Medical Evacuation

These past 60 hours have been a whirl wind during which I have been able to see another side of missionary work: medical evacuation. After reading Suzy's email updates in my previous postings, you know what happened. If you want a play by play – here it is from my point of view. Beware -it's long!

Saturday:

This started out as a really nice day. Suzy and I got up early to work out (oh yeah, you read that right), then I went to lay down and recuperate from the work out! Around 11:00 I decided to help Jane in the kitchen. As I was leaving my room, Huggins came and asked me to come to the clinic. There was a boy who had been shot in the face and Suzy needed me to take a picture so she could send out a prayer request. I grabbed my camera and zoomed over to the clinic. When I got there, John-Paul, Margaret, Huggins and other staff were in the room helping him while Suzy was on the bed holding his hand and praying. They were getting ready to take the bandage off and assess the damage. He looked bad enough before the bandage was removed (which is why I didn't post a picture), but I wasn't prepared to see what was underneath. His whole cheek was ripped apart and part of his nose was destroyed. This poor boy, Matoch, had been brutally injured.

I tried really hard not to cry because I didn't want to scare him, but I just couldn't help it. How could someone do that? There have been a lot of cattle raids nearby and this was the result of another. Around 5:00 am, Matoch was getting the cattle ready when all of a sudden their camp (about 30 miles from Tonj) was surrounded by cattle raiders from Tonj. The attackers opened fire and he was shot in the face. I wish you could see how brave he was. While the doctor and nurse cleaned the wound, he did not shed one tear or make any noise. Unfortunately, our clinic is not equipped to fix such an injury. He needed major reconstructive surgery. Even referring him to Wau was not an option. They can't do that there either. I began to wonder what would happen to him. I didn't know what we could do for him.

Unbeknown to me, Suzy began calling various missions organizations looking for a flight. At first she was told there were no planes nearby. Then as she prayed for God to intervene she got a call that a plane was going to be near and could fly to Tonj to pick up Matoch.

Once Matoch was cleaned and bandaged up, I went to the kitchen to help Jane with lunch (12:30). We were almost done (1:00) when Suzy came over and said she thinks she found a flight to take Matoch and she needed someone to go with him. Right away I volunteered to go. She went over to the clinic to talk to John-Paul and it was decided I would go with him. At this point my mind was swirling. When, where, how... We all went into overdrive to prepare for Matoch's departure.

Suzy wasn't sure if the plane was coming right away or waiting until the morning. It was in a town called Akot which is about six hours by car from Tonj or about a 45 minute flight. Since we didn't know, we planned as if it was right away. Because Matoch had no documentation (passport, birth certificate, etc) getting him into Kenya may be a problem. John-Paul and I drafted a referral letter to a specialist as well as a letter to immigration. Sabet also was trying to get a letter from the town commissioner.

Around 1:30 we got confirmation the plane would be coming in about an hour. That is when I typed my blog post as fast as I could and rushed to get the letters printed. Sabet came back from the commissioners office, but didn't have the letter. Apparently they ran out of the necessary forms and needed us to type one up. I hurried to do that and Sabet took off again. Around 2:05 I started to pack. I just threw stuff into an box and hoped I got the essentials. I was done in 5 minutes. I ran over to Suzy's house to ask her questions and then discovered she and the kids were coming too. Sabet was concerned there would be retaliation in Tonj and suggested Suzy leave with the kids. The kids got their shoes on and Suzy quickly got the home school stuff together. It was a mad dash. We had to be at the airstrip by 2:30. Then we realized we had to type up a consent letter for the mom to sign. Nancy ran off to do that while we waited for Sabet to return in the truck with the letter from the commissioner. The car had gone to Wau that morning so we only had the truck. While we waited by the clinic for Sabet, we heard the plane zoom over head. Sabet arrived a short time later and we all loaded into the truck and headed to the airstrip.

By this time Matoch's mom (Achol) had decided to come. When Suzy realized she was coming, she grabbed a dress she had packed and gave it to Achol to wear. We got to the airstrip about 2:45. Since the plane had come from Akot where there is a medical clinic, a doctor came along to make sure Matoch was stable enough to fly. After he saw that he was, Matoch, Achol, Suzy, Hannah, Jed, Agum and I loaded the plane (3:00) and headed to Akot to drop off the doctor and refuel. As we were flying, I turned to Suzy and said “Can you believe we are on a plane to Nairobi? Didn't we just get to Sudan?” Unfortunately, because it was so late in the day, we had to stay over night in Akot. While I was very thankful the clinic let us stay there, it was one of the worst night's I ever had. We were on thin mattresses on the floor of an enclosed patio. It was hot, hard and there were bugs crawling on us. Anytime I thought I felt something on me, my body went into a spastic convulsion. After a loooong night, I was ready to leave. The doctor and staff had been very hospitable, but I just wanted to get to Nairobi.

Sunday:

By 8:00am we headed for Loki. This is where we would refuel and go through immigration. Fortunately we had a contact there that warned immigration officials we were coming and Matoch and Achol had no problems being cleared. At 11:00 we took off for Nairobi. Matoch and Achol did well on the plane. I know they must have been blown away. Everything was new for them. We landed in Nairobi at 1:45pm where it was pouring rain. Quickly we dashed to the car that was waiting to pick us up. Suzy's car was being repaired so we were picked up by a Mayfield van. First we picked up Gordon, Sabet and Suzy's logistician in Nairobi, then we dropped off Suzy and the kids at the house. Since I didn't know if I would be returning, I threw an overnight bag together. Then we picked up our translator, Kuel, and headed to the hospital (2:30). (At Sabet and Suzy's church in Nairobi, Karen Vineyard, there is a group of Sudanese men. While in Loki, Suzy called a friend from church and asked him to talk to one of them at church that morning and see if one of them would be willing to translate. Kuel said yes.)

The hospital is about an hour away from Nairobi. It's called Kijabi Missions Hospital. Suzy knows one of the doctors well, but he was out of town. One of our contacts reached the on call doctor who said he notified the staff we would be coming. When we got there (4:00), we were brought into the casualty room where we waited for a while. A doctor came over to see him and said she would call the general surgeon and the plastic surgeon. While we waited for them to come, Matoch got x-rays and blood work done. Around 6:30, the general surgeon came to see us. He said he wanted to wait until the plastic surgeon got there in 30 minutes to remove the bandage. By 8:00, he had not come yet. Gordon and the driver from Mayfield needed to leave so I remained with the translator, Matoch and Achol. Gordon left me his phone so I could communicate with Suzy. At 8:15, we were informed Matoch was being admitted and would be transferred to the pediatric ward. There we would see the plastic surgeon.

At 9:00 we still had not seen the plastic surgeon so I asked the nurse who told me she didn't know when he would come. At 9:30, the nurse took Matoch to the theater (OR) where the doctors would look at the wound and decide what would be needed and then we would meet with the doctor. However, they brought him right back and said it was postponed for an hour. At 10:30, they took him again and he didn't return until 12:30am. I asked if the doctor was coming and the nurse said I would have to wait until the morning to talk to him. I was so frustrated. Then my phone died and I couldn't find a place to plug it in. By this time, Matoch was put in a room with two beds so the nurse, Nancy, said I could stay in the other bed and she also found a bed for Kuel. While Matoch was in the theater, Nancy showed us around. Most of the rooms were full with ten kids and their moms in each one. She showed us where the toilets where. We had to show Achol how to use it. Unfortunately, the toilets were squattys. Imagine a hole in the ground. That's it. No seat. I'm not too prissy, but I hate squattys. I would rather go behind a bush than use a squatty!

Monday:

Around 1:00am, we turned out the lights (another thing I had to show Achol how to use) and attempted to sleep. The nurses came in around once an hour so I didn't get to sleep much. Around 6:30, they were serving tea to the patients so I got up. Once again I asked when the doctor was coming and was they didn't know when. I returned to the room, laid down and started to cry. All the emotions of the last two days just hit me: sadness for Matoch and awe for his courage; outrage over the evil of man; feeling displaced – I just got back to Sudan and had mixed emotions about leaving; frustration about lack of communication – I had no idea what the plan was for Matoch (what treatment was needed, how long he would be there, what the cost would be, etc) and no one could help me. I felt I had no advocate or point person to assist us there; total exhaustion – very little sleep over the last two nights; hunger – I hadn't eaten much since lunch on Sat.; frustration I couldn't charge the phone and lastly... the squatties. I went to use it and it smelled so bad I couldn't stop gagging. I know it seems silly, but in the moment, the thought of having to use the squatty was really disturbing. All of that and even more combined led to one much needed melt down. I just needed to cry it out. I did for about 10 minutes and then I was ok. Then I felt foolish for the breakdown because I am healthy and was not shot in the face. I asked God to give me joy right then and there and asked that He use me today.

Fortunately things proceeded much smoother from that point on. I found a nurse who let me charge the cell phone and I was able to touch base with Suzy. Then around 9:00am I met the plastic surgeon who was very nice and told me what the plan was. Last night they cleaned the wound and found lots of debris and also infection. Today they will clean it again, Tuesday they will just replace the bandage and then do the operation on Wednesday. In two and a half weeks they will need to do another procedure to finish up and hopefully in three weeks he'll be able to go home. I felt much better after talking with him. For the next few hours we just hung out in the room. At 12:00, Matoch was taken to the theater for the second cleaning. He was finished around 3:00pm and taken back to the ward.

Since Matoch wasn't going to have a procedure done on Tuesday, it was decided I would go back to the house Monday evening and return to the hospital Wednesday morning for the surgery. Kuel would stay with Matoch and Achol at the hospital. While I waited for Gordon to pick me up, I met a lot of neat people in the ward:

Merci – the chaplain for the pediatric ward. She made a sign for Matoch's room that said “Jesus Loves You.”
Mary Kay – a older lady from Michigan who comes to Kenya every February and March. Her husband is a pathologist and works at the hospital and she volunteers on the pediatric ward, doing crafts with the kids.
Maureen – a friendly employee on the cleaning staff
Mirium – her son, Eric, has had for operations for intestinal problems
Josephine – her daughter, Caroline, was in the theater getting multiple fractures treated after falling from a mango tree

I was having such a good time talking to patients and their moms that I didn't want to leave when Gordon came. This morning I was struggling to be there and then I ended up having a great time. God is so good that way. I'll be able to see them all again when I go back on Wednesday. Around 5:00pm I said good-bye to Matoch, Achol and Kuel and Gordon and I headed to the house. After making a few stops for groceries and gas, we arrived home at 7:00pm. Suzy had a wonderful welcome for me: a massage (by a lady named Rose who does inexpensive, about $13/hr, but AMAZING massages) and Mexican food for dinner. I felt so blessed by that. After a rough three days, it was exactly what I needed.

It was neat to see how God's presence was apparent through everything. It was a miracle there was a plane so close to us. The pilot was extremely accommodating and helpful. She was supposed to go from Akot to Loki on Saturday and be off in the evening and on Sunday. Instead she flew from Akot to Tonj and back to Akot Saturday. Then on Sunday she flew from Akot to Loki to Nairobi and back to Loki. She was such a blessing. Also, In Loki we got through immigration with no problems. Someone from Samaritan's Purse helped us through the process. Then God led a translator to us who was willing to stay at the hospital with Matoch and Achol. Small things like finding someone to charge my phone, Matoch being put in a small room where the translator could stay and others things provided encouragement and reassurance God was in charge.

It was a crazy three days and I still feel a little out of sorts. I was just getting back into the swing of things in Sudan and then suddenly found myself in Nairobi again. I don't know when I will return to Sudan. I may be in Nairobi until after the elections in April. I know I am still being helpful to the ministry here, but it feels strange not to be in Sudan. I am trusting God has placed me here for a reason and am ready to do whatever I can to help.

Please continue to pray for everyone back at the compound. They are still receiving victims from the attack in Matoch's village. Pray for their strength and courage as they serve the people of Tonj in the midst of uncertainty. Also pray for Matoch's surgery on Wednesday. I will let you know how everything is going.