Follow-up

Remember Ravette?  She came by for a visit and brought Stephen a pineapple!
She's doing great!

Update on Ninelle

At the end of May, we shared the story of Ninelle, a patient here in Impfondo who desperately needed a life saving surgery beyond the capabilities of our hospital.

We are happy to share the news that Ninelle is now on her way home!  She and Amanda Volkman will be traveling back to Congo this week, and continuing on to Brazzaville this week.

On Reigning in Life, there is a short video of Ninelle sharing her testimony during a Sunday morning celebration.

{photo courtesy of Amanda Volkman}

Praise God with us for this answer to prayer, and please pray for safe and healthy travels!

Blue Lightning- Pt 2

I shared some pictures last week of Blue Lightning.  Cristy Presler tells in more detail about the experience!

So this is blue lightning! Mama Sara introduced me to John who showed us his broken down trike. John had polio as a child and is now unable to walk. He is also mute so even beyond the language barier, communication was interesting to say the least. He was getting around by wearing flip flops on his hands and on his knees.

Before

When his trike worked, he could get around easier and he even sold fuel from the back. So without the trike, he was limited...God placed on my heart to help him out. So we took it back and blue became a fixture in the house! I worked on it, braved the market to buy supplies, scrubbed rust and put a top knoch paint job! When we gave blue to John, he was so excited!

After- with some of his family and neighbors

Afterwards, I thought, I have the best role model ever. Jesus. Although I did not make the lame walk again, I helped the lame become mobile! Everything was done to honor Him! Something as simple as a trike painted, new tires and chain made such an impact!

And best of all, you all had a part in it. Either through prayer, contributions or both, YOU had a part in spreading the light of Jesus to a community! He was told that this was not from me, that it was from the help and prayers that YOU gave when you listened to what Jesus put on your heart to give or pray....

Blue Lightning in Lingala

*Thanks to Cristy for letting me share her story and pictures!

Ninelle

Before the Tenpenny family had to return to the United States, they were working on raising funds and arranging a trip for Ninelle.  She desperately needed a life saving surgery beyond the capabilities of our hospital.  Even though circumstances kept Dr. Elliot Tenpenny from traveling with Ninelle, Dr. Kiong Liao was able to step in and accompany her.  After some time, he was relieved by one of our nurses, Amanda Volkman, who plans to remain until Ninelle is able to return to Congo.

An update on Ninelle from Elliot and Amanda

Ninelle, the young woman that together we helped send across the continent of Africa to have open heart surgery has reached Kenya and has now had surgery. She is now in intensive care at Tenwek hospital. We praise God for the chance to take care of this young lady. Together we were able to truly show the love of Christ to her and her family. Never before, to my knowledge has anyone in the Republic of Congo had this surgery, let alone a single mother, from a family without great means, in one of the poorest regions of Congo. Thank you for your help in making this a possibility!

Below are some reports from the nurse with her now and some photos of the surgery. Please continue to pray for her healing.

So surgery went well over all. Was incredible to watch. Dr. White said she has the largest right atrium he has ever seen. Her heart was seriously huge! They completely replaced the mitral valve and placed a band in the tricuspid valve to help it pump more efficiently.




Praise God, Ninelle had a decent night. She was extubated today at 1pm. First thing she said to me is "ndzala" which means hungry : ) She has crazy generalized edema and looks like she has gained 100lbs. The nurses in the icu are fabulous. She has 3 that have been helping her and her cardiac surgeon Dr. Agneta has been here almost all night and day. Pretty impressed.

Follow-up

Occasionally, we share pictures of some of the patients in the hospital in our Random Saturday posts.  You may wonder what happens to the people shown.


This young man (12 years old) came in weighing only 50 pounds.
He had a perforated gall bladder, further complicated by bone infections and severe malnutrition.
On top of all that, he also suffers from sickle cell anemia.
He was part of our Random Saturday series in October.

A few months later, he is still in the hospital, but looking much better!

He was able to return home at the beginning of March.
He came by with his friends and brought us a pineapple one Saturday morning.
You would never know it is the same child from the first picture!

Prayer, Medicine, and Teamwork

Dr. Kiong Liao was on call this weekend, and had some difficult cases.

He stopped by our house before church, and Stephen consulted with him on the patient.  During the course of the morning,  they also consulted Dr. Elliot Tenpenny and Dr. Tim Kitchen.

The patient was a lady with postpartum complications, in danger of dying.  At the beginning of the day, she wasn't strong enough to undergo surgery.

 They all saw her, worked on stabilizing her, and ended up doing surgery on her late morning/early afternoon.

 It was encouraging for me to see that when someone was struggling, other team members stepped in and encouraged and helped him.

Some of the team work even went beyond the four doctors.  The person who was supposed to be moderating the first part of the service, leading music, and translating for the sermon was busy doing lab work for the patient.  Two of our other nurses, a husband and wife filled in for him.  

Stephen was the one preaching, and his topic was about how to face difficulties.  He started by having the church pray for the sick woman.  It was nice to see our team, the employees, and church community joining in this case.

Looking for peace

It was a blessing to see this man leave the hospital, because when he came in he was wasting away and had kidney failure. In looking for the usual suspects, we came up empty.  But three weeks later he was gaining weight, had improved renal function and was doing better.

As part of my evaluation of him I asked him if he drank alcohol.

"A little, " he replied amid tsks tsks from his wife and mother who were with him.  

"Masanga?" (a local palm based wine)

"Yes."

"Liktoko?" (congo version of moonshine) 

"Yes."  

After informing him that some bad brew may have impacted his other medical problems, I asked him why he drink so much.  

"To find peace, to get away from trouble," he replied.

"How's that going?"

"Not so good," he said, shaking his head.

I then I had the pleasure to tell him how Jesus came to give him real peace.  I was able to introduce him to a God who isn't cool with his sins, but loves him so much that he made a way to get those sins taken away; not so he could just keep looking for peace in the wrong place, but so that he could find real peace with God.

A couple days later, I could see his disposition change.  He had spoken with our pastor/chaplain and had decided to turn his life over to Jesus.   And yet he still had kidney problems, yet his body was still eaten with infection, his weight was still down, he was still vomiting medicines, but his attitude changed.  He'd found peace, the giver of peace and that was enough for him.

Therefore, as he walked out of our hospital, getting better physically and meeting Jesus, I was happy for him.  I'm praying he continues to search out that true peace that he found here.

Thanks for praying and partnering,

Stephen

Coma to walking

This little girl came in at the first of the year after being increasing unresponsive over a period of 5 days. Her parents had taken her to a local health center where she received some malaria medicine, but she got worse. They watched at home for 3 more days before bringing her to the hospital.

a little camera shy

Did they live far away?

Nope, less than a kilometer away from the hospital.  They simply hoped she would get better on her own.  When she started having seizures, they decided enough was enough and brought her to us.

When we initially saw her she could not talk, would only moan and open her eyes to pain.  She couldn't even tell where she was hurting.  We started malaria treatment again and tested her for meningitis among other things.  We treated her seizures and started tube feedings through a tube in her nose.  For 4 days she stayed in her coma, then she was alert enough to pull the tube out herself.  The next day she was crying and disoriented.  One week after her initial presentation, she was walking on her own and could tell me her name.

Why do I share this?

First, to underline the lack of hope.   Sometimes our patients come from far away, and they take so long to get here because of transport difficulty.  Sometimes it is money, but sometimes it is just not wanting to admit that there is something wrong.

The denial turns quickly to hopelessness that there was nothing to be done anyway.

Each child like this- that we can bring back from being mostly dead- is another story that is told in our town that helps people believe that maybe kids do have a chance.

We can give hope that there is a chance for life.

Second, I want to point out that little things can make a big difference.  Just giving this girl a way to have safe nutrition, treating malaria with basic drugs, and watching for other problems was enough to give her a chance to make it back from the brink.

Third, it's always good to see answers to prayer.  This is tied into the first reason, but when parents and caregivers hear us praying for the patients, when we remind them to honor and praise God for the times He gives grace- those stories are also told and retold in our community.

So thanks for praying, thanks for being a part of what is going on here, and keep it up.

Stephen

"Doctor, trouble in maternity!"

Of all the things you do not want to hear spoken through the bedroom window in the middle of the night, this has to be at least in the top ten: "Doctor, trouble in maternity!"

This night, the nurse was urgent.  I put on some scrubs (I lay them out, just in case, every night) and crossed the 75 meters that seperate our house from maternity.

As soon as I walked in the door, I wanted to walk back out.

The baby was breach and only the head was stuck.  The little girl had been that way since the nurse had gone over to my house to get me, and then returned to help the mom.

I touched the cold waist and tried to get the baby out.  While I worked, the mom was inconsolable with pain and fear.  I flipped the baby's body on to the mom and the head popped out, leaving me and our nurse with a rag doll baby- no breathing, no heart beat, and cold.

We started our reanimation, and the nurse was quick to help based on our Helping Babies Breathe course.  "No heart beat, doctor," she said, at the one minute mark.

I alternated chest compressions with some continued breathing with a mask as the nurse tried to give her some medicine through an IV.   At 5 minutes I was going to be done, go back home, and try to go back to sleep.

But God had other plans, and we were able to pick up a heart beat- nice and strong.  However, the child still wasn't breathing. We spent the next 30 minutes breathing for the baby, and again I was about to give up.  I wasn't even sure how to pray.  At this point the child did not have a good chance of being neurologically intact.  I was about to be done, go back home, and not go back to sleep, but toss and turn thinking about the child who almost lived.

But God had other plans, and the child took a breath.  The child was getting colder,  our radiant heater no longer works, and I took the child back over to her mother.  As I placed put her on her mom's belly, I continued breathing for the child.  

The mom, quiet now, tentatively held her child.  I still wasn't sure what was going to happen, and then the child took more breaths,  3 in a minute, then 4, then 8, then the child was breathing 30-40 times a minute.  This isn't  the first time this has ever happened in the world, but it is pretty rare.  We kept the child on extra oxygen, and she is still in our hospital.  

These are tough situations.  Life and death is so fragile. 1% of children born alive in the ROC die the first day.  She's made it that far.  3% die by the end of the first month, and I am still not sure if she will make it.  Yet, each day is a victory, and we can only do what we can and pray with Jesus that "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Continue to pray for us, pray that we show God's love as we fight for kids.  Pray for those tough deliveries, for premature kids, for malnourished kids, for kids in comas.  Pray that God would be glorified in what we do and say, and how we do and say things.

Thanks,

Stephen

Random Saturday- Part 4

These pictures come from our surgery wards.

There are lots of tough cases, stretching what we can do.

This guy has tumors throughout his small and large intestines and has had several complications after we did a surgery for blockage.  He's been introduced to the Savior.

This guy has a bad infection in a bad place and endures with patience many dressing changes.  He is awaiting some type of reconstructive surgery

This guy has a broken leg and is in traction. 
We hope to have one day the capacity here to treat these fractures differently,
 but for now 6 weeks in bed is what we have.

Another nice guy who came from far away with an infection that was taking over his foot. 
He has had two amputations and now is ready to go home

The sun behind his head reveals this gentleman's attitude. 
Recovered from leprosy but still with the consequences, he came in with a very bad infection on his foot.  He recently challenged me to a game of soccer.

This lady found out she had diabetes 
after we started treating her chronic infection of her foot as well.  

This lady almost died from her tubal pregnancy,
but thankfully we were able to provide the service she needed.

This lady's right hand looks a lot worse. 
She is the victim of a car accident and has needed multiple procedures to save her right hand.
Pray that she gets the total healing she needs.

These patients encourage and challenge me everyday with their difficult presentations, their capacity to endure suffering and the wonderful testimony of the human body's ability to heal.
Thanks for praying for them all.

Stephen

Random Saturday- Part 3

There's always more patients. Here is part three of four in this one random saturday.
(Part 1, Part 2)

This guy is here for more or less hospice care for a liver cancer.
He is also one of our employees and we are all saddened to watch this process play out.
Pray for him and his family.

Adults don't get as sick from malaria as kids do.
If you make it to adulthood here, then you have a pretty good immune system.
But this lady needed to be here for a case of malaria.

Another case to puzzle out and another patient to whom we have to give bad news.
Always hope, but the news still stinks.

Diabetes is one of those things that  people take for granted in the states.
 But imagine paying 20% of  your monthly income for one medicine
and still needing to provide for other needs.
She is adjusting well.

This little lady came in at just 2 pounds and dropped 5 ounces before working her way back up.  She was on oxygen for about 3 weeks, and at one point her mom was having dreams of a baby dying.  Speaking hope into her mom's life was almost as important as the oxygen in saving this one's life.

These little twins were just a touch early and should be going home soon.

This poor lady was almost totally consumed with tuberculosis and still has trouble with breathing.  She misses her family and asks to go home often, but we are concerned she will not finish her treatment there.

There are more patients to come from this one Saturday.  Keep reading, keep praying, and keep in touch.


Stephen

Random Saturday- Part 2

This guy his on his 3rd week of being in the hospital from a severe leg infection and a broken arm after a tree fell on his house while he was sleeping. 
4 days later he came to the hospital for help.
Our nurses are doing a great job on dressing changes on his leg wound, and he is now infection free.

This poor guy is 12 (weighs only 50 lbs) has sickle cell anemia.
He is here for a perforated gall bladder,
 and now he has bone infections and is severely malnourished. 

Here is another child with sickle cell anemia and persistent fevers.
Without basic tests like blood cultures its hard to know the source of the fevers.
We do a lot of waiting, ultrasounds to look for abscess, and praying.

This guy his completing treatment for a type of malnutrition called kwashiorkor.
This is where he gets enough calories but not enough protein. 

It's been a tough start for this 6 month old.
Mom has HIV and so does this little one.
She's here because she has a fungal infection in her mouth,
and now she is unable to eat very well.

This little girl is on the way to getting better. 
She came in with severe diarrhea and dehydration.

This guy came in shock from probable malaria and is getting better now.

This little girl is another example of how life is hard for kids here. 
4 months ago she drank lye, now has severe esophageal stricture (can't get food down) 
We put in a tube in her stomach to get her back up to her weight.
She will probably have the stomach tube for the rest of her life.

You can see why one is never bored here in  Impfondo.  Overwhelmed? Yes.  At wits end? Yes. Grateful for prayers from people all over the world for the work here? Absolutely.  Thanks again for praying, more pictures to come.

Stephen

Random Saturday- Part 1

Here's another look at the struggles and random joys here in Impfondo.

This a 11 month old who has severe malaria in his brain.
He's alive by God's grace
and the fact that we are the only hospital in the region that provides extra oxygen.
He also benefited from 2 blood transfusions.

This young guy also has severe malaria
but also severely low blood counts complicating his care.

This elderly lady needs surgery for twisted bowels.
There is no surgeon here.
She is now trying to recover from our efforts at surgery.

This kid is happy, he was able to get blood for his anemia and malaria.
It took him 3 days just to get to the hospital.

This poor guy has a diarrhea bug and is very dehydrated. 
He also  has cerebral palsy from a neonatal infection. 
We're trying to keep the mom encouraged to give treatments and not give up hope.

Never mind the prints on the sheet,
this lady is here for abdominal pain but is happy to go home.

This guy is a muslim who wrecked when he hit a pig. 
He was heard to say "what the halal?!"
Actually he illustrates (a) trauma is a major issue in Congo and
(b) you have to make your own  stuff a lot here.  Notice the homemade c-collar

There are more pictures to come on yet another random saturday post.  Thanks for praying for us and giving to the work here.

Stephen

A New Ride!

Our friend mentioned in the diabetes post has a new way to get around- a donated hand cart helps him to stay mobile around town!