Shanks Steps #9

Shank steps #9 9-13-05
One of the hospital workers sons comes in three days
ago with severe facial pain on the left side. He had
been in a fight and hadn’t won. He could barely open
his mouth for me to examine him. He had severe pain
over his left cheekbone and left jawbone. I was
unable to get further exam on him. At our daily
worship that morning his father emphatically said that
he would not pay for the injury as it should be the
assailant who is to pay. Unfortunately, as director
of the hospital, this left me having to talk to him
because he shouldn’t be saying such things to all the
hospital workers and it is his responsibility. The
issue between him and the assailant is not hospital
business, but his. So after examining the patient
and not getting very far I decided to wait a couple
days till the swelling went down, then reexamine him.
After a couple days it wasn’t much better so I decided
to examine him under anesthesia (Ketamine). But
yesterday the power had been out for a day and a half
and without light would not be able to evaluate him
well. So I put it off till today hoping that the
electricity would be back. Fortunately it did come
back on this morning and I was able to look at it
today. He DID have a broken jaw and a couple of his
teeth moved separately to demonstrate the location.
We had gotten one facial x-ray but this was unhelpful.
Then as Murphy’s Law would have it we were out of
x-ray films, so no more films till there is more money
(that should only take a few more months…sarcasm…) so
when I was able to demonstrate the fracture I decided
to wire his mouth shut so that it would heal
appropriately. I did this wiring periodic bottom
teeth to the periodic top teeth in such a way to pull
the fractured site together. Of course as he was
waking up from the anesthesia he was flailing all
around and hallucinating and trying to open his mouth
stretching the wires. So I had to sedate him to keep
him from tearing apart what we had just done.
We had a rude realization this week. The power had
been off about 24 hours then our water ran out. I was
surprised because I had been told by someone that when
the power was out that the water lasts about a week
when the water tower is full. Well 24 hours after the
power was out no water. Also the reagents in the lab
and vaccines were about ready to go bad also because
of warming up. So we were running low on water and
many other problems. So we needed to start the
generator. This poses a few problems. 1: we don’t
have diesel – we need to buy it (available locally)
2: the oil has not been changed in more than a year
and it was seizing up last time we ran it- thus we
need to change the oil before starting 3: It will need
to run about 5 hours minimum to cool the refrigerators
to keep the lab and vaccines from going bad and to
pump water to the tower. 4: the ever-present shortage
of funds. Well, praise God, as I was trying to figure
out what to do the power came back on, and all is
avoided temporarily.
I believe we are starting to be blessed. The
hospital made a priority of paying tithe this month.
It has not done so for some months. It seems that
when things are tight with individuals or institutions
that they cut out tithe paying because they feel they
can’t afford it. I believe it keeps God from blessing
them like He would like if we only gave Him back his
10% like he requests. So we paid it yesterday and
today was very busy, and I believe God is able to
bless us. I encourage any of you who have found it
difficult to pay tithe to God to do so now. He only
requests 10%, but it is our duty to give it to Him,
then He can bless us when we are faithful to Him.
Liz, nurse practitioner student, is leaving tomorrow.
The people here have been very thankful for her help
and we pray God uses her in a mighty way in the
future.
Please keep the hospital in your prayers and us as we
continue to serve Him in Cameroon. We think of you
all often and cannot wait till we have email access
here by ham radio whenever the permit comes through so
we can stay in better tough personally. Until then it
will be every few weeks. Thank you for remembering us
in prayer. In His Service, Shanks