Hello All:
I left a lot of loose ends unwrapped last time, still have not gathered them all but will give you an update on how things are going for the straggling Haitian Donkey. As promised, the blood cultures followed an elevated blood count, both lines had a low number but still positive cultures for Staph Aureus, not sensitive to any oral antibiotics except for Sulfa, which I am allergic to, unfortunately. So, started an IV antibiotic 10 days ago and have perked up considerably, to the point that we were able to do some yard work yesterday and make some progress on spring projects that yearn to be done after being frozen so long this lengthy winter. I will check another blood count tomorrow and see what it brings, as it affects future plans for work at Georgetown Med Center and Centre de Sante Lumiere. Tentatively, Dr. Lakhani has planned to skip cycle # 3 and just move it into cycle # 4, ie push everything back 3 weeks and step back into the routine. However, that presumes the line cultures come back negative, the infection goes away, and a number of other factors, some of which I likely don’t know about. I must admit that I feel better off the poison, less nausea in the mornings and more energy, but if that is the price to slow down the nasty cancer, I will put up with the grief if that is the Lord’s will.
The suitcases for Centre Lumiere arrived late Monday night, thankfully, so that is on the way to the destination of the handiwork of the ladies at the Center. Several people lately have asked me the difference between the titles, so will briefly try to clear them up. The hospital site we work at is called Centre de Sante Lumiere (Health Center of Light) and is located on a property owned by MEBSH (foreigners cannot own land in Haiti, if I understand it correctly) called Cite Lumiere (City of Light), where RMI and other mission agencies have their offices and a bunch of missionaries with various groups have their homes and bases of operations. Centre Lumiere (Center of Light) is the work that Caleb and Olga (and Luise Schurer in the past) do teaching ladies to do handwork, learning trades, etc, and where we have materials that we bring back to the US for sale to support the ministry. Finally, Hospital Lumiere is our sister hospital up in the hills, a 120 bed hospital run by the ACC group that utilizes a number of specialty groups from the US that come on a regular basis to do more complicated surgeries as possible. Many of those groups come through Lumiere Medical Ministries, a North Carolina group that organizes details of these groups going to Haiti to a number of different ministries to serve. I likely, in my usual fashion, only muddied the waters, but I promised I would try.
We still need prayer for another administrative decision in progress in Haiti, we are hoping that things will continue to smooth out there and we will continue to see progress in the overall situation at the hospital. We also have received word that the fuel pump has come from Australia and that Ed Sanders and crew are planning on installing it, so hopefully the little Kia will be in operation soon. The Haitian climate is very hard on the vehicles, the fuel, the roads, the heat and the loads, so we are praying about another vehicle that possibly could come from the US, as we could get parts regularly and reasonably, impossible in Haiti. Who knows how many years the tires may have been in the hot warehouse before we buy it, they certainly don’t seem to last very long on the vehicle despite careful drivers.
So, we are setting up trips for the months to come, I have to organize the medical parts and my partners will handle the technical aspects, of course. I wish I could see into the future and how well my health will hold up under the treatments planned for me, but will prayerfully make plans for myself and my colleagues. Being of the Dutch persuasion, I hate to part with an extra $200 per ticket just to change tickets when the plans fall through. Continue to pray also for Drs William and Moise as well as Welser, the administrator, as they have pivotal roles in the future of the hospital and we try to work together to keep God’s Work in Haiti going for His Glory.
In His Service,
Bill, Karen, Rachel, James and Jenn Ten Haaf and Crew