I'm sorry I missed you Sunday. We had an emergency C-section at just before 9 AM and I didn't leave the hospital until almost 11. I know that Carol told you we used the aprons Sunday morning. They worked great! Not a drop of blood on me for a change. Please tell your wife she did an excellent job with them. I'm sure they'll protect us for many surgeries to come.
I was up at 2:30 AM this morning for a forceps delivery. Praise God, mom and baby are fine. I got back in bed at about 3:45 but unfortunately, couldn't go back to sleep. I'm on first call tonight as Rebecca (one of the Malian docs) is on vacation. We have a full day ahead and I'm praying the night will be calm. That's not highly likely though.
Yesterday morning, Yohana admitted a 30 y.o. woman with abdominal pain. By afternoon her condition had deteriorated and she was delirious and vomiting. Dan and I examined her and an ultrasound revealed copious amounts of free, particulate fluid in her abdomen, consistent with a bowel perforation. In addition, her liver was nodular and she had a mass in her pelvis - ? cancer. Her lab results from late morning revealed a platelet count of 4,000. I don't think I've ever seen one so low. We repeated the test, hoping it was falsely low, and it was at 1000 with a hematocrit of 15%. Obviously, we couldn't risk taking her to the bloc as she was very likely to bleed excessively. She had already formed two large hematomas on her arm from IV sticks and blood draws. Amazingly, as the blood and fluids poured in, she became lucid again. I talked to her about Christ and she told me she accepted Him a year ago after attending a crusade. Please pray for a miraculous healing and/or for her platelets to increase so that we can take her to surgery.
We thoroughly enjoyed having you and your team here! May God bless you in the coming year and bring you back here again.
John
Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. Matthew 10:29
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." (Jim Elliot)
"Il n'est pas un imbécile qui donne ce qu'il ne peut pas garder à gagner ce qu'il ne peut pas perdre."
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