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Shanksteps # 65

May 17, 2007
Have you wondered what your donated money does at our hospital in Koza? Well recently your money saved the life of a man that would have otherwise died! We recently received the lab equipment that was purchased with donations. A man from world wide labs came and installed the equipment and trained our lab techs to use the equipment. WE can now do electrolytes, liver enzymes. Oh what a blessing that is! I cant order them every day like in the US but if I really need them they are there.
We had a gentleman come in this last week with electrical burns. He has been walking to the dispensary where he works and saw a downed line and people were ducking under it (about 5 feet off the ground) and continuing on their way. So he did the same. Unfortunately for him the power company did a test to see wether the system was functioning properly sending power out. With the downed line, the electricity caught him in the back of the neck and exited both feet from knees down. They brought
him to the hospital in a puspus. (a two wheeled, push cart) Fortunately the current had not sent him into an arrythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). Over the next few days he did well. We hydrated him possible myoglobinuria (myoglobin in the urine). And did some of our new tests on him. Sodium, potassium, magnesium, lactate, chloride. All these were nearly normal. A few days later he started having involuntary contractions of his hands. These resolved spontaneously. He then had them again with
his jaw contracted too. I repeated Magnesium and potassium and these were both were low and Mag was very low. I had received some Magnesium IV from my father when they visited. After receiving this his level was normal and all symptoms were gone. Had this happened before the lab equipment was here I wouldn’t have been able to find out what was wrong and he would have declined and passed away. So I just want to thank all of you for your generosity. It is making a huge difference, for us and
for patients like this, YOU SAVED HIS LIFE! He is healing well now. He did not have any of the possible limb threatening complications. We that you also for your prayers. Please continue to pray for him.
Another piece of news is that we had visitors recently. Gary Roberts and family visited. They are new missionaries to our area of the globe with Gospel Ministries International. We enjoyed having them here. We are working with the community to reopen the Koza airstrip. We hope his mission may be able to work closely with us in the future. Please keep them in your prayers also as they start the difficult task of opening new mission work here in West Africa.
We look forward to our time back in the USA. We will be leaving mid-June and returning the beginning of August. Seems like a long time. But with all the traveling to see relatives, it went very fast last time. Please pray for us as we leave around midnight on June 18th (6PM EST) to head home. We pray God continues to bless you in your various activities and that He is honored in all that you do. In His Service, Shank’s

Shanksteps # 64
Thank you for all your prayers, a replacement was found for us while we are on vacation. We will be coming to the US June 19th and leaving mid August. Our travel plans include West Virginia, Connecticut, Maine, San Francisco, CT, WV and ASI in Louisville, KY. I also want to thank those of you who have helped our hospital financially. We have purchased a new lab system that will be installed here at the end of the month. This will enable us to perform more variety of tests without constantly
loosing the materials before expiring. We have also purchased a new refrigerator and some battery backup for the lab equipment and tests. Also we are building a roof over our worship/meeting area at the hospital. This will allow us to meet whether sunshine or rain. We are also still using money to purchase medications in bulk in Yaounde to increase our profit and stay ahead on medications without being behind. We have just placed an order with donations that we expect will last the hospital
through August when our vacation is finished. We thank you all for your generosity. Without it we would still be struggling to survive and have minimal medications available. I hope someday that we are in such a position to reduce our prices for medications to make them more affordable to the population we serve. Please continue to pray for wisdom as we lead out in His hospital.
In His Service, Shanks

PS: Im interested in current emails, addresses and phone numbers for all friends and family. I will help us stay in touch better. Please send me a short note to let me know what your current info is as I know its frequently changing for many of you. thanks.

Shanksteps #63

“She is 6 and was just in a motorcycle accident. She was crossing the path when a moto hit her.” I asked where she was hurt. They said in her head and I should come right away. So I went to the “urgence” (ER). She was looking around stoically with wide eyes. When I took the dressing off her forehead I saw bone fragments and brain matter. I was then surprised that she was conscious. Apparently part of the moto punctured a hole in her head. They said she had lost consciousness and then became
conscious after that.
We took her to the operating room. As you all know I am not a neurosurgeon. But I did learn a few things about it in residency. I cleaned everything and pulled fragments from the hole and cleaned out all the debris. I then put a few fragments back in a “normal” position and closed skin.
God has healed her! She is now 7 days after surgery. Her skin has healed well. She is not running fevers. The family feels she is reacting normally and speaking normally. I am very happy that she has done so well, happy again to see evidence of God working through us.
Another 6 year old patient came into the hospital by his parents a few days ago. He had been digging in a termite mound searching for rats to eat when he reached into a hole for a rat and got bitten by a snake. (That was 17 DAYS AGO) Here the traditional belief is that if you are not a sorcerer then things like snake bites and meningitis do not kill you. It only kills the sorcerers! So of course this child was not a sorcerer so he was “safe”. Well his thumb auto-amputated from infection and
the back of his hand necrosed then started healing with granulation tissue. But his arm started weeping pus around his elbow. So they went to a local dispensary and were seen a few days being given antibiotic injections. After two days the dispensary referred him here. After two days here I finally convinced the father to let me open the arm and remove all the necrotic (dead) tissue. Again praise God, he is doing well and granulating all the area that was opened.
Another was also bitten by a snake about three days before arriving here. He as bleeding from the bitten area on his hand profusely. He was not able to clot, because of the venom. After many vials of anti-venom and debredement of the dead finger, pressure dressings were placed and finally the bleeding stopped. His swelling is gradually going down.
This is now the season for snakes and scorpions. It is hot and they say the ground heats up and these come out at night in search of cooler air. As I well remember last year when a scorpion got me!
We are now out of electricity again 3 days. Two weeks ago was 4 days. We had a large wind come through this week and knocked over a number of telephone poles. The termites eat them then the wind finishes them off. So I am writing connected to a battery, and dripping with sweat. It is times like this that we realize how nice we really have it. Many people here live like this all the time (without electricity and water). So we are grateful for our blessings that we have on a fairly regular
basis. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
In His Service, Shanks

62 Shanksteps

God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way or time that we would like. Fortunately He knows so much more than we ever could. As Americans we like (and often expect) instant gratification. This is true whether it be when asking a question, going to the ATM, or dieting to lose weight. We also want instant answer to our prayers.
I want to tell you a story about a young man named Baldagui. He came to the hospital around the same time as Ngossa (you may remember the young woman healed of meningitis that was “caused by” sorcery.) While Ngossa was struggling for her life, Baldagui was in the next room, also with meningitis. When he initially developed symptoms of meningitis, his family took him to a local clinic where he stayed for 3 days with IV antibiotics. Unfortunately for him, that treatment was not sufficient and
he slipped into a deep coma. His family brought him home to die, but an uncle insisted that he be brought to our hospital. His whole family was so sure that he would die, that they all left, leaving an old grandma to take care of him. He remained in the coma for about a week. When he finally opened his eyes he couldn’t speak, was very confused, and very agitated. As the days went on, he was able to answer very simple questions, but still had no idea where he was. Soon we realized that he was
paralyzed from his neck down, as well as half of his face. Oh how we prayed for him. Every day at the hospital worship we prayed. Every morning I also prayed with the nurses for him. Every day we prayed with him at the bedside. He was improving, but VERY slowly. After almost 2 weeks of IV antibiotics, I repeated a lumbar puncture to see if his meningitis had cleared. We still found evidence of the infection in his spinal fluid. At this point, his family had completely given up. They couldn’t
afford any more medications (already their bill was enormous) and they didn’t believe that it would make a difference. The whole family came to the hospital to bring him home to die. I, however, wasn’t ready to give up on this young man, so I took over complete financial responsibility for him. We changed antibiotics and continued treatment for another week. Still, his improvements seemed miniscule, if at all. After completing this second course of medications, I pleaded with God to take over
his care. All along I had be praying that God would miraculously heal him (instantaneously, of course). It wasn’t until I had nothing else to offer him that I left his healing completely in God’s hands. That’s when I started to see improvements. First, his facial paralysis began to diminish. Then his speech started to return to “normal”. Soon, he regained use of his arms. At this point I was ecstatic that he didn’t seem to have any difficulty in thinking, speaking, and reading. I was sad
however that he seemed to be a complete paraplegic, with no use or sensation of his legs below the waist. It is VERY difficult to be paralyzed in Africa. There is no help or provisions. His family was still absent, not willing to help at all in his care. He was not even able to urinate or defecate without assistance. I was very worried about what would happen to this young man. We continued every day to pray with him, and encouraged him to pray for himself. At first he was very reluctant, thinking
that it wouldn’t do any good. But over time, he started praying as well. Three weeks ago, he regained control of his bowel and bladder. Last week I realized that he had some sensation in his legs, all the way to his toes. This week he surprised me with the ability to move his legs a little. God is healing him little by little, in HIS time.
Yesterday I realized why I’m here. We have some nursing students doing a rotation with us. When we stopped to discuss Baldagui’s case, I asked the patient, himself, to tell his story. He told how he had been taken to the health center but didn’t get better. He admitted that his family had taken him home to die. He told how his uncle had convinced the family to bring him into the hospital. He admitted to not having any memory of almost the entire first month here. What he said next brought
tears to my eyes. He said that he had been severely ill, but the doctor and nurse prayed for him every day. And God heard their (our) prayers and healed him. He is now reading the Bible every day and has given his life to the Lord. He has also promised to tell others about what he has experienced. He said that when you learn something amazing, you have to share the news with others. Praise the Lord for his healing, physically and spiritually. I don’t know if he will ever regain full use of
his legs. Please pray for his continued healing, both physically and spiritually. God’s timing is perfect!