever since I told my family and my friends that I am going to Haiti the one common question that I got was ... "are you excited" that is of course after the " are you crazy". Just to let you know a little about me, I am a traveler, not just a person that likes to travel. I think I am the ADD verity of travelers. I love traveling with a purpose for the most part (seriously I am not trying to claim sainthood, I just get board sitting around doing nothing)... told ya I have ADD. O.K . back to the original purpose of this blog. Am I excited? yes and no. I am excited about what could be done, the prospects of that lie ahead, but I am also terrified of others expectations of me. Usually when I am asked if I am excited I have no idea how to answer, I act as if it is not a big deal, while inside I am terrified of being a disappointment. Bet you did not expect that? With all seriousness, internally I am freaking out so any words of encouragement are welcomed, prayers are also solicited ...or better yet get your bottom out here and help me. :)

Haiti... It has been several hours later and I am finally in Haiti. I met some awesome people in the airplane... man I realize that I love to talk. Thank God I had an uneventful flight, love going places but hate flying. After arriving and navigating my way through the sea of bags haphazardly cast about in baggage claim I finally made it outside only to be greeted... no bombarded by men willing to "assist"me with my bags, all for a small fee of course. Seriously, I cannot find any fault with them ... these men are only trying to make a living, it's just that having five people offer to assist me with two bags is a little much. Anyhow, after waiting in the airport for what seemed to be an eternity (actually it was only one hour... slight exaggeration for dramatic affect), The hospitals driver and I finally found each other... Have I failed to mention IT IS HOT and HUMID here... I'm just saying...

I have been here for almost one hour and after having an extensive discussion with some of the volunteer staff I have think I have identified one area that I can begin to work on... how I will start, I have no idea... but by the act of reading this you have been drafted as my support staff, I am expecting full participation.... Please... : ) I will update later after I have had some time to investigate.

Day one of Haiti adventure... also known as the Introduction

R U ready for our adventure?

Peppaseed

Found an apartment in France

2010-07-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

OK. I think this is it. I found the place that I am going to stay in France, however the host is asking me for my ID and to send the deposit ahead of time. Do you think this is a scam. I told them that I will only give the deposit after I am in the place. I hate the fact that I have to be suspicious, I want to trust everyone but in this world there are so many dishonest people. Arrrrrrrhhhh. What do u think am I being too paranoid?

New trip...New country...New adventure

2010-07-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

Two weeks and counting.... yes it is me again. Man I am bad at this blog stuff. I promise to be better this trip around. Getting ready to head to Haiti to work, but first with a stop off in France (wee wee) wait that is something else ... I ment "Oui, oui". I am back living with J until I leave again. ( this is becoming a habit) seriously. for the past several months I have been trying to find a place in France to rent for the months that i will be there. Man there area a lot of scams going on, but shall push on. it is now 1 am.. will update more tomorrow. Ciao

Ecuador or bust...

2008-08-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

I am here... or there depending on where you are. I have finally reached Ecuador. Believe it or not I do not have any adventures to share. the whole process of getting here was so smooth, I knew something was bound to happen.... Wait....

O.k y'all know how I love to travel but I HATE flying. I am one of those people that you hope does not sit next to you because you know that as soon a there is the slightest bit of turbulence they are all over you... YES that is what I did. There was this gentlemen sitting next to me, we had a nice long conversation about his life a little about mine ( for those of you with a dirty mind.. no it was not a mid-Atlantic hook up). It was a nice conversation... I LIKE TO TALK...

...Anyways back to the story... at one point in this long flight from Cali to Atlanta there was some turbulence... let me tell you, before I knew it and most certainly before he knew it I was all over him. I mean, I had a grip on his arm and I was half on his seat.. ( dang it y'all planes are not suppose to drop and sway that hard!! I thought that I was going to die). So thus began my not so short conversation with God.

Why don't planes carry parachutes instead on life jackets?...

The whole time that I was holding this man that I don't even know hostage (dang it why couldn't it be some gorgeous, young..ish, mission minded, guy sitting next to me... Oh well... just my luck...) I was apologizing... but yet I would not let go. (it was o.k. he didn't mind).

Well I have officially completed my first week... or my first school week in Ecuador. Spanish is hard. Every morning I walk 15 blocks

to school and back home (I will send you pictures of this mammoth hill I have to climb every day to go home) I better be fit before I return home.

Everyday I walk pass the American Embassy, ( I don't know why, but I feel secure knowing that I live close to the embassy). to go to school for Spanish classes. Some days I feel as if I will never learn the language.

Yo etsoy un poco triste. Yes I miss all of you... I have been hoping that one of you guys would come and visit.... then again you do have a whole year to come... and you better... please :).

This weekend if we get enough people to go we should be going to Mindo, essentially the cloud forest, however if we don't have enough people I am going to spend my Sabbath missing ya'll... well just a little... you know in between catching up on sleep, and reading.

next time I will write some more words in Spanish... right now my brain hurts.

byaaa.

Love y'all lots
Marc

One Week... The Countdown Begins....AHHHHHh

2008-08-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

O.k... O.k... O.k... I know I have missed a week, however I do have a good excuse... Mac had an emergency... Yes for you non Mac users... Mac is a computer... More so HE was my brain ( now at this point I can make a joke about men... but it is too obvious)... Love ya guys:) My hardrive died and I needed to replace it... and no I did not back it up... ( yes, yes, lesson learned). So... getting back to the original story I could not post a new blog B cause I did not have a functioning computer. Yes I Cried, O.K maybe not actual tears, but... my friends did after they heard me lamenting on and on and on about the information that I have lost....

Anyways... One more week left.. actually I have less than 5 days left B 4 I leave... you can let out your tears now...don't try to be strong I know that you will miss me:( in fact i can almost see the tears now... Oh wait that's me...hee hee... I'm eating some spicy food... :)

Anyhoo ... I will leave you for now...
Read, learn, post and share your thoughts..

Love you
Marc J A.K.A. Peppaseed

Book I: Three weeks and waiting

2008-07-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

Marc: Book I Chapter: Three weeks and waiting

This is the story of my life.

Marc Book I : Three weeks

Language learning!!! HA

I love this period of my life it is full of expectations, and fear, I not sure what God is going to do and how.

The countdown is on I now have three weeks to the day before I leave for Ecuador. Three weeks to make memories that will sustain me when I am all alone. I have three weeks to make y'all miss me :wink:Three weeks to get into trouble... and out of course, y'all know me, I'm a good girl :wink: and three weeks to miss all of you.. O.k, all right enough of the mussy stuff. :bigkiss:

Guys, as the date draws closer to leave my anxiety builds, I sometime think that i will never learn this new language , yes SPANISH arrrhhhh, yeah, yeah, yeah everyone says that I will learn Spanish easy, o.k now y'all just know that if you are a native Spanish speaker THAT IS NOT COMFORTING, try saying something in another language... you see people smiling at you with the look that says " ohh how sweet, she is butchering my language but she tried"

A lot of you (my friends) are telling me that I will learn this language, that better be the case or this is the last that you will hear from me.......until I do.

This is the story of my life, not in its entirety, just in part. it is my book to write, my adventure to tell, friends to make, tears to cry, and new joys to discover, all with the love of my life (that my friends is another chapter, wouldn't you love to read it....tss...tss.... patience)

Until next time
Love you all

Marc
Marcy
Marky Marc
Peppaseed
Caribjewel
(pick a name, depending on what you know me as)
and if you are looking for a new name to call me...
Call me Mujercita hermosa

Love ya, ciao

My Rescue

2008-07-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Life

Bed Bugs

2008-07-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Bed Bugs in Haiti

2008-07-21T19:05:00.001-07:00

2008-07-14T18:57:00.001-07:00