DahTee

It is so relaxing to trust in Jesus!  He makes sure we are in the right place at the right time to help others.  None of us know anything about the future and what is best for ourselves or for others.  I could not even tell you how many times our well laid out plans have been dashed to pieces, and a totally different course pursued.   Later we discover it is because we need to be in a particular place to help someone in need.

This just happened yesterday.  We had plans which did not work out because the patients just flowed in that day.  Finally at 7 p.m. we sat down to eat our 2nd meal.  How starving we were!  Just then we hear the sound of a chocking, wheezing old motorbike, straining to bring 2 people up the last hill to our house.  Most people park below and walk up because it is so steep, but when the motorbikes attempt to come that way it is usually because someone is really sick.  We hear coughing at the door.  Karen people do not knock on the door, because their bamboo houses do not have doors, they cough or talk loudly to announce their arrival.  BletJaw answered by asking them if they want to eat with us.  This is always how we greet people when we are eating.  We invite them to eat with us.    The young man said:

“Whow Ai Ya,”  Which means:  “A snack has bitten me!”

IMG_1701

Instantly our meal was forgotten and we half carried DahTee, age 24, from WaSuTa, to our clinic.  It had already been 4 hours since the bite.  He had been cutting bamboo far up in the mountains when he was bitten.  He thought at first it was a poisonous caterpillar, so he stepped forward, and as he did the deadly green pit viper struck him the second time on his right foot.   Now he has two doses of venom in him.  His foot is blue and swollen tight.  He barely can stand the pain and tightness which radiates up his entire leg.  I quickly gave pain medication and mixed a poultice of Charcoal and Psyllium seed.  It is impossible to keep antivenin because there is a different one for each type of snake,  it is very expensive, and its effectiveness expires very quickly.  

BletJaw has already turned the truck around and checked the water and oil levels. 

IMG_2191

Shortly after 7p.m. we were off!  Truck rattling all the way.  Some things are very loose near the front wheels and we wonder if it will hold together.  Anything on this truck that can be shaken, will be shaken, let me tell you!  The front passenger seat is completely broken.   It just lies flat on the back seat, but when going down the steep places it bullets back and forth!  I perch on the edge of the seat hanging onto anything that can be grabbed to keep me in place as the truck lurches all over the place .  We have to go all the way to Omkoi because we already know that the truck they use in MeDooGlow to transport patients has been wrecked and the driver is injured.  (We had to make the same trip to Omkoi just 2 days ago with another patient which is why we know).  BletJaw and I have not fully recovered from that trip.  BletJaw’s back hurts from putting in concrete steps up to our house.  Now we drive 7-8 hours round trip again.

I don’t know what happened to me, but I was extremely car sick the entire way.  This seldom happens to me, but when I am tired and have not eaten, plus we are drinking the muddy water straight from the mountain because our good drinking water had turned as green as sea weed for some strange reason.  We have not had time to boil it.  I guess this gives me plenty of reasons to be car sick.  But at least I am not fighting poison from the fangs of a deadly pit viper!  Let’s put our sympathies in the place where they belong because DahTee has suffered intensely all the way.

IMG_2190

We leave DahTee and his friend at Omkoi with a prayer and take our long journey home.  I sink into my sleeping place at 2:45 a.m. I tell God:  “Oh please send this one more patient back home restored to health!”

I am so abundantly thankful to the Lord for directing our steps today. Oh how He loves us to help those in need!  Oh how I love to fill my small place in His vineyard and love the people He loves,  and be what He wants me to be to those around me! 

This entry was posted in Updates. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *