Kristin Thornton’s Blog

Friday, 30-1-09

I have arrived in Accra at the Guesthouse and will leave tomorrow night for the States!  It has been an amazing adventure, yet I am ready to return home.  This past week was similar to the ones before with many patients and a couple of calls since I’ve last posted.  Yesterday we went to the market to pick up a few more souvenirs after rounding then had station meeting at the Dickens home where we gave some parting gifts and said our good-byes.  We left at 4:30am this morning to drive to Tamale for my 7:45am flight to Accra.  Sarah and some other volunteers have some extra days and are traveling to Mole Park to see some African elephants and other animals! :)  Please pray for their safety in traveling.

I will back soon and hope to share more pictures and stories with you then!

Sunday, 25/1/09

I’m back at the internet cafe!  My last post was tuesday so i’ll try to remember what all happened since then!

Wednesday we had clinic and Dr. Faile was gone (he sees about 70+ pt) so I wondered if we would be seeing patients into the night, but it wasn’t the case.  Its amazing how God doesn’t give you more than you can handle and His ways are perfect! :)  While on rounds we saw a patient with Rabies, she was at a terminal stage with encephalopathy and hydrophobia (fear of water).  Dr. Hewitt offered her a bowel of water, about 3 feet away from her and she got very nervous and tried to back away.  At this stage of the disease it is to late to do anything and I think she went home for her last few days.  In clinic we met a fella whose heart was on his right, very interesting cardiac examination!

Thursday was a slower day with rounds in the morning and a few procedures.  I had most of the afternoon off and then we had station meeting at the Hewitt’s house Thurs evening.  They had asked me to share and I wasn’t completely sure what God wanted me to say, but I wanted to be an encouragement.  They mentioned wanting to know more about us and what God had done in our lives, so that’s what I shared!

I have several what i like to call ”life verses” that have been given to me by God through different people in my life.  The first verse I clung to as a child is Ps 23 vs ?  ”Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me.”  As a child I was often overwhelmed with great fear, but this verse was the one i would repeat over and over again.   It brought so much comfort because it reminded me that I’m not walking alone and God is with me so I should not fear!  Just now i’m also reminded of the verse that says, “I have not given you  a spirit of fear/timidity, but a spirit of power.”  THat’s another good one!

Later in my life I went to Romania on a missions trip in high school and i remember fear taking ahold of me then as well because i was going alone.  I went to Texas for training then went to Romania with my new acquaintances, but I was also armed with a verse given to me by my Dad!  Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!”

My next “life verse” came to me while in Romania.  A translator named, Gabriel gave me a verse, Isaiah 41:9-10.  You’ll have to look this one up, I do several times a year and am always encouraged, uplifted and reminded of my calling!  It talks about God calling His people and that He takes us with His right hand!  Its so amazing how the God of the Universe uses HIS VERY OWN right HAND to guide and lead us on our journey!  God loves us so much and desires a personal relationship with us, its so comforting to know that He reaches out with HIS HAND not by other means!

Friday was another clinic day.  Dr. Faile was back and it was hoppin’ busy again!  Sarah and I have been in our own room for the past two weeks seeing patients, I think we see at least 50-60 patients per clinic day between the two of us.  Friday Dr. Faile asked us to come see a patient with severely advanced breast cancer.  Her cancer was shockingly apparent and her entire right arm was swollen with at least a couple inches thicker than her left arm.  With breast cancer it messes up the lymphatic system so that it can’t drain off the excess fluid.  In this lady’s case her cancer was so far advanced that the lymphatic system was shut off and her arm was literally blowing up.  It is a really sad case because there is nothing that can be done now, even if she went to the States.  Later after clinic we went to the procedure room and I got to perform another paracentesis (drain fluid off the belly), a D and C (cleaning out uterus from miscarriage) and also assisted with a C-section for a lady who had lost her baby but medical treatment did not allow her to deliver, so we did a c-section.  Very sad.

Saturday we were on call.  That morning we rounded and then helped with a few procedures.  At 2pm we went back to round and ended up staying until 7pm.  It wasn’t all hospital work, but alot of it was.  There was also an awards ceremony for the hospital where several gave speaches, they played musical chairs (hilarious! got a video to show you all) and a game of Tug-0f-War!  Sarah and I played Tug-of-War and they had us on opposite teams, not sure if we were a handicap or a benefit?  My team won and later that evening our team was rewarded with small radios!  Our evening rounds were also busy, it seems the hospital filled up on Saturday with about 10 new pediatric patients and 5-7 adult admissions.  We were busy busy!

Today we rounded a bit before going to Second Baptist church this morning.  The service wasn’t translated like previous ones we’ve been to, but the scripture was 1 Peter 3:1-7 speaking about wives and husband stuff.  There were also 3 weddings this weekend but we weren’t ablt to attend them.

 love ya all, i got 3 min to get this published.  thanks for your prayers and see you in a week!  God bless

Tuesday, 20/1/09

I’m back at the internet cafe today.  Monday was a busy clinic day with a few procedures in the late afternoon.  Then Sarah and I were on call, we did our night rounds at 9pm and finished about 1030pm.  We were not called back to the hospital all night, it was good!  We both said that we awoke several times in the night and said a prayer for everyone to be ok at the hospital then went back to sleep!

Today was much slower, we did morning rounds and then procedures.  Dr. Faile who does all the surgeries left this morning for a meeting in Accra and will return on Thursday, so I think that clinic tomorrow will take much more time without his help.  Last night it was really windy and cooled off quite a bit, even this morning it was cool.  We wore sweatshirts up to the hospital to round because it was cool, the temp is actually in the 70s.  its kinda funny compared to what temps you have at home! 

We have started to speak broken English, because it is easier for the people to understand us.  Every once in a while we’ll even catch ourselves talking that way with each other! LOL  We have been hanging out with a peace core volunteer here as well and she constantly is speaking in broken English.  Its kinda funny but also worth it if you need something translated or understood!

Thursday night we will have “station meeting” which is like bible study and we’ve been asked to share.  Please pray for us to hear from God what we should share to encourage and uplift everyone here.

A few new people have arrived recently.  April is an ER resident (3rd yr) from New  York and she is adjusting and figuring out the hospital just as we did.  Also Angela a school teacher has arrived to teach the missionary kids.  A couple of girls from Holland are visiting for a couple of days; they will be in Ghana for 6mo and have been volunteering in Tamale at a clinic for almost 2mo so far.

We have already been here for over 2 weeks and time has gone by quickly!  Today is Obama’s inauguration and most of Ghana is talking about it and likely will watch it as well.  His name is very popular all over the globe!

Well, that’s all I have for now.  Please continue to keep the patients and workers in your prayers!  I’ve given a couple of the kids in the hospital a small toy and hope that it encourages them, they are so brave!

Thanks again for your faithful prayers, God bless

Sunday, 18/1/09

the internet at the school house does not work and hasn’t worked since the last time i e-mailed/blogged.  we are at the internet cafe in town where we pay about $1 per hour to use their computers on the internet.   elizabeth faile drove us here this afternoon, its almost a mile from the hospital.  not sure when they will get the internet fixed at the schoolhouse; i think they have to get a new modem and some are traveling to accra (bigger city) on tues and will return on thurs so possibly by end of this week?  but not certain.

we are doing well, so no worries about that!

thursday evening before we made our evening rounds at the hospital we went to Jane (pharmacist) house for “station meeting” kinda a bible study.  we sang from a baptist hymnal a few songs then a visiting retired pastor spoke about being what God has called you to be rather than getting caught up in what you think you need to do for Him.  thursday call went ok.  sarah and i rounded in the evening and sarah saw a couple of meningitis pts who are kids and were having a hard time breathing.  we went to ask dr. hewitt about what else to do for them and before we got back one of them had died.  also at 2am that morning we were called to the hospital to evaluate an acute abdomen (?surgical) so we went to the hospital and looked at a teenage boy who was having fast heart rate, fast breathing, cold sweat and abdominal pain.  we called for dr. faile who does all the surgeries here to come and evaluate him.  dr. faile decided to take him to surgery and found lots of air in his bowel but no specific infectious cause for all his symptoms.  the boy died later in the night.

friday clinic was okay.  i did not go until the afternoon because i had got nauseous and vomited the sip of water i had taken to help with my own abdominal pain and wasn’t feeling to hot.  but later in the day on friday i was feeling well and did clinic and even did my first D&C friday after clinic.

on saturday we went on a road trip to see the surrounding towns and their amusements!  first we went to Paga where we saw the crocodiles, took pics with them and a couple of us even fed them a chicken! :)  scott may post some pictures of this sometime but with internet being not as easily accessible it may take some time to get them, but you might check facebook!  it cost $4 to go see the crocodiles, another 2-3 to take pictures with your own camera and i think 5 for a chicken to feed them.  the crocodiles there are sacred and there are many stories of crocodiles saving human’s lives by leading them to water or taking them across water to escape their enemies.  in Paga they do not eat crocodiles, but rather bury them when they die just as they would a human.  from there we went to the slave camp in Paga (got lots of pics of that too) we saw where they ate, where they recieved announcements and were sold, where they had entertainment, the punishment rock (if you tried to run away and were caught then you died on that rock) and the graveyard.  will get you pics and more details later.

from there we went to the Burkina Faso border (country just north of ghana) and walked across it without our passports!  none of us brought them but the officials okayed our short trip, just to say we’d been to another country!  our next stop was a catholic cathedral in Navrango where the first missionary to this area was Catholic and they built the first church there in 1920.  we say the original church, very small and their current church which held many works of art and a lovely statue as well.  again, pics to come later.

then we had lunch at The New Lifeline outside resturant, served Ghanaian food of spicy rice with chicken and a side of “salad” consisting mostly of cabbage.  our last stop on our sight seeing adventure was at the craft place in Bolga where we purchased a few souvenirs i’ll show you later!

today was church and we went with Elizabeth Faile again to the first baptist church of nilerigu.  the service concentrated around psalm 37:5-7.  he also spoke about asking God to come and search us.  He said “God knows us better than we know ourselves, so how good/right is it for us to ask him to search us and show us the ‘dirt’ so that we can clean it up!”  He has a very good point and worded it in such a way that the simple truth is brought forth!

tomorrow is another clinic day and we haven’t yet seen the call schedule but will likely take call again this week sometime.  please pray that sarah and i are able to care for the patients as best that we can and to leave the rest in God’s hands.

i miss you all and love you so much.  please continue praying for us!  its already halfway through our time here and it is going swiftly.

Tuesday, 13-1-09

Today we rounded like usual.  Then I got in the operating room for the first time!!!  Our first case was a 2 yr old boy who had a distended, tender belly and was taken back for an exploratory laparotomy.  I asked Dr. Faile what he thought we would find and he said an abdomen full of pus, but he wasn’t sure what the cause would be.  The little guy had been on typhoid fever treatment for almost a week.  When we opened his belly a whoosh of air came and then yellow pus, lots of it!  As we kept looking we found that he had a perforated small bowel (small hole) from typhoid fever.  It is common to for typhoid fever patients to get perforations in their small bowel and his was “average size” and he had only one.

The next case I assisted with was a hydrocele repair.  These are done in the States occasionally but not usually as severe as what we see here in Africa.  Today’s hydrocele was about the size of a potatoe, but we saw a really big one in clinic yesterday that was the size of a football!  Ouch! 

The third case I assisted with was a hernia repair.  Hernias are very common here and vary in size from the size of a fist to at least a liter if not more.  We did all of this before lunch!

After lunch I watched another hernia repair, a lipoma (benign fatty tumor) removal and a skin graft to finish up the day.  This evening we had fried chicken, mashed potatoes w/ gravy and green beans!!! :)  YUM YUM!

Also got a couple pics posted on the blog today!

Love ya all and thanks for your continued prayers!  God Bless!

Pictures!

Road in front of the hospital.  Hospital would be on your left out of the picture.

Woman carrying sticks on her head.  This was on our walk to TB village.

A beautiful picture of the countryside while on our walk!

Monday, 12-1-09

Today was a clinic day and I saw 25-30 pt on my own!  Of course I had Dr. Faile nearby to ask several questions along the way.  Several of my patients had Malaria, PUD (peptic ulcer disease/heartburn), Anemia, Pneumonia, and a couple dx with Typhoid fever.  Not your usual diagnosis seen in the States!

After clinic, about 5pm or so we had several minor procedures to do, most of which were ultrasounds and didn’t leave until 7pm for supper.  Tomorrow morning Paul and Cindy Shumpert (Family practice docs) will be heading back home to Georgia after being here several weeks, please pray for their safe travels.

Sarah and I will take our first call together on Thursday night, please pray for wisdom and guidance as we care for patients through the night.  Of course we will be able to talk with the docs if needed.

I’m working on getting some more pics up for you all to see and I think Sarah got several loaded so I’ll post that link below as well!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084357&l=890c7&id=36102348

Thanks for all your support, encouragement and prayers!  God Bless

Sunday, 11-1-09

This morning we went to the 2nd Baptist Church here in Nilerigu.  There are several churches in this small town, I think about 9 or so.  When BMC (the hospital) first came they also built the 1st Baptist Church, so there’s been a lot of growth since that time.

This morning our passage was from Matthew 8:23-28, the story of Jesus calming the storm.  The pastor asked why there was the storm and the miracle of its calming and had 3 reasons: 1- Made them ask the question, “What kind of man is this?” 2- Strengthened the disciples faith.  3- A testimony for future generations.  We should put all our trials and worries into Jesus’ hands because He is capable; just as capable as He was to calm the physical storm that frightened the disciples!  God is good.

This afternoon we went on a walk to see the TB village, where several tuberculosis patients live.  While on our walk back a little boy called to us saying, “Hello Salminga, How are you?”  and I replied, “Good, how are you?”  He called back that he was good as well.  Salminga means white person and we hear that alot!  Everyone is very friendly and I’m trying to learn the greetings so that I can do more than just smile and nod my head!  So far I have “Good Morning” and almost “Good afternoon” down!  Good morning is “tah-suh-bah” and the response for any greeting is “nah.”   We say “nah” alot and just hope that they’re not asking to marry us! hehe.  The other day in clinic they were trying to marry me off, the normal dowry is 4 cows.  But the patient said he’d give 5 cows for me b/c I was beautiful.  I turned him down, but we all had a good laugh.

A couple more snake bites came in last night and are being treated.  I have a picture of a little girl’s hand who was bitten and ended up losing her middle finger because of it.  Also working on uploading more pictures, but it takes a long time.

Another common diagnosis for hospitalization here is burns.  We have several admitted and they’ve been here since my first day.  The “dressings man” comes around to clean and dress their wounds.  Just last week on Friday I think it was, we were rounding in the same room as a little girl who has a severe burn covering her entire chest to belly all the way across the tops of her legs.  She was having her wounds cleaned and crying very loudly.  I though I would cry it was so painful for her and to be there listening to her cries at the same time.  I keep praying for her to have comfort and that God will be near to her.

Others are waiting for skin grafts to cover their wounds whether they’re from burns, motor vehicle accidents or other accidents.  I think Dr. Faile does at least 2-3 each week.

On Saturday I watched as Dr. Faile performed an AKA (above the knee amputation) on a young lady, maybe in her 20s who had an osteosarcoma (bone tumor).  She’s the same lady I told you about on my Monday blog.  What I don’t think I told you was that of the two osteos that we saw that day, only this one was operable.  The other woman’s tumor had advanced up into her groin area and is inoperable.  Each woman has a long road ahead of them.

Also yesterday, Saturday, Sarah and I went over to Joel and Holly’s house (OB/GYN and wife who will be at BMC for 2 yrs) to see how they’re house is shaping up.  They just moved into a different house last week and are putting everything together.  We got to watch “Horton hears a Who” on their projector along with their two sweet kids, Colt and Abigail.  Holly is expecting again and has decided to have baby #3 here in Ghana, I think she’s due in March/April.  Please keep her in your prayers as well!

I have another facebook link for you to look at a few pictures I’ve been trying to upload for the past two days, hope you enjoy them!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015742&l=4404b&id=162801085

Here’s another picture Sarah posted of me and my favorite tree!
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1933/143/5/36102348/t36102348_32793044_4717.jpg

Again, Thank you so much for your prayers!  I’m still in good health and am convinced it is from your faithful prayers! God Bless!!!

P.S. I got to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast!!!  Our cook, Bowa (will get pic someday) is awesome!!!

Friday, 9-1-09

Yesterday was market day and my first in Africa!  There have been a lot of “firsts” since coming to this new place and many more to come, I’m sure.  I met the wife of Esa (manager of the guesthouse) at the market, she makes clothing, purses, etc.  Both Sarah and I picked out some fabric and she’s going to make us a skirt for 15cedis (approx $15).  Later on Thursday we were called to the hospital because of a “lori” (big truck) accident with many injuries.  There were at least 10 women who were scraped up and required stitches, dressings and x-rays.

Today was clinic again and I saw several patients with “waist pain” = back pain and was able to do some OMT on them which will hopefully help with all their chronic pain.  Also saw more HTN patients and a patient with likely Malaria and another with gastroenteritis.  Was working with Dr. Earl Hewitt today and he let me listen to a young girl’s lungs.  She had decreased breath sounds in her left lower quadrant and we took her to the theatre (procedure room/operating room area) for a thoracentesis (put needle in between the ribs and aspirate for blood or pus).  Dr. Hewitt got several cc/ml of pus immediately!  So later in the afternoon she got a chest tube which immediately drained quite an impressive amount of pus.  She’s been tachypenic (breathing at a fast rate), but after getting the empyema (pus pocket) drained she will have more space so that her lungs can expand more and she will be able to breathe easier!

Below is the picture of my first lumbar puncture!  Thanks again for your prayers!

Wednesday, 7-1-09

Today was another clinic day, but not as busy as Monday.  Yesterday I did my first LP (lumbar puncture), a procedure where you put a needle into the spinal cord and collect fluid for analysis to determine if the patient has Meningitis or not.  Scott, a pharmacy student volunteering here with INMED, took a picture so my first LP is well documented, lol!!! :)  I’ll get that pic up on here when I can.  If you look around on the site, you might find his blog which consists of mostly pictures that you can look at as well.  Sarah, my friend/student from KCOM also has a blog if you want to check out some of her stories too!

Today was clinic and I saw several pts with HTN (high blood pressure) to refill their medications, also saw a pt with back pain and did some manipulation (OMT) to help re-align his hips and lower back.; go K-VILLE!!!  Also saw a pt with severe jaundice today, his eyes were sooo yellow.

This afternoon I did a couple of paracentesis (putting a needle into a swollen belly to remove the excess fluid) on an older woman with ovarian tumor and metastasis and on another patient with liver problems.  We took off 5-6 liters in both cases, now they will be able to breathe easier and maybe eat!

Mendi wrote a post and mentioned how her recent hospital room probably wasn’t quite like the ones here.  I just realized that I haven’t described them to you yet and need to take a picture for you all as well.  The hospital “rooms” are numbered 1-5 and are the wards.  Ward 1 &2 women’s wards and each room holds 10 or more beds.  Ward 3 is surgical pts, and wards 4 & 5 are the men’s wards.  There is also a large room for the Peds ward which holds over 30 kids.  Another area of the hospital is the isolation wards.  One is for TB patients, currently is empty.  Most TB pt are in a TB village nearby but I’m not sure where.  The next isolation ward is for Meningitis pts which we have about 5 pt in at this time, but there is room for a couple more if needed.  The last isolation ward is for infected wounds which can be anything from a motor vehicle accident, burns, or bad skin/abscess infections; this ward has about 10-12 pt right now.  If we run out of room in the wards then I think they start putting pt on the floor; but haven’t got to that point yet.

Tomorrow is Market day, which comes every 3rd day to Nilerigu.  I think its a traveling market thing that goes to a several different towns on a rotating basis.  I’m excited to check it out tomorrow and hope to buy an African skirt or dress before my time here is done.

I can’t believe we’ve been here for 6 days already!  My prayer has been for the patients and for the staff for good health and also for an opportunity to share Jesus with someone!  Sarah, my friend from KCOM, has been ill for the past couple of days with a GI (tummy) bug but is feeling better today; please keep her in your prayers!  Three other of the volunteers had the same/similar illness when we first got here, so I’m hoping it will pass me by!

Well I’m getting sleepy now and my brain can’t think of what else to write tonight!  Thank you so much for all of your comments and encouragement, its so refreshing and encouraging to read your notes to me! :)  Thank you again for all your love, support, and especially prayers!!!