A Well-Balanced Day

Hello Everyone,

As you may have already seen, we posted some more pictures earlier this evening. We have learned how to shrink the file sizes so they will upload with the slower connections here.

We have had a great day today. First, the temperatures are quite a bit cooler today, with a nice breeze, which is a welcome arrival to us all. At the hospital today, we had our normal morning rounds, then several procedures in Theatre, including some debridements of wounds, removal of a foreign body from an eye, lipoma excision, and several surgical cases. I actually learned how to do a D&C today, although I may never have to do one again in my life, I thought what the heck, here is an 18 year old I admitted who had a miscarriage and needs the procedure, and I have the opportunity to learn something new. In the OR, there were several cases. One was of a young man in his 20's who presented with abdominal problems and we determined to have a perforated small bowel as a result of typhoid infection. We took him to the OR, where we encountered many problems. He coded twice in the OR, requiring multiple doses of epinephrine, atropine, and several fluid boluses. He required chest compressions twice. And remember this procedure is only under spinal anesthesia! So, meanwhile, his oxygen levels drifted down and we had to bag him with a very old device, but had no supplemental oxygen to connect to it, so we were basically just giving him extra breaths with room air, so we probably weren't doing a whole lot to help his oxygen levels. His bowel also looked very ill in the procedure and as a result we had to make an ileostomy rather than sew it back together. With all these things taken into account, there is a very low likelihood he will survive, but as of this time he is still alive. Keep him in your prayers, because we are sort of at a watch and wait period as we are using every resource available which will likely not be enough.

In the afternoon, Jeremy, some other volunteers here, and I went to visit an orphanage started by one of the pastors of a local church. They have a total of 18 children, most who are without a mother or father, and few who can't be cared for by their parents. The ages range from 2 or 3 up to 8 years old. Ages here are not well recorded or recalled, so it is always a rough estimate. The orphanage is probably nice for what is available here, but is still quite sad, as you can see in some of the pictures. It is a rented facility, a small compound with 4 rooms in a "house" and 3 little huts connected to it. The children all sleep on carpets they can roll out on the concrete floor. There is 1 window in each room. They have no electricity and no bathroom facilities. Cooking of food takes place outside in the little open area of the place over a wood fire, and the children get 3 meals per day. They are all very sweet children and it just breaks your heart to see them there. In talking to the pastor, he said it is almost impossible for a Ghanaian family to adopt any of the children because of the country-wide poverty here. His hope is for them to be adopted into other countries and loving homes. Currently, a young woman from Germany who has just completed college with training in Special and behavioral education is here working with the children for a few months. Hopefully she will be able to help with some of the behavioral issues they have at the orphanage, and also to help set a good example for the people who routinely care for the children. Please, pray for the safety of these children and that they will find homes. It is truly only by the grace of God that they are even alive at this point in their lives!

After returning home from our visit to the orphanage and town, Jeremy and I took a walk nearby the hospital complex. We were in search of a river that is often mentioned nearby. After a long walk, we found a dry river bed, with a few puddles. It is obvious where water would be due to the lay of the land and the rock bed of the river, but it is very dry now. We had hoped to take some really good photos of the countryside while walking, so I carried my camera tripod, backpack with extra supplies etc, only to realize about 30 minutes into walking that I had left the piece that connects the camera to the tripod lying on my nightstand here. We still got some good photos, but not as many as I had hoped. Unfortunately, I was not able to take any timed photos of the two of us, because I refuse to set my camera down in the sand here for obvious reasons. We posted a few of the better pics, and hopefully on more of our free afternoons we will have the opportunity to get some more good visuals of the country to share with you.

Tonight we had a traditional Ghanaian dinner (our first since arriving at the hospital). It was peanut soup and rice balls. It was very tasty, but man the peanut component was strong, so strong that I could only eat about a half bowl, even as much as I love peanuts! We also were treated with a chocolate cake and ice cream which was great. Otherwise, our food has mostly been North American stuff--hamburgers, hot dogs, spaghetti, lasagna, tacos, vegetable beef soup, many variations of chicken and bread, pot pies, etc. I honestly do not expect to lose much weight on this trip because we are fed so well, and definitely aren't getting as much exercise as we did in South America since we spend a lot of time at the hospital.

It is getting late as I type this, so I think I will stop here for tonight. Keep us in your prayers and please know that we really enjoy your comments and emails. We will post again soon.
Love always,
Steve