Cameroon #5

Dear Family and Friends,
Come quick she just delivered and now is pale and not
looking well. So started our first Sabbath here.
Audrey went in to check the woman. She checked her
and she looked like she was alert but not doing well.
She checked the baby who was doing OK. Then back to
mother, who now had stopped breathing. Since we have
ambu bags and no masks, Audrey did mouth to mouth
though a gauze but without avail. She had
exsanguinated. She was suppose to have gotten blood
two days before from her husband or family members or
they were to call on me to give some, as I am able to
give to most people. They didn’t do any of the above
and we left the next day for Maroua to get some
hospital supplies and food for our house. We got back
in the evening and I went to the hospital to check
things over. There were a couple issues I attended to
and there was “nothing else” that needed to be
addressed. So I went home. Then we woke up to this.
She was 18 and this was her third child, she hadn’t
bled much because she didn’t have much to loose.
Audrey was very shaken as can be expected. Later on
that day…
We have an urgent problem: a woman is 8 months
pregnant and convulsing. We went in and she had been
seizing for “3 hours”. She was in eclampsia. We
arranged for an urgent C-section. Using Ketamine as
the anesthetic, only what is available here, we did
the operation and the baby came out limp. Audrey
again did a valiant effort and did CPR on the infant
for 30 minutes and finally revived the 2.5 kg infant,
again with gauze as a barrier. Oh how I wish we had
the appropriate equipment. It is hard to leave the
land of “plenty” for the land of famine (equipment
wise). We pray our container of medical equipment
arrives as fast as possible. (4mo instead of 2 years
like some) And still later that day…
“This boy was out watching the cows when a bull caught
him with his horn. He has a laceration of the scrotum
and a testis hanging out.” He also had a cut on his
abdomen. So I took him to the OR for repair.
Now today, a week into our stay here in Koza we have
another. A woman is brought here from 40 km away who
has been in labor when they noticed a hand as the
presenting part. They brought her here. She ended up
being a transverse lie. The infant was not moving and
limp and blue. Audrey did CPR for 35 min. without
success. Is it Ketamine? was it the child? what could
we have done different? We are plagued by questions
that we search our minds and books for answers. Some
are answered some aren’t. We hope we are making the
difference that God wants us to make. We are only a
week into it and are taxed. The mental anguish is
more than the physical. Our schedules aren’t bad but
we are very tired by the afternoon. I pray we never
become calloused to the pain and suffering around us.
The people here seem to accept death, where as we have
been taught to fight it at all costs. We pray for
constant direction from HIM(God). Please pray for us!
Serving Him, the Shanks

Shanks
Hopital Adventiste de Koza
BP 53
Koza, Extreme Nord
Cameroon