Kwashiokor

This is a family who lives in our village and is active in our church - Grandma, Baby Chrisnell, and his aunt. Chrisnell was brought in to us in June by his family asking for medical help. It goes something like this- (Haitian helpers)There's a lady with a baby downstairs... (me) What are they here for? (sometimes sick, sometimes they want to give the baby to me)....(hh) Baby sick....(me, after stopping whatever I'm in the middle of & introducing myself & finding out who the family is and why they've come to us) What is wrong with baby?... (hh) sick...(me, thinking-no joke! but saying) How is he sick, fever?... (hh) yes...(me) No fever now....(hh) mostly at night...(me) Cough?....(hh) Yes....(me) vomiting, diarreah?...(hh) Yes....(me) How long?....( hh) a few weeks...(me) weeks? How many days?...(hh) a lot of days....(me, thinking OK this isn't working, I don't know if they don't understand or if they're just trying to give the right answers to get the help they want) Can I hold him?...taking baby(me) How old is he?...(hh) a year...(me, OK he has 4 teeth and he's pretty long, maybe he's close to a year, now I'm mostly just checking him out and asking fewer questions)...he seems underweight for a year(but aren't they all) but he isn't real skinny. He has weird extremely swollen legs and feet (like stuffed sausages), swelling around his middle, but not chest or arms. His face is pudgy, not gaunt. Now that I'm holding him I can feel his difficulty breathing, he really has a horrible rattle. I had not seen these symptoms before, but I knew this baby needed treatment. (me) I don't have medicine this baby needs, he needs to see a doctor....(hh) OK....(me) will you take him to the dr....(hh) yes, next Tues....(me, I wonder why they always say that- It reminds me of Wimpy-remember on Popeye-"I'll gladly pay you Tues. for a hamburger today"- but I know that means they aren't going to the dr.)... No, He needs to go tomorrow...(after going back and forth some more, we figure out theyve come to us because there is no money for a dr, so we agree to take them tomorrow) We have to go to a couple of clinics and a couple of towns over before we find a Dr, but we hit the jackpot! A good, English-speaking Haitian Dr! He tells us the baby has kwashiokor, a severe form of malnutrition from a lack of protein, and a bad case of bronchitis. He used the word severe several times. We leave with the usual handful of prescriptions and head home to figure out what we have on hand and what we can find at a pharmacy. We have the family bring Chrisnell to us for his medication and so we can monitor his progress and make sure he is being fed (we give him infant formula). Although he was weak and lethargic when we 1st saw him, you can see in the photo how much better he is now.
It is almost surreal the things I've seen & experienced since I first came to Haiti. I had never seen a starving child or heard of kwashiokor or a million other things that are so common here. (I've since learned that without treatment most children die from kwashiokor.)But every time the Lord provides help- nurses & pastors on teams, Drs & pharmacists back home(just an e-mail away), and others whose experiences are just what are needed at the time. Someone recently gave me a copy of "Where there is no doctor" and we even were able to obtain (through the magic of the internet) field test kits for malaria! We aren't drs and don't pretend to be, we just try to help when we can when there's no other alternative.
The next week after Chrisnell was seen by the Dr., Grandma came forward for prayer in response to the message and I was able to pray with her. Our God is a big God, with a big heart, who cares about all our needs, both big & small, no matter who we are - white foreign grandmas or Haitian grandmas.