The Haitian Donkey Ventures Into Holland Hospital (Again)

Hi All:

Since we are keeping our social distances, I will update you on what is going on.  All 4 of us are living and working from home (Rachel teaches her classes on line at University of Arkansas from here), I just take call for the office, which has been quite busy, and James and Jenn each have set up a home office in the bedrooms upstairs.  I continue to fight the infection, we upped the dose of the Amikacin a little and checked levels yesterday (not back yet) in hopes of killing the critter for good.  I had my line changed over a wire on Friday and that went well, but did grow out the critter on the tip.  However, in checking labs for the antibiotic levels on Monday, my Hemoglobin has been drifting down slowly and reached a critical enough level at 6.8 that Dr. De Cook was willing to help me get some blood tomorrow.  I had some blood in January, but between the cancer sapping my condition and the multiple blood draws, my Hemoglobin has drifted down again.  

As you remember, I had severe heartburn and vomiting for 2 days last week, with milder problems on each side of that time.  We hope that I can get a gastric tube placed at Holland Hospital to provide a blow hole for the backed up pressure to be released when needed without all the vomiting and heartburn.  It is only a palliative procedure but if it avoids weeks like last weeks, it will be well worth it.  Dr. De Cook also has arranged for me to receive 3 units of blood, for which I am very thankful.  Unfortunately, with Covid 19, they will not allow anyone to stay with me there in the night, likely not a problem but my left knee is “gimpy” as well as painful.  After 7 years of being numb, the left leg has become alive again and has a throbbing pain that first was in the lower leg, now has moved up to the knee and thigh.  It is troublesome at night in keeping me awake, but sometimes (like yesterday at the pharmacy in the parking lot) it suddenly gives way and I go down.  I use the walker a fair amount if not in the house, will take it with me to the hospital and also use a wheelchair but my frequent nightly bathroom trips will have to find another solution.  

There have been no new updates from Haiti, I have talked to them, but no cases of Corona diagnosed in our section of Haiti, but then, they have no testing supplies, so who really knows what is going on.  Plus, anyone who has ridden down the roads there realize that one can get a nasty cough and congestion just from riding in the open busses and taxis, as they all belch black smoke from their diesel engines and cough, sputter and gasp a lot themselves, let alone the humans who ride in them or follow them.  Please continue to pray that the ministries at CSL can continue and the workers be protected from the nasty virus, as treatment options are about as available as the test kits.  Dan Boerman and I have been trying to figure out how to get more supplies, as IDA in the Netherlands is still on lockdown and even if they open up, who knows when Haiti will and we don’t need our supplies locked up in Port for months.  

In His Service,

Bill for James, Jenn, Rachel and the Haiti Team