"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Teach me Lord, teach me Lord to wait."
Greetings to all once again,
Life here at the CTC had been slowing down the last few days and our number of patients was dropping so much that we wondered if we would soon have no one here. This morning I started my shift at midnight. Everything was going like normal with nothing much to do other than dump a few buckets, change a few IV's every couple hours, and try to keep yourself awake. Then at 4:30 I heard a noise outside and voices. I ran to the door just in time to see the crowd part at the gate, and a stretcher pass through. I groaned inside as I caught sight of the lady that was on it, grabbed a pair of gloves and headed out. As they tried to lower the stretcher from their shoulders it tipped sideways and the lady nearly fell completely off. For a minute I thought she would be finished by the fall right there and then when her head would hit the gravel. But her feet were either tied to the stretcher or someone caught them. I don't remember which it was. ~Remember that these stretchers are just made by tying a few branches and twigs together with rope. And you can either lay on that or they can put a chair on top for you to sit on. (Very sturdy!!! Actually not... I know from experience. I think that rated as the worst ride of my life.)~ Anyway she was then successfully settled on the ground and we set to work getting her unstrapped and out of her crumpled position from the fall. Her son carried her back to the bathing room and Amanda sprayed her down while I held her up, after getting the gown over her I carried her in and laid her on a bed and begin looking for a vein. She was ice cold and looked like a raisin. Her fingers, hands and feet were shriveled up and any place you touched the skin just stayed there. I pinched her skin and it stood up about half an inch and didn't go down. She lay with her with her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth hanging open, her tongue was dried out. She looked so much like the same picture of the man I had seen die in front of my eyes when I had visited another Cholera clinic. It was not a very good feeling.
I tried twice to get an IV put in her, unsuccessfully. Her blood was more like jelly than anything, and her veins were flat. The first try I blew the vein, the second one started but then it infiltrated. I called Michael Rudolph to come put the IV in knowing that she needed it in quickly and figuring he could probably still easily get one in about first try without me messing up any more veins. He came out and on second try he succeeded in getting one in her hand, but within just a few minutes of setting the IV it blew and infiltrated so we started over again. Trying to find a vein and get a catheter to stay in. Her daughter was standing there watching the whole time, crying because she was sure her mother was dying. After three or four more tries we finally had one successfully running into her foot. Talk about cheering!!! Praise the Lord!
We ran 6 IV's into her as fast as we could and this evening when I walked out to see how she was, she looked much better and is with the world again talking and even smiling a little. I think she might be one that will be here a while as she is 75 years old and very weak. Elderly people have a long recovery and more complications.
We had hardly finished with her when there was another arrival. This was a 14 year old girl that was carried in on her fathers shoulders. They set her out in the observation tent and as soon as I had finished with the other lady I went out to check up on her. She had already had diarrhea and vomited both, in the few minutes that she had been here. I took her out to spray her down and ended up holding her while Amanda sprayed her because she had collapsed. I carried her in and put her on a bed, and then Michael put an IV in her also. Tonight she was cheery, talkative and all smiles when I came out to the CTC. It is such a rewarding feeling to see your patients doing well.
That is the most recent of happenings at the CTC. Just when you think all is normal and some think maybe even "boring," something is sure to come along and add a few interesting and exciting moments. May each one of you have a blessed day. Serve the Lord with all your heart and be faithful wherever He has you.
A servant of the King,
~Thea
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