Knocking the dust off the ole blog!

I am back! It has been 7 long months since I posted on here and a lot has happened in my life since then. 2 REALLY big things happened that will forever change my life. First of all, back in March I surrendered to the call to preach. This is something I am pretty sure happened while I was in Haiti the first time. I have had the opportunity to preach now many times and have really enjoyed it. I look forward to what the Lord has in store for me in the future with this new path in life he is guiding me down. Second thing is the arrival of my second daughter. Paisley Grace Cole was born on May 30th at Watauga Medical Center. She was a true answered prayer for Maria and I. Abby is one proud big sister.

Back on May 8th I done a little mission trip in my own back yard. Samaritan's Purse was working in Birmingham Alabama doing relief work for the tornado victims. They were overwhelmed with work orders and not enough hands to fill the need. The employees were offered a chance to help and of course I jumped all over it. It was a tough decision because Maria was due in 22 days, but the Lord lead me and of course I followed. That was the best 7 days I had spent with SP. I have never seen the Lord work in so many ways and I came back more blessed than the people we helped I think. When you go to someones house who has lost everything, and you take a moment to Pray for them and they beat you to it and start Praying for you, that says a lot. I was physically drained but spiritually high as a kite. I was told something by a lady who lost everything her and her husband had worked for over their 60 years of marriage. She told me that she was glad to see us put our feet where our knees had been. Those are some strong words if you think about it!

As I prepare myself for my upcoming mission trip to Haiti (I call it Haiti Round 2) I find that it is a chance for me to go back and finish what I started. I know that I went there the last time and was disappointed in myself for not being a witness like I should have. I wise little Irish man told me that I done what I was supposed too. I saved their lives to be saved another day.

I do not foresee myself going back there again after this. I feel in my heart that the work I need to be doing for the Lord needs to be done here in the States. Having a taste of mission work both "far and near" you might say, has let me understand that Gods people have a nitch and I think mine is here. Not to say I would never go back to Haiti or any other foreign country, but I feel more at home with people that understand the way I talk. No one is really talking about this trip like they did the first one. Ever so often someone might mention how hot its going to be and that's about it. Keep me in your Prayers as I prepare for another journey down this walk of faith I am taking.

Post Haiti

Well I survived the Thanksgiving meals and family questions, which were not as many as I thought I would get. I was told by several of the medical staff with prior mission experience that most family members will not ask questions about what you encounter on the trip. I was amazed that once I got to my first Thanksgiving meal that all I heard was "did you have fun"? All I could say was I enjoyed the experience, it was hard work, and I was blessed. No one wanted to hear the things I witnessed and how bad it was. I know I can never explain the horror in Haiti, but I would love to have been given the opportunity to try. I know its not that no one cares, maybe it is just that the medical stuff isn't their thing. I enjoyed this Thanksgiving meal a little more than any other I have had. I enjoyed being with family a little more as well. I found myself just sitting back and listening to everyone laugh and talk, watching the kids play and fight and thinking to myself how truly blessed I really am. The Lord has given me a family that has strong roots in our Christian beliefs and this family tree will never fall. It might sway every now and then, but we stand strong as an oak. I can't fathom where I might be in my life right now if I had not had the parents that I have. I hope and pray that I can plant that seed of faith and love in Christ in Abby and the next one as Mom and Dad did in me. I can't help but feel some what guilty for all that I have after seeing all that those in Haiti do not have. I definitely have taken things for granted in the past and will think about the little things more now than ever.

We are leaving for Bryson City, NC in the morning to have a short family trip with Jason & Krystal Adams. We are taking Abby and Justus to ride the Polar Express at the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad and spend the night. I look forward to getting back to work on Monday. I have had many phone calls and text messages from my co-workers wanting to know how things went. My boss and Dayna will be leaving for Haiti on Thursday, so of course, they are going to be full of questions. I hope I can some what prepare them for what they will encounter there. I think I will be going back to Haiti in January, good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise. I won't be gone near as long this time and I will be a little more relaxed about this one.  

Matthew 4:23- And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. KJV

Day 10

Atlast the day has arrived. We are all packed and waiting on our bus to take us to Port Au Prince to catch our flight. The first group just left and we had to say our first round of good byes. We exchanged a few more emails and laughs, more hugs and tears. We talked about how we felt, and funny thing is, we all feel like our job here is not done. The Lord has blessed us so much here and through us, thousands of lives have been saved. I remember my first post on here, I said I was coming down here to heal both spiritually and physically. I learned something else, I came down here to make friends and memories. I would have never thought I would make this many friends, both nationally and medically. As we debriefed last night, we all spoke about how the next wave of this epidemic is going to hit with in the next few days and we felt like we needed to be here for it. On a lighter note, Dr. Trey and I have spread a rumor here at the camp that everyone will have to give a stool sample at customs. The girls are frantic!! I am off to Miami, be back on tonight for my post flight blog.

Day 9

The last night of work was great. We started the night off with group pictures and a little fellowship. Some of my team left out early this morning and we would not get to see them before we got back to the campus. It was kind of emotional to say the least. We shared funny stories and pictures, then exchanged email and mailing addresses. Some of us took pictures (I took over 500 so far) and others forgot, so we are all going to put them on shutter fly for each other to see and use. The 20 minute drive from the campus to the clinic was a quite one for once. I opened our last trip out with prayer and we were off. We had 2 new people to the "A" team, as we have named ourselves, they didn't have the stories to tale like we did. Once we got to Bercy we got patient reports from day shift and started our rounds. I was honored to be given the pediatric wards last night. All though those tents did not have the volume that once did, I still got to play with the babies and make a few more last minute little friends. I did have a few adult patients to tend to as well. One of them had what we think is cerebral meningitis and needed to be taken to a hospital. I got to play with baby Sue again one more time last night. He is such a happy little baby and so malnourished and under weight. I wanted to put him in my bag and take him home. As the night drug on, we noticed that all of us were getting short tempers and things bothered us more than usual. I guess having time to sit back and think about things because we did not have much to do was a bad thing. I yelled at an old man that kept taking his IV out, all 4 of them I put in. I finally just wrapped his hand up so that he couldn't touch things. Another young man did not want his second IV and fought me for a while... the IV won... all 14 gauges. Each of us walked around checking on one another, both mentally and physically. We took a lot of breaks and went back to the "staff lounge" and hung out. We at cookies, took a few power naps, ate some more, slept even more and made more rounds. Around 4:30a it all broke lose. We had 7 patients come in, all in bad shape. One was brought in on a motorcycle and was unconscious. Her left foot had been dragging a her big toe had been sanded down to the bone. We worked on that and her cholera both the best we could. I little boy cam in and we was unable to get any IV accesses on him anywhere. 2 of the docs made 5 attempts at an IO and could not get it. I put an NG tube down his nose and gave him fluids that way till Dr. Trey got the IO in place. That was one sick little boy and he pushed all of us over the edge. We knew after he was stable that it was time for us all to have a mental health day to ourselves. Once I got back to the base and deconed myself like I have done for the past 9 days, I ate a nice breakfast and tried to get online. I was pulled away by the head of security who wanted me and Dr. Lance to go with him to the new clinic and do a site tour and see how the flow would be there. It is a great new clinic and will be well organized and staffed. After that we ran around to a few more places so I can take yet more pics of the place. The poverty I saw I will never be able to explain by word or picture. We returned back to the dorms at noon for lunch and a nap. We have 40 new medical personnel coming in tomorrow after we leave. I need to clean up by bunk area and get packed for the long journey home.

Day 8 Part 2

Last night was very quite. Right off the bat I had a patient die. I thought that would be the start of a bad night, I was wrong. We have several that were just there to sleep more or less and the others just needed a little more time. At one point last night I counted 122 patients. We did not discharge any till around 6a and took in about 10 more, so about 135 patients total last night. We found a baby hiding under his sick mother that no one had told us was there. Brittany and I took up with him and I named him Sue. His name was Sue because he was wearing a pink dress. I took plenty of pics and will post them later this week. We goofed off most of the night time kill time. At one point we was lined up. To start the electric slide, but several patients come into triage and we had to break up our little cholera dance party. I found a homeless man in our camp who was not mentally stable. I started several IVs but he took them out. He was naked and it was cool last night. I found him a rug and he refused to wear it. Before we left last night Dr. Melker and I sat down and looked at the map of Haiti and he showed me where the outbreak started and the path it is taking. He seems to think it is here to stay for a while. Just before that, one of the SP workers came running into to the staff lounge and said someone had been shoot outside. Me and Nurse Helen ran out and found Dr. Chuck Miller with the patient. Apparently someone had dropped a shotgun somewhere close to the campus and it went off. The pellets hit the girls in the back of the head and in the shoulder. She was not in any serious danger so she got a tetnas shoot and was sent on to a clinic to have the pellets removed. We had some big ole hamburgers for supper and ice cold cokes. I have one last night shift tonight and I will be done at Bercy cholera clinic. Dr. Lance and I are going to tour Haiti tomorrow after lunch and do a little site sewing. Should be fun.

Day 8 Part 1

As I sit here with my group that worked without me last night, I find myself starting to dread going home for some unknown reason. I miss my family more than I thought I would, but the work that we have done and the lives we have saved have opened my eyes to what the Lord really can do. One of my co-workers here, Stacey who is an RN, just read her blog from the other day. We all sat here and cried as she described the horror of this epidemic through her eyes. It is amazing how we all have different descriptions of Cholera and the terror it has caused in this devastated country. We have funny stories and sad stories, stories that we will keep with us for the rest of our lives, and stories we would like to forget the day it happened. One thing about what we have all witnessed here, we will never be able to describe it to anyone else besides someone who has worked here and seen this tragedy first hand. Not one picture we have taken nor one story we will tell can ever paint a good enough picture of what is in our mind and heart.

Day 7 Part 2

I almost got to work another night shift. I was not scheduled to work tonight so I only got about 2 hours sleep today. I found out around 5:30 that they had scheduled me another night, and we leave here at 6:30. I was not happy, but I got ready and was heading out. Dr. Stephanie told me she would cover it since she had slept all day. So I got to video chat with Abby tonight and talk to Maria. Wow, two nights in a row I got to talk to my family. I found out that ASU lost to Florida today, no surprise there. Dad said he had a big day at the plant with today being the opening day of rifle season. He said he shoot a big buck, but as usual for him, he lost it. I talked tonight to the Chaplain here this afternoon about the voodoo stuff from last night. We both felt like we should have their services there at the site 24/7. So, as I type, I am also talking with the Chaplain crew going out tonight. The 2 tonight are from the UK, so the Haitians wont get the good ole Southern Baptist tongue lashing they need, but they will get the Gospel none the less. I think I am going to turn in early tonight and catch up on some needed rest. A bunch of us was watching a season of The Office earlier and I was nodding off quite often.