Tag Archives: Cite Lumiere

The Haitian Donkey is very Thankful for work done and praising God

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Hi All:

The first thing I am very thankful for is that last Sunday, the 28th of January, marked the 5th anniversary of the diagnosis of my nasty cancer, so I am praising the Lord for His grace towards me. Of course, I am thankful for the fact that I can avail myself of the fantastic medical care provided in the USA, especially after treating several patients here since that time, all of which have passed away. But, although I certainly appreciate the great care available to me, I know that the Lord has honored the prayers of so many of you faithful folks who have been supporting us before the throne of grace. The 5 years have been, overall, still very good and productive years and I want to praise the Lord for His mercy for that blessing also. Even now, I have been running a fever for 3 weeks, have had elevated white counts but blood cultures were negative x 2 and then the 3rd was positive but dead organisms (anaerobic, so hard to grow, but it means we are guessing on my antibiotics, which I have been on for almost 2 weeks and still have fevers, a bit discouraging). However, with all my support staff on the team, I have been well cared for and have been able to keep up pretty much with the workload.

I mentioned in the last email that I thought the very optimistic Duane had outdone himself in giving my brother Butch a work list that no one could reasonably do in a couple weeks (and we only had one week). I am very impressed and thankful that the team has matched his enthusiasm and have slaved long hours to achieve plastering, painting and otherwise preparing the lower level of the hospital for the tiling process next week. As I have mentioned before, so many of the group are thrown together without having met each other before being here and, along with 7 of our Haitian brothers, and they work for hours without complaint. That can only be attributed to the handiwork of the Lord in our lives. They are actually looking for new projects for Friday as they figure they will have most things done by then.

Surgery has gone well, though we have had our challenges. We did the cleft lip, it was harder than most as the little 3 month old had some scar tissue in the middle of his lip. I was afraid to remove it, the treatment of choice, as I didn’t have enough skin to close it otherwise. Tomorrow, will take off the band aid dressing and see what we see below. We also did a resection of a 20 year old burn contracture, she developed it at age 4 and it only got tighter as time went on. We resected the scar as best we could (way too long to try a zplasty) and flipped a skin graft over the situation. Will uncover the dressing on Friday and see what we have, but praying it will take. We also have had a 58 yr old man fall out of a tree, break a bunch of ribs and collapse his lungs as well as a bunch blood in the chest cavity. Had another collapsed lung this morning, will do him tomorrow if he is agreeable (I would think so as he is quite short of breath), but all decisions are group decisions. We had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy this morning that the family does not want surgery, just meds, despite the fact she is very pale and struggling. Overall, I am very thankful for all that has been done in both the medical/surgical realm and in the construction. On the flip side, I have had a number of advanced cancer patients in the clinic that I cannot possibly hope to repair, thankfully the chaplains have been working with me to at least pray with them and explain the gospel to them.

I also am very happy as the spiritual interest level of the staff seems to have gone up a quantum leap, something we have been praying for and encouraging for several years now. Am praying that this will continue in the future, as it seems to have affected the working situation with much more graciousness towards the patients on the part of the staff, etc.

So, will get on the bus at 1 am on Saturday and pray we will not run into roadblocks on the way in. Hopefully, at that hour, the rabble rousers will still be asleep in their beds and not cause trouble for us. Duane and the crew will come in Friday night about 10 pm and so will cross paths for a few minutes.

Thank you for your prayers and support of us in our service at Centre de Sante Lumiere.

In His Service,

Bill, Bob, Brad, Brian, Butch, Craig, Gord, Heather, Ian, Julie, Kathy, Margie, Montana, Sarah, Sawyer, Terri, Theresa

The Haitian Donkey and friends / family are enjoying the Haitian welcoming warmth

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Hi All:

We are safely settled in to our abodes for the week. We have had to scramble a bit as one of the rooms was too filthy to sleep in, so we had a cozy arrangement until we had a chance to clean up the situation. We found some mattresses and tossed them every which way in the house and crashed Saturday night. We have cleaned up the mess and have settled down. Boss Duane is well known for being ambitious and giving a very optimistic list of projects, but maybe he has exceeded his previous records. I am not sure if they can get it done, but everyone is doing their best and they have 7 Haitian brothers slaving with them. As always, I am impressed with how everyone works together and puts in 150% for the Lord, so I am hoping they can get close to preparing the floor for the next team of putting the tile down. I would ask that you pray that God would protect the crew, both US/Canadian and Haitian, so that no one gets ill or hurt during this week of work for His glory. We have a timeline laid out for us by Boss Duane as he comes in next week to lay down the tile on the floors, walls and ceiling we have prepared/painted for them.

Our trip down here went perfectly, for the most part. Bob Haak was the latest addition to the crew and Delta left me a message that I needed to verify the ticket with the credit card before they would let him board. As he left almost 2 hr before me and we checked things out and found no further evidence that more needed to be done. So, while Karen and I were madly packing the cold items, my TPN, antibiotics and the cold lab supplies at 4 am, we get a call that they need my credit card before they will let Bob on the plane. This is just a “random thing,” allegedly. I think my brothers and sister talked their way into letting him on the plane without the card, thankfully. Then we found out that one of the people we thought was on the later flight was on the first and we could not contact him. After that, things went smoothly until we hit Port au Prince. We had 21 suitcases for the 17 people but could only find 20. Kathy and I went to the counter to report the lost luggage, only to find that the computer said it was in the airport. We nosed around the other mission groups and found that someone had accidentally taken one of ours, so we rejoiced that the Lord allowed us to find it before they left with it.

We hit customs where the “hat was hungry” and I was told I needed to do it secretly again. Then all 3 agents showed up, one at a time, with a hungry hat. A bummer, but we did get out of there with all our luggage intact. The ride to the hospital went well, although there were a lot of anti government protests and we had to snake our way through the side streets to get out of town, a rather time consuming process. We had a large meal of fish and rice with beans awaiting us and we enjoyed that before sleep. Sunday services at the hospital were a lot of fun as Sarah played the keyboard and we ended up singing several English hymns, then doing it in French again and I think all the people appreciated it. It was very special and a great way to start the week.

The work week has started with a bang and it is going well. We did Bob’s hernia first thing, then ran 2 rooms to get done early enough to organize some other projects, clear out the clinic and do the ultrasounds that were waiting to be seen. We then got Bob settled in the office of the house, where he seems to be doing well. We worked with soaked towels and cloths put along the floors to keep the dust from getting into the ORs with some success. So, please continue to pray for good and safe progress towards our goal before Duane arrives to inspect things on Friday night (we leave early Saturday).

Thanks for your encouragement, prayers and support for our work here in Haiti for our Lord.

In His Service,

Bill, Bob, Brad, Brian, Butch, Craig, Gord, Heather, Ian, Julie, Kathy, Margie, Montana, Sarah, Sawyer, Terri and Theresa,

A Haitian Donkey and friend and family plan their return to Haiti

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Hi All:

I had been waiting til my scheduled visit with my oncologist today to bring you more completely up to date. He was supposed to be visiting in India, apparently not back yet, so decided I should update those of you who so faithfully pray for me and our work for our Lord in Haiti. Personally, I had been feeling great all the month of December and into January until last week, when I again spiked a temperature to 101 plus. Not really any other symptoms except some chills, rigors and nausea, but no congestion, other flu like symptoms. So, got a blood count x 2 this week, some elevation of the infection profile but, so far, blood cultures are negative. I have increased my daily antibiotic dosage, hoping to stay somewhat healthy and have been able to function fairly well with continual Tylenol usage. Trying to taper off, not so great. So, Lord willing, am planning on returning to Haiti next Saturday early morning with a crew of family and friends, many of whom have made regular trips to help us but also a batch of “newbies.” I will continue the antibiotics and Tylenol faithfully to keep me going and hope that I can outlast whatever this critter is using to try to slow me down. Pray for wisdom and courage to keep going and that I can be a productive member of the team.

I still have not heard back from Dr. Bartlett regarding his reading of my CT scan done around Christmas, I have left messages and hoping to hear before I leave for Haiti.  With that in limbo and my local oncologist out of the country, I am no wiser than before, but, except for the fever and aches, feel decent and very thankful that I am able to continue to serve people both here and in the US. Like most of my friends and patients, I have gained weight over the holidays, earning the title of “my chubby hubby” again.  The last team (Grifhorsts x 3 and others) just returned with some delays in the Atlanta airport due to the weather. They did a ton of work putting up the rest of the enclosing fence to keep the increasing number of pilferers from helping themselves to hospital supplies, etc. They rearranged the walls and doors so that our team can finish the floor and wall preparation and paint the walls before the following crew put the tile down on the next week. Apparently, my brother Butch will get his long list of projects to be done this week from Dan and Duane. I don’t know that they ever have given a list one crew can hopefully get done in the time frame allotted, but appreciate their organization of the repairs and progress at the hospital site. We never feel useless or unwanted.

Thanks again for your prayers and support of our work in Haiti, we couldn’t do it without your help.

In His Service,

Bill and crew (don’t have it all done yet!!)

Update from Haiti

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Our plane to Haiti was delayed 5 hours so we did not get to the hospital until 9:30pm.  Luke has done many surgeries so far and referrals for future doctor’s. Many unexpected maintenance issues as always, but almost all fixed and preventive list completed. I have 8 Haitians working on various projects, one we are adding a 16 foot extension onto the Renault Sunday school today so we pre-cut everything for Duane’s group so they can construct it today. I also have 3 big projects here at the hospital and hopefully will be completing them today. If you’re wondering why I’m sending this in the morning it’s because last night was quite interesting for me. I was talking to my wife and son on Google chat and had an itch on my leg, touched it and blood sprayed across the room. A varicose vein ruptured! I managed to put pressure on it and found a first aid kit in the other room. The next hour I cleaned up blood that sprayed everywhere. Luke came back from his walk and decided to wait till today to do surgery on it so he had help, I will go last making sure the Haitians are taken care of first. In the states they would do Laser, but here they will cut and rip them out, looking forward to that; NOT. So, I am on light duty for the rest of my trip, pray my surgery goes well. I’m going to scrub in and help, they said I could do some stitches.

Bye for now

Jeff & Dr. Luke

A Request for Help Again

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Hi All:
I know that we have sent out a lot of requests for help in the last while, but Dan Boerman called me last night to ask if I would send out another request for some more assistance.  He is at the hospital with Duane, they and their Haitian coworkers have repaired the hospital roof, have been clearing all the fallen trees (normally, looking out the back of the administration building towards the town, there was a line of trees along the border of the hospital property, and, if one was a bit discouraged with all the poverty, disease and devastation in Haiti, one could just sit there for a bit and think more pleasant thoughts) and planning on ways to help all the suffering folks around the hospital. Unfortunately, he says all the trees are down, taking down the hospital fence with them, so security is compromised. I think Dan is heading to the Samaritan’s Purse warehouse today to see what he can beg off them in the way of supplies for the folks of the hospital area. Pray for wisdom for Dan and Duane as they prioritize all that needs to be done for relief of suffering and in a way that brings God glory.

So, his request is that I try to recruit some more help for our November 5 trip to Haiti. It has become our custom that a mechanically trained individual accompany me each trip, ostensibly to repair the hospital physical plant, some of which is 70 years old and a bit decrepit, but also to keep an eye on the feeble medical aspect of the team and help him lift his suitcases (I try to convince them I am just fine, they don’t always agree). However, they would like more help for Micah Baxter in repairs to the hospital and surrounding houses. It seems that all the hospital employees are safe, but almost all have lost their tin roofs and thus have no protection for themselves or their belongings from the rain, sun and robbers. As a result, one of our immediate goals is to try to cover their houses as soon as possible, as we need them work at hospital but they also need to provide safe housing for their families. As someone may have the time and ability to go but not the finances, contributions toward the generalized effort would be greatly appreciated.

Dr. Moise and Dan report that the hospital really survived physically quite well, some wet supplies, but nothing significantly damaged. He said that they are overwhelmed with work as many of the injured have nowhere to go, as the government hospital is deep in mud and the staff have gone to their homes in Port, etc to ride out the storm’s effects. So, we are thankful for God’s protection and provision for our people and are praying for his guidance for all of us as to how to best proceed.

On a personal note,  I am lean, mean and hungry this morning, remaining without the ability to eat (and now also drink) anything, waiting for them to replace a port in my left chest (they pulled the one in my right chest Wednesday evening, waiting 48 hours to put a new one in in case it is the source of my infection, so far, no one knows for sure) for continued IV antibiotics at home as well as TPN. Then I will be released from prison some time this evening and hope to return to work on Monday. Pray for my coworkers here as my sudden, unplanned sick leave has put a strain on their workload and patient care and I have chemotherapy in another week, then back for a week and then off to Haiti, hopefully with some newly recruited help.

Once again, many thanks for your prayer and support of our work for Him in Haiti.

In His Service,

Bill, Karen, Dan and Duane and the rest of the Haiti Team