Well the chicken made it alive through the night and was going strong at 6:30 our time this morning, according to Cody's text. Nicole, the young lady Cody met yesterday, is pictured to the left. Cody said I would just love her. Maybe we need to work on getting her a student visa!?Cody's first patient of the day was a man who has typhoid fever. Cody said the man would likely not make it and was so bad off the Mission of Hope clinic couldn't treat him properly, so they transported him to the general hospital in Port au Prince. The bacteria that causes typhoid fever -- S. typhi -- spreads through contaminated food, drink or water. If you eat or drink something that is contaminated, the bacteria enters your body and goes into your intestines and then into your bloodstream, where it can travel to your lymph nodes, gallbladder, liver, spleen and other parts of the body. Very dangerous and highly contagious!
A couple hours later Cody texted saying the typhoid guy would probably be okay. Hallelujah! Cody prepped a famous Haitian dancer for surgery. She lost her lower right leg. She would likely not dance again. A New York Times reporter was there doing on a story on her. Do you realize the earthquake happened more than a month ago? People are still seriously wounded. Broken bones have healed incorrectly. Infections have gotten increasingly worse. Transportation is difficult, so by the time people make it to the clinic, to amputate is the common option.
In the earlier part of the afternoon, Cody said from 1:30-2:30 pm was chaos. Sick kids coming in one after another with 103-104 degree temperatures. Just viruses, the doctors think. Cody said it'll be a miracle if he doesn't get sick. He carried several kids in his arms several times. They broke his heart. He wants to fix them all. The kids were not part of the orphanage. Their parents were bringing them in. It was just weird to have so many with similar symptoms at the same time. Cody said there was no telling how far and how long the parents had to walk in order to reach the clinic.
Happy to report Cody's neck is better today. Just the normal sunburn. His feet still ache, though. He did get a chance to get down to the market. He said it isn't much. Just a tent with things to buy.
He spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with children at the orphanage. He said the sick kids are a lot better. Happy and healthy now. Praise God, again! The dancer went home after surgery. She was happy and smiling. A real beautiful lady, Cody said. Wow, what hope she has.
Cody said he was able to slow down today and really pray over patients. He laid hands on several pleading with God to heal them. He really tapped in the Spirit's power. That's when he felt God move the most.
He spent his evening playing another interesting card game called moww. And then he received a pretty great gift! Ear plugs! Jennifer, one of the nurses, found an extra pair in her husband Jeff's suitcase. Now Cody can snooze through the cock-a-doodle-doo at 4 in the morning!
He is really enjoying his team and the Haitian people. He told me once today he really has a soft spot for these people. On his team are Dr. Boren, Monica (an RN), Jennifer (an LPN) and her husband Jeff (an RN), Landon (the video guy) and Damien (pastor/leader). Jennifer and Jeff are working the night shift. Cody said neither of them sleep during the day when they are 'off' shift. They have been down at the clinic helping. He said they have maybe slept 8 hours total so far this trip. They are incredibly, driven people. Wow.
Noah played at church while I went to small group at the Christians' house tonight. Cody and I are blessed to be walking through life with an incredible group of people. We meet every Wednesday night for fellowship and Bible study. Many of them follow this blog. ;) They carry our burdens and pray for us. They check on us if we are lonely or struggling. They celebrate our joys and when we see God move. We couldn't ask for a better group of people to do life with. Tonight's discussion was about the Holy Spirit - How have we seen Him move? What have we learned about Him in the last two weeks? I had a lot to share. He has been working in my life, Cody's life, our marriage and at work. When we tune in to His voice, things really get amazing! I think Cody's experience in Haiti will be a testament to that. Though I'm only getting broken pieces of his story now, I suspect he will have weeks to tell when he returns.
The opportunities for Christ-centered conversations because of this trip, and this blog, have been incredible. It's all because God is moving and exciting us to share what He has done. I received an email today from my aunt in California. She went on to tell me how her daughter's, my cousin Maris, school is doing a fundraiser for Haiti and Maris took Cody's stories to school and shared them! A friend at small group tonight told me how she is really enjoying reading the blog. Because she is a stay-at-home mom and can't just pick up and leave the country for 9 days, this is her way of living vicariously through Cody and still getting to experience Haiti. The Spirit is moving - no, spreading and it's contagious!
To close, a sweet moment happened. Noah loves the moon which he calls 'nana' because the very first time he noticed the moon in the nightsky, it was a crescent (shaped like a banana). So 'nana' has stuck. I was texting back and forth with Cody sitting in my car in the driveway before carrying Noah in for bed and Noah was chanting 'nana' in the backseat. I told Cody we were looking at the 'nana' and was he? He said he was. I said to Noah, "Daddy is looking at the nana, too, Buddy." And Noah said in reply, "Nana...Daddy." So for just a small moment, Daddy didn't feel quite so far away.
