Shanksteps #47
Hello Family and Friends,
As I wrote last Sabbath it was crazy. Not a peaceful
day. Many things, one, after another. I had a much
more peaceful Sabbath this week. We were able to go
to church and there was also a baptism this week with
around 40 people baptized. We have a concrete
baptismal tank inset into the ground outside of the
church. So we just cleaned it up and filled it with
water. After the baptism we went home and relaxed and
ate our “Sabbath mealâ€. This means something not able
to be bought here and from the US. We had vegetarian
“pigs in a blanketâ€. It was very tasty. And as a
commemoration of every weekend the power went out.
Just about the same time I was called to see a woman
in the delivery room. She was 9 months pregnant and
had significant constant abdominal pain. I felt her
abdomen and the uterus was very firm. She said she
was NOT having contractions and this was her 5th
child. I could not find a heartbeat for the fetus.
So I suspected it was dead. I started to worry about
abrupto-placenta, but have not seen that before, and
she had no vaginal bleeding. I decided to ultrasound
her. I came home and got it and went back. I found
that she did have abrupto-placenta. For those of you
who don’t know, this means that the placenta has
detached from the uterus with bleeding between the
placenta and the uterus. If still partially attached
the bleeding continues, child dies very rapidly, and
mom dies if not receiving enough blood. So since
there is no blood bank or other way to get blood
products other than family, that is what we asked for.
I also prepared to do an emergency caesarian
delivery. I made it in there STAT (about 30 min) and
did the surgery. Stat means immediately, well except
for here, and other hospitals like this. At the
surgery we pulled out a stillborn child and LOTS and
LOTS of blood clots and blood. She looked like she
would have twins by the time we were able to operate
on her. Fortunately her husband gave 500ml blood.
She lost about 2000ml or more. She did remain stable
and is recovering well. The remainder of my Sabbath
was uneventful. We went over to a teachers house and
had millet and different sauces. One was kale based,
another squash based, another okra, and also some
potatoes, and taro. Finally after eating by
candlelight the electricity came back on. We finished
the evening at home. Just about the time to go to bed
I was called back to the hospital for some problems
with our inpatients. Child seizing, another with poor
breathing and then my operated patient with
hypotension. Fortunately these were all taken care of
and I slept fitfully for the rest of the night.
Sunday was busy with about 15 outpatients, one
gastroscopy, one proctoscopy, two ultrasounds
performed, and numerous “fires put out.†We look
forward to Wednesday when we take the daytime for our
family. We thank you for all of your prayers and for
your concern. We are praying that we will get back on
the ham email soon when Cristy (my sister) arrives
with a replacement part. Please keep us in your
prayers, In His Service, Greg