Tag Archives: Surgery

The Haitian Donkey and friends enjoy Haitian sunshine

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Hi All:
Once again, we are very thankful to the Lord that He has seen fit to allow us to return to Haiti and serve Him here with our brothers and sisters. As most of you know, I was quite ill after the return from the last trip in December. As I was in Haiti for the first 3 days of my line infection, by the time I got home, it had entrenched itself very well before I got home, got blood cultures and was able to start IV antibiotics. With all the fluid retention that is part of the body’s response to stresses such as surgery or infections, I was up 16lbs from my normal and struggling with excess fluid in my lungs, a bit scary at times. I know many of your were praying for me and I greatly appreciate it, as God was gracious again and has kept me going for the time being. So, the twelve of us, 9 from Grand Rapids and 3 from Missouri, met in Miami and flew in to Port au Prince Saturday afternoon. Thankfully, everything there went well and we were on the road soon. I had operated on the driver last year, so he was more kindly inclined to go carefully and we had a good trip back to the hospital.

Surgical clinic was interesting, both Jose and I worked with Moise and it rolled well. We had a good variety of cases and, if they all show up, surgery will go well. The rest of the crew went to the Sunday School at Renault and then to the camp and had an enjoyable day. The weather has been perfect to a bit cool for the Haitian Donkey, so tolerable for the rest of the team. One group is building the morgue and a couple bathrooms for the patients in the downstairs of the hospital, another is putting some roofs on houses in the village and there have been a number of repair projects that need attention. Dan has been trying to repair the chemistry machine for the lab with some success thus far, also trying to repair the washing machine in the laundry. We also are organizing the storage rooms further and making progress in that regard.

Surgery is doing well. The number of cases has been a bit limited, to be expected during the early part of the year, as no one has a lot of money left, with the holidays, school fees for the new year, etc. So, have been able to work on a number of projects, not finishing any, but trying to make some progress as time allows. We are possibly interviewing a physical therapy assistant to work with Isaac this week. There appears to not be many of these individuals in the country, so a lot of negotiating is needed to sort things out, including salary, etc. Pray for wisdom, as years of struggling with the previous individual make us want to start this department back up on a good foot (no pun intended).

Thanks for praying for us and your support in so many ways. It is appreciated.

Bill, Dan, Dave, Jenna, Jordan, Jose, Joshua, Kelly, Mary, Patti, Paul,  Stephanie

The Haitian Donkey and friends / family are doing will in Haiti

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Hi All:
The week has been busy but good, as usual. Wednesday was quite busy in the OR, we did a number of interesting cases, including a difficult large thyroid mass, an interesting breast problem, a bit of a struggle with another hysterectomy and a number of more routine cases. Additionally, we did some other interesting cases that are not acceptable to talk about in mixed company. I also saw a pastor (it is the annual church convention next door, always the first week in December, so some of them profit by seeing me with problems) with a fair sized stomach tumor that has eroded and is bleeding, so he is anemic. We are pumping him up and I hope to do it with Jose and Moise next month, a bit out of our comfort zone, but with the 3 of us, we hope to be able to help him out as he doesn’t have the money for the prices in Port, often 3-4 times what we charge. I also had a lady with schizophrenia whose daughter in law injects her monthly with meds and keeps things on a fairly even keel. However, she traveled out of the country and charged her brother in law with the task of the injection. Unfortunately, he goofed and gave her 10 times the dosage, they showed up in a panic this morning and we are watching her carefully. I think she will do well despite the error, though will have a few side effects in the meanwhile.

I cannot believe the amount of work the team is getting done, as usual. My sister, Margie and her friend, Marsha, have cleaned, patched holes and painted the physical therapy room. We also enlisted the help of the deaf mute person who works in physical therapy (don’t ask me too many questions, I don’t know how this all works, but it seems to do well) plus a somewhat sluggish guard to scrub the crutches, walkers, wheelchairs and the rest of the equipment, so all will be clean and shiny. I am impressed and appreciative. Butch and Gordy have repaired (with the help of Rod) the water pump, the sterilizer, and have installed the hurricane shields for the hospital windows with the help of the ever faithful Dudu. I worry about Sam (I am – his nickname per Butch, it is obvious which one of us still has little ones at home) as he is a bit more mature than the rest of us and won’t quit when I tell him to. So he is quite wiped out by nightfall, but ready to go at it again in the morning. He and Jean Herbert have made 13 benches for the patients to sit on on the veranda and in various places around the hospital. He certainly is also appreciated as much as the rest of the crew, they all are willing to get filthy in the jobs they are doing, a really good testimony to our brothers and sisters here.

The heat has been tough on the rest of the crew, I am loving it, of course. My energy level seems a bit lower than normal but I make it through each day just fine. Everyone seems to enjoy the Haitian meals we have at lunch, so far, we have NOT had the boiled fish, PTL. I can eat almost anything, but that one is a bit of a struggle. The eyes staring at me really don’t bother me, just not enamored with the taste of this type of boiled fish. (I spoke too soon, we had it for lunch, but the rest of the team did ok, maybe just my taste buds are off, will blame the chemotherapy?) We started this morning with a little fellow of about 4 years age with a modified circumcision, to finish what he began in error, poor fellow. The rest of the surgeries have gone well again today, we had a brief meeting with the employees and passed out the wrapped tote boxes from the young folks at Jamestown Baptist Church. That was a nice pre-Christmas gift for the employees. No one opened their package, so I couldn’t satisfy my curiosity and figure out what was in the packages. Once again, I have to thank all of you who gave so generously to the “Rice and Goats Fund.” It is humbling and encouraging to me that you all are willing to help the Haitian employees once again.

In His Service, with Thanksgiving,

Bill, Butch, Gord, Marcia, Margie and Sam

The Haitian Donkey and friends arrive back home to chilly temperatures

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Hi All:
We are thankful that, at least some of us, have arrived back home safely with only a few minimal speed bumps. Tabitha, Zella and I had a good flight to Miami, arriving early but needing to wait for the jammed arrival bays to empty a slot for us, so lost the 30 minutes we had gained by sitting out on the tarmac. We then pulled up to the bay and they brought out the jet bridge but were unable to open the door that would funnel us upstairs to the passport control to prevent us from entering illegally? They had to wait another 30 minutes or so to have the Miami Dade police arrive and open the door for us to empty out. I always leave a minimum of 2 hrs in Miami for unplanned extras but the poor lady in front of us had only left 90 minutes and undoubtedly missed her connection. Fortunately, Tabitha and Zella had over 2 hrs also as we got jammed up in TSA and again were routed to the outside to try to get us through it faster (that has been the last 2 times, I have not been impressed with the speed saved). Actually, Tabitha and Zella did progress pretty well, my line was a rookie (hopefully) who sent everything through repeatedly and took forever so I think we processed only 10 people in more than 30 minutes. A couple times I think I saw her coworkers roll their eyes at her requests, but progress remained at a donkey’s pace. The rest of the trip went fine for us, but we somehow had a miscommunication with Jean Eddy about him staying in Port after dropping us off at 6:30 am to take 2 men from Jamestown Baptist Church who were to work with Duane and Ruth next week. We had made a bunch of sandwiches for them to last the day, I did have them get 2 fuel filters for the Kia supposedly while they were waiting, but I know that Jean Eddy was a bit worried as his father in law is failing fast, confused and disruptive at his home (he stays with them) plus his wife is struggling with her diabetes and I know he had a lot on his mind. I have given him some medication to sedate him some and make him more manageable, but he insists on taking off the diapers we give him and doing things here, there and everywhere.

Long story short, they went back to the hospital with the fuel filters but no passengers! That is totally out of character for Jean Eddy, who is very meticulous in his work. Once again, we had to call upon our faithful friend, Dr. William, who is still working in the burn center at Doctors without Borders (he said they treat over 1,000 burns yearly, what a painful situation) who was able to get free and arrange their transport to Cayes. He put them on a taxi from the airport to the hospital with an estimated arrival time of 11 pm but we got a text today that the taxi had an accident en route, so they had quite a traumatic trip overall. Mob rule takes over when, especially a foreigner in a vehicle hits someone else (even if they are not driving) and they pound the vehicle trying to punish the people “responsible”. I have always offered the drivers $50 US, about 3 days pay for a good driver, if they will go slowly, they have never taken me up on it. So they ended up paying $500 US to obtain their “get out of jail card.” Again, not their fault, but in Haiti, guilty until proven innocent is the law. Hopefully they have recovered today and can have a productive week after all.

We wrapped up surgery well, Dr. Moise had caught a cold and was struggling to keep the pace going but we were able to double team the ORs as much as possible and thus get him home sooner to rest and bounce back. He remains very dedicated to the work and is appreciated by myself and others. The other doctors don’t seem to share his and William’s dedication and this is frustrating to us all. For them, this is more a job rather than a ministry, to a degree, similar to some of what I perceive as struggles in medical care in the US, so many people involved that the patient gets caught in dropped passes, etc. Moise and William (both local boys, living a few hundred yards from the hospital) always saw every one of their patients every day and developed relationships with them in a good sense and the patients appreciated it. Moise has been trying, without much success yet, to get more accountability in the care system. Pray for wisdom, encouragement and cooperation for him in this regard. We finished with a couple more interesting patients, including the one from the prison system where they have rather bizarre activities?

Last update, I bragged a bit about how hard Miss Lisberthe (Nurse Beth is her English name) works to keep the OR going and clean, single handedly responsible for our very low infection rate. I would expect it is lower than the US, partially because our people don’t have much in the way of resistant organisms, etc but much credit goes to her hard work also. Her skill in choosing husbands is maybe not as good, both ended up in adultery and she divorced them promptly and will now remain single. She has one 24 yr old daughter by the first fellow but has a large heart for helping others. Last month, an uncle brought a boy with some congenital deformities for surgery. We fixed some of it, will see what progresses with the rest, but the uncle never came back to pick up the orphan (we found it out from the young man, who looks like he is 6 but is allegedly 12, that he has not had parents for years and has been bounced from place to place, not ever being wanted). So, the boy just hung around the hospital, eating what he could find. Now, Miss Lisberthe has brought him food and will see if she can raise him as her own. How this all fits in the legal system is not clear, but she is going to enroll him in school tomorrow, got him some clothes (from the donated stuff I bring down) and will take him in. He already calls her his “Mama” with a broad smile. He is called John, but then likely 80% of Haitian men are called John, so will wait to see what more distinctive name he inherits from her? Those are the things that greatly encourage us, when the Christian brothers and sisters take care of their own without our help (though Tabitha and I have promised to help with the school expenses as she has limited funds and is still building a couple rooms for herself on her dad’s cement roof).

So, will get this delayed update off and, once again, thank you all for your support, prayers and encouragement of our ministry for Him in Centre de Sante Lumiere in Cayes, Haiti. Thanks also for the donations we have received so far for the “Rice and Goats Fund” which will encourage our employees so much at the season that we remember the great Gift God gave us in sending His Son for us.

In His Service,

Bill, Duane, Ruth, Tabitha and Zella

The Haitian Donkey and friends are making good progress together

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Hi All:
Once again, the week flies by here. We all seem to make good progress, though some differences of opinion as to the pleasure of the heat index. As per normal, I am loving it, the rest of the crew seems to think it is an unseasonably hot October for Haiti. Poor Duane is out in the sun with the crew, they poured the floor Monday, then have been fabricating the forms for the walls and roof of the new, improved, incinerator. The sun definitely beats down on their heads and wears the crew down, but they are steadily making progress. I think he plans to pour the walls and top on Monday. His crew is definitely being stressed to the limit to get the work done, although our projects are starting to get wrapped up and they fear that the opportunities at CSL will be drying up soon, so they are motivated to do their best. Someone who is always there and was missed by Duane on Monday was Alphonse, who many of you know if you have been to Haiti on work teams, now he is 82 but is always there. I ended up taking a large bladder stone and a bunch of gravel out of his bladder on Monday and he is recuperating well.

Surgery is going well though busy, to be expected as I missed my last trip here last month. Tabitha had never seen a dermoid ovarian cyst, so we obliged her with 2 this week. The first was about 12 x 10 x 8 inches and adherent to everything, the intestines, the walls and fluid filled but also a good sized ball of hair that interested her but also made her stomach a bit queasy. We did a second one today that was much smaller and also had a hairball plus teeth, just to keep things interesting. Our cases this week include a number of patients operated on elsewhere in the past with a significant amount of residual scar tissue, making things a lot more of a puzzle and messy. I am encouraging everyone possible to come see Dr. Luke when he follows me in early November, as we cannot accommodate them all and he is willing to pick up the slack (greatly appreciated).

I did notice that both Dr. Moise and I have matured some since we started here over 14 years ago, some of the joints talk to you during long cases and we work hard at getting done by 8 pm at night so that we can get a good night’s sleep. We have made it each night, not by much, like 2 minutes, but thankful that we can serve so many suffering souls. The head OR nurse, Miss Lisberthe, slept at the hospital last night as she didn’t want to make the journey home late at night just to return in the early am. Her level of dedication is a major reason why we have so few infections working here in Haiti, as she scrubs both ORs from floor to ceiling and everything in them the week before I arrive and everything is spotless. She seems to have a significant amount of energy and often takes off on the run to get a tool I ask for (unfortunately sometimes too fast, not waiting long enough to totally understand what we need and she comes back with something other than what I really need and I have to wing it and use it a bit before asking again for what I really want, so as to not hurt her feelings). However, it is so much easier to direct someone that is moving than to get them to overcome their inertia.

It has also been a bit difficult to get an open bed for more surgical patients as we are full all the time at present, having a number of medical patients, a couple burns, some CHF people and other serious cases tying up the beds. Overall, everyone seems to be adjusting well to the situation. It is difficult to realize that my next trip will be December already and making plans for our Rice and Goats fund to be distributed at Christmas, as this year it will be most appreciated again, as the exchange rate is 74 Goudes to 1 USD, making life a struggle for especially our 30 people who make less than $100 US/month. So I thank you all in advance for making this possible, we all greatly appreciate it.

In His Service,

Bill, Duane, Ruth, Tabitha and Zella

The Haitian Donkey and friends enjoy pleasant weather

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Hi All:
I first want to give you a brief update as to the health status of the Haitian Donkey. As you know, I had been undergoing experimental immunotherapy as no one really knows what to do with me and my cancer. The cost of the medicine, since my insurance does not cover experimental treatments, is $160,000 per year, so we opted for a cousin that is trying to get a piece of the market and thus a bunch of red tape but not much expense. There are a number of conflicting opinions as to whether or not it was helping me slow down the relentless growth of the cancer, but by the study guidelines, it was growing too rapidly and I was dropped out of the study last Monday. My oncologist promises to look for another study, as other options are limited, I also am still waiting for Dr. Bartlett to read the latest CT scan and give me his opinion of what comes next. Because of my short bowel syndrome, it has to be an IV study as I would not qualify for anything oral.

I must admit that I have more energy and feel good off the medicine, but then, no one disagrees that it is, at best, a controlled poison? So, along with Duane, Ruth, Tabitha and Zella, we departed early on Saturday morning for the homeland of the Donkey. By God’s grace, other than some significant turbulence, the trip went well, including the customs inspection. There were a number of reminders of the violence that erupted last Wednesday, again some political uprisings, along the way, as the less than great roads were disrupted further with the tire burnings every so far on the road. Allegedly this planned rioting was to commemorate the death of some other(s?) in previous rioting, unfortunately, some more were killed in this episode. They also took out a bridge about an hour from the hospital, allegedly to force the government to construct a bigger, better one? I remember all the politicians vying for office back in Michigan bemoaning the state of our roads and the need to plow a bunch of money into fixing them up properly and I smile when I wonder what they would think of what our vehicles have to endure.

We have settled in well, as we arrived in the early evening, I was able to sleep 12 hours pretty much uninterrupted (except for the obligatory potty breaks that have been part of life for the last 3 years) and feel very perky. We have a pretty full schedule set up, if everyone shows up, of course, for the week. The Haitian Goude has sunk lower again, a real problem as much of the food supply and other essential goods comes in from the US and thus life is more difficult for the Haitian Donkey’s friends and coworkers here in Haiti. Duane will start on the incinerator project in the morning, apparently the government inspectors are coming this week (good timing as he can hopefully convince them their plans wouldn’t work anywhere nearly as well as the ones he is using). Glad Tabitha is here to help me in the OR, etc. They also have made sure that I am not hurting for food, yikes.

Am finishing on Monday as we did get the internet hooked up and can communicate again. The OR was busy, as expected, but went well overall. Have seen some interesting stuff, some of which is not fit for printing for a variety of reasons. One poor young girl of 10 years of age has one leg at least 4 inches shorter than the other, I think she might have had a congenital dislocated hip that was never attended to and sits up by her waist, not sure there is a lot we can do now, but will see what the xrays show. She certainly adapts well and is most delightful to treat so far. Several other young children have other congenital deformities, including one with a cleft lip and palate (I do lips but cannot do a palate as don’t have the obturators to keep the little one from destroying my repair with their tongue). Another had cerebral palsy and has very spastic legs, to the point that she cannot walk. So, have been working on trying to get our Physical Therapy department set up, still running into roadblocks as no one wants to challenge the previous person.

Will send this while the internet is working and express our appreciation for your prayers, encouragement and other support for the work here at Centre de Sante Lumiere in Cayes. We are thankful that the last earthquake didn’t do any damage to the southern part of the island this time, though people still have the last one well imprinted in their minds.

In His Service,

Bill, Duane, Ruth, Tabitha and Zella