Bon Jour!

God is very good.
Thankful for His protection and strength.

The weekend travelled by quickly.
Morning rounds on Saturday were followed by a couple of smaller cases including debridement of a foot. And cleaning up some fairly nasty wounds.

The man who was nearly killed by a wild bull (buffalo) continues to make progress. Both of his chest tubes have slowed considerably, but his leg is still a bit concerning. The bull's horn tore his thigh muscles to shreds, and disconnected his knee cap. But he still smiles and is very grateful. I know he is happy to be breathing again, even with a "flail" chest.

Following this came a lady with a lumber hernia which was incarcerated...in short, it meant that we had to open her up and remove part of her bowel. She is doing fairly well too.
The maintenance director stopped by my house just before midnight last night to see if it was ok to let the power go out. We were running on generators and he only had another 80 gallons of diesel fuel in the tank. I explained about the lady and man who was attacked by a bull...and that if at all possible it would be good to keep oxygen going for them. So he did his best. I heard him get up around 3 am to fill the tank again. It takes a strong team working together to keep people alive.

After finishing the day with a C-section for twins who were breech with "locking heads" the day was over!

Then today started with church...interrupted by another man with a perforated bowel. The resident was happy since he is an intern "first year surgeon" here, and was able to do two bowel operations in two days. The rest of the residents returned today so he is back to the bottom of the totem pole. But he had a good couple of days!

Huub and I did an earlier C-section together, and then again tonight...we were called with the exact same case - another set of twins locked together and breech. Two in two days. Very rare...but that is what it is like here. So we did it together. This time the Plastic Surgeon with us did the C-section and I walked her through it. She used to do them all the time in training before specializing - so it was sort of like riding a bike again. She did an awesome job, and both little girls are doing great! So is the mom :)

Now it is after midnight, nearing 1am. I leave in the morning around 8am (2am EST) to start the journey home. It will take 3-4 days depending on weather and I should arrive back in Lafayette on Thursday. Thank you for your prayers for safety in travel, and for smooth travels. There were delays for some coming this way because of weather.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all your prayers.
The director of surgery returned today and was surprised at all we had done. He noted that they rarely have traumas, even rarer to handle what we were taking care of this time. And he noted that we were doing the same level of operations with 2 surgeons that they were doing with 6-7!
So it is not surprising we were a little busy at times.

But God is very good. And having the Plastic Surgeon here at the end was a huge, huge blessing. She was very helpful in caring for the wounds, doing the cleft lip, and helping with multiple other operations giving her insights and input. Without her expertise many of the patients would have suffered greatly. I am leaving knowing the patients received the upmost care possible - and that is really good feeling.

Thank you for praying. Many times this trip I have known that God's hand was involved. There are a few patients alive who would have died without intervention beyond what I could give.
It is good to know we don't walk this world alone.

I look forward to hearing what He is doing in your life!

Time to get a bit of sleep :)

In Him,
John