This week has flown by! I can't believe its already the last day of clinic and the team leaves this weekend. We drove North to Antanifotsy about 1hr away and set up at this beautiful Lutheran church that had a school attached to it. I was working in Triage with Yolanda, which was so fun bc you got to meet almost all of the 300 patients who came through to be seen!
The time in country has been like no other that I've experienced before. We have seen disease states that are so severe, unusual, or non-existent in the USA. Patients here just don't have the same access to care that they do in other countries and therefore you never know what is going to walk through the front door. We have seen:
- * Measles
- * Hansons disease (Leprosy)
- * Cleft palate
- * Meningitis
- * Active TB
- * Mycobacteria lesions
- * Osteogenesis imperfecta
- * Cerebral palsy
- * Abscess with severe hand cellulitis
- * Healed displaced tibia fracture
- * Scabies (full body severe)
- * Wilson's disease
- * Klippel-Traunay syndrome
The saddest case today was a 1yo baby girl with hydrocephalus. Her head was the size of a small watermelon and her young mom was beyond distressed. Her sweet baby girl was considered a freak show and she had no access to medical care bc of cost. One of the nurses on the trip works in CHOAs neuro unit and has seen this condition before. She said that if the babies receive shunts to drain the extra fluid early, they can live much better lives but this little girl was the most severe version she has ever seen. There wasn't much we could do except try to get a shunt from CHOA and have it mailed to Dr Harison to do the surgery. But we couldn't send this mom home empty handed so we prayed for her. Pastor Mike was with us and he prayed over the little girl and her mom to send the Holy Spirit to guide their way during this hard journey.
The drive today was the prettiest we've had all week. We were driving through the river lands so it was lush and green and beautiful! There were green rice patties and farmland for miles on every direction. And people were working tirelessly from sun up to sun down to earn their wages. Their work effort is unbelievable!
Since we ended our clinic a little early, we had time to go by the Toby, the Lutheran psych hospital. It's a very unique place bc it provides a safe haven for psych patients and their families to live. There are no anti-psych meds in Madagascar so these patients have to suffer through their mental illnesses with just family support and some care giver help. We arrived and were greeted by one very enthusiastic patient who was very adamant about keeping our group together. As we rounded the corner, the reality of the psych facility hit us as we saw the patients in raw form. The patients who are a danger to themselves or others are actually physically restrained with chains. If the person is a flight risk, they're feet are chained. If they're a risk to themselves or others, they also have their hands chained. And if they're having a psychotic break, they are chained to their beds with family nearby to take care of them. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see that this was their best option! But it was also so encouraging to see how integral the family members are. So often in the USA psych patients are locked away in facilities for others to take care of them. It's very apparent how important family is and how they drop everything to take care of each other.
After this somewhat draining experience, we came back to the hospital for a 180... Dr Harison and Domoina put on an amazing BBQ for the Malagasy interpreters/staff and us to celebrate the end of a fantastic week. There was more food than I have ever seen before and it did not stop! They had tents set up outside the guest house overlooking the setting sun over the town and we had an amazing time. After dinner JillRae pulled out the guitar and bongo drum and we played battle of the bands between the Malagasy and Americans. Clearly the Malagasy won bc they're music was so much better!
Our experience with the Medical Missions Team has been an experience for a lifetime. We saw over 2300 patients in 5days and gave out almost all the medication we brought (17+ suitcases). It's been an exhausting week and I don't think I've ever been so tired at the end of each day. I'm so sad that everyone is heading back to the US bc it has been such a dynamite team! I'm glad we have a couple days left to hang out and play with the lemurs:)
Daily devotion from Megan: 1 John 4:19
“We love, because he first loved us.” -1 John 4:19
It seems only natural to end this week of mission work with Megan's favorite verse bc it has such a powerful message.
The verse 1 John 4:19 is the heart and soul behind why, I personally, choose to serve on medical mission trips, however it applies to everyone. The passage that surrounds 1 John 4:19 lays out how God defines love, how God shows His love, and how, as Christians, we are instructed to love.
To loosely paraphrase: first and foremost - God is love. And to know God is to know love. God's love is shown to us through the ultimate sacrifice- sending his only Son as the atonement for our sins. If God is in us, His love is in us. (That always stops me in my tracks. We have Gods perfect and powerful love inside of us- at our disposal to use to serve others.)
But with power comes great responsibility. Therefore, the way that we treat people is a reflection of God's love. Our actions can be a positive or negative testament of Gods love and our actions are a choice. We should choose to love without borders or limits. We should love sacrificially.
When I think about who and how I should love, I try to look in mirror first. I think of my attitude, my actions, my past and then remind myself that God loves me unconditionally, despite all of the hiccups along the way. God chooses to love me every day-even when it's hard (...which is daily). I also think of how he chose to show His love for me - he sacrificed His Son so I might live. That wasn't an easy sacrifice. That wasn't the spare change in the cup holder for the homeless man on the corner - it was thought out, it hurt, it required so much of Him. He loves BIG. And because God first loved me, I ought to love others in that same manner. I fall short on a daily basis, but the ultimate goal is to love like God. To love Big. To love all. To spread the love that I have been to blessed to receive.
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