more about Joyce

"Sterile" dressing changes and pin care daily for just a few more weeks......

Nursing friends- have you ever wanted the opportunity to do sterile dressings in your front yard?! Come on over to visit and I'll give you the opportunity!

Weekend in Karamoja

Always work to be done in Lormoruchbae. Harvesting sorguhm. Carrying it literally miles from the garden to the village where it is dried and stored. Happily they are getting a pretty decent harvest. 

 For fun I brought a huge watermelon up and after several hours of work it was a refreshing treat that many enjoyed. No one had ever tasted watermelon before and they were sufficiently impressed. It was tough convincing them not to eat the rind.

Just a few things I've read while laying in bed

I know that I've told myself before that I'm not allowed to post when I'm feverish but it seems the thing to do right now. I just have a few things I've been underlining as I was reading this week. I'm not doing any analyzing, just laying it out there.

We all desire to lead safe, comfortable lives. We may deeply desire to follow Jesus but what about when He leads you to a place that requires risk and sacrifice? - Not a Fan by Kyle Idelman

In another book I'm reading "Paddling the Pacific" by Paul Theroux, he spends time in many remote villages of thatched huts. But he comments on the fact that it make him worried so he doesn't stop in villages that have "tin roofs and cinder blocks, sheds with padlocks that aid agencies built in the innocent belief that they were doing them a favor."  He says he has seen for himself that "..such dwellings and such violated villages are unpredictable, full of nuisances. Villagers living under tin roofs stenciled  A gift from the people of United States of America, and eating food aid, regarded people like me as a soft touch. I was all for foreign aid, but there was a certain type of aid that undermined people and made them dangerous."

Here is another one I've spent some time pondering after reading because it is a different perspective than what I currently have. When I think I'm too tired, frustrated, or can't bear up anymore....

If God asks me to suffer something for a period of time, could I say with conviction,'We know that in all thing God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose'- or would I grumble and wonder why God let it happen to me?  Could I thank God for trusting me with the experience, even of loss or severe hardship or illness, and seek His grace to learn more of Him through it, so that I in turn could help and encourage another- or would I demand release or healing or escape, thinking of such as my 'right' because I am a christian? This attitude of heart and mind, that can joyfully trust God in all circumstances, can only take possession of me as I allow the Holy Spirit to fill me with love for my Lord.   - Living Holiness by Dr. Helen Roseveare

The last book I'll mention this post is Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. It is five brief biography of women who impacted the kingdom in amazing ways through their faith and obedience. I highly recommend it even though it is making me feel extremely inadequate.

Updates on Joyce and baby Anna

Baby Anna is in the Neuro ICU in Mbale trying to get stable enough to go to surgery.  They have postponed it three times and now we've heard maybe next week. But her ICPs are increasing and she is having more and more neuro symptoms. Please pray for her and for peace for her mother.

Joyce did actually have surgery Monday. However they did a mediocre job at best.  They plastered over her incision and even incorporated the pins into the plaster.

So with the help of a PA in Soroti who owns a cast saw, we cut off bits of the cast so that we can do wound care.

Just a little hail storm

OK, actually a lot of hail. Killed two of my chickens and I needed to resuscitate a few of their babies. But they pulled through because of my tremendous medical skills. (But mostly because of the oven and a few kitchen utensils.) 

Too much

This week.... seriously, I don't have words. I've had more patients inpatient all at once than I've ever had before. Teammate, Steve Tiesenga needed to be Med Evac'ed to Kenya for critical respiratory issues post malaria. 

I did manage to get the mother who was c-sectioned Monday discharged. Also, the mother who had a fetal demise at 8 months had a huge blood loss after a 12+ hour induction so her discharge was seriously delayed but she is also finally home. Baby Anna (the baby born with profound hydrocephalus) I took to a neuro ICU in Mbale yesterday. She was hypoxic, hypoglycemic and hypothermic by the time we finally got her admitted so I'm glad someone who has more resources than I do is taking care of her now. Joyce will be readmitted tomorrow for surgery Monday.

Baby Anna