A Hard Day's Night

The heat wave has hit the village. Temperatures are rising, and it has been especially warm with the electricity going in and out. It's sitting right about 100 degrees right now. Last night there were no fans and no pump to get the water in, so that meant…no bucket bath! I'm not sure why as a child I never wanted to take a bath…I've grown quite fond of them now and rather used to taking one every day! Oh, well! Perhaps there will be electricity tomorrow!

Yesterday, I was in the hospital in the nurse's room when an old woman brought in an old piece of cloth and handed it to one of the nurses. Relatives are often coming in and out with something or other so I didn't think much of it until the nurse said, "It's not breathing!" There was a little baby wrapped in that piece of cloth that she had walked in from who knows how far away.

We rushed into action. There were 2 staff nurses there and one of the doctors. We immediately began bagging and got a suction set. The baby was full of secretions and had likely aspirated after being fed something it shouldn't have been fed. The level of education around this place is very low which results in a very high maternal-infant mortality rate. One of the nurses started an IV line and put in an NG tube. After a few breaths, the baby began to gasp. We kept bagging but then her heart rate dropped so we started CPR. Running a code here is much different than in the States, but I was thankful for the chance I'd had to teach the pediatric CPR class last time I was here.

The doctor prepared to put in a breathing tube. I was still bagging as we positioned the head. It took several tries, but she finally was able to get the tube in and we put the baby on the one and only ventilator. But by this time, her feet were turning a blackish-purple…not a good sign. We gave several medications which did get her heart rate back up. But when we got the oxygen flowing was when she really began to pink up. Still very sick but better. I taped in her breathing tube and one of the nurses brought me a mosquito net to lay over her as there were some pretty persistent flies buzzing around.

I spiked a new IV bottle and added the ordered medication to the fluid. She still looked pretty sick, but better. There was no way to suction down her breathing tube like we do in the states so the secretions were building up again in her lungs. You can see the foot-pumped suction machine here (sorry it's sideways!). I rigged an NG tube, an empty syringe, and the suction set to create an in-line suction catheter so that we could get the stuff out of her lungs…it was her only chance.

She was looking much better than when she had come but continued to have low oxygen saturations. As I went to bed, I was thankful that God had spared her life if even for that one day. When I went to rounds this morning, I learned that she had started bleeding inside during the night and had passed away. O, my heart was so sad, and I had to remind myself of the sovereignty of God in all things. He is good even when things go terribly wrong in our eyes. All things are still under His control. "The eyes of the Lord are on every place, watching over the evil and the good." May our all-seeing God find us faithful in His work as long as He gives us life and breath.