Suddenly, I have grown aware that I am witness to the crux of the Gospel message almost every day at Mbingo. Last week was an especially hard week regarding patient losses. The premature 27 weeker twins weighing less than 800 grams, one passed almost immediately after delivery while the other lingered for 48hrs. The HIE/meconium aspiration syndrome who sustained such devastating anoxic injury perinatally and eventually met demise after hanging on for 2-3 days. The 14mo old boy who had idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (again, for reasons unknown) causing right sided heart failure (cor pulmonale) and liver dysfunction. Two young boys both less than 24mos admitted within a day of each other with overwhelming septic shock, for whom we could not resuscitate aggressively enough. And the list goes on...
Wails fill the hospital wards as mothers and grandmothers feel pangs of death. The men are usually more stoic and 'strong' in facing such tragedy, but I know they are hurting just the same. Mothers' screams ring out shrilly, heard over the normal evening symphony of crickets and chorals of tree frogs. Yet, death is not nor ever will be the enemy here. God is the victor whether we understand the difficult circumstances at hand. God is the author and finisher of life, orchestrating when we take our first and our last breaths on this earth. I rest in knowing that. I couldn't practice here without clinging to this truth.
Amidst all the death of this past week, God gave me a 'eureka' moment when I was praying with the parents of those 27 weeker twins. My heart aches especially for the fathers, many of whom are about my age, and I cannot bare to imagine what I would be feeling if our roles were reversed. The Lord gave me a simple prayer to point these hurting parents to our Father, One who knows all too well the devastation of losing a Son. It's the message of Jesus, powerful and pure, and the full sum of the Christian faith. My enduring prayer for these families is for them to have open eyes, that their hurt would not shroud the very thing that they are experiencing. For in a very literal way, their loss parallels perfectly the sacrifice of the Cross. May their suffering produce only greater intimacy in knowing the God who gave it all.
While we have had challenges here, and it seems especially true in maternity, our efforts to revive those 27 weekers was the litmus test of how much our neonatal resuscitation review has improved patient care throughout our hospital. Even though our twins didn't make it, I was impressed with our nurses' stabilization efforts and was encouraged to see their improved performance. Perhaps last month's teaching has not fallen on deaf ears; perhaps, our being here is making a lasting impact on future outcomes, and, just perhaps, we will be leaving this hospital and Cameroon a little brighter than when we first arrived.
Take care y'all. Always appreciate you!
Glenn
Some of my favorite examples of God's Sovereignty:
Job Chapters 1 & 2; Chapters 38-42.
Lamentations 3:37-38
Daniel 3:8-30; 4:24-37; 5:17-30; 6:16-28
John 19:10 & 11
Acts 17:24-28
James 4:13-16
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| Me, Taví (my pupp) and Sampson (the horse) out for our weekend ride! |
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| Taví and me (in traditional African dress) |
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| One of my coolest patients, Alex. He suffers from HIV like so many of the kiddos here. He was admitted severely cachexic and is now doing well on HIV treatment and nutritional rehabilitation. |
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| Working with our maternity nurses to improve their neonatal resuscitation skills (April 2017). |
