Kristin Thornton’s Blog

Sunday, 25/1/09

I’m back at the internet cafe!  My last post was tuesday so i’ll try to remember what all happened since then!

Wednesday we had clinic and Dr. Faile was gone (he sees about 70+ pt) so I wondered if we would be seeing patients into the night, but it wasn’t the case.  Its amazing how God doesn’t give you more than you can handle and His ways are perfect! :)  While on rounds we saw a patient with Rabies, she was at a terminal stage with encephalopathy and hydrophobia (fear of water).  Dr. Hewitt offered her a bowel of water, about 3 feet away from her and she got very nervous and tried to back away.  At this stage of the disease it is to late to do anything and I think she went home for her last few days.  In clinic we met a fella whose heart was on his right, very interesting cardiac examination!

Thursday was a slower day with rounds in the morning and a few procedures.  I had most of the afternoon off and then we had station meeting at the Hewitt’s house Thurs evening.  They had asked me to share and I wasn’t completely sure what God wanted me to say, but I wanted to be an encouragement.  They mentioned wanting to know more about us and what God had done in our lives, so that’s what I shared!

I have several what i like to call ”life verses” that have been given to me by God through different people in my life.  The first verse I clung to as a child is Ps 23 vs ?  ”Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me.”  As a child I was often overwhelmed with great fear, but this verse was the one i would repeat over and over again.   It brought so much comfort because it reminded me that I’m not walking alone and God is with me so I should not fear!  Just now i’m also reminded of the verse that says, “I have not given you  a spirit of fear/timidity, but a spirit of power.”  THat’s another good one!

Later in my life I went to Romania on a missions trip in high school and i remember fear taking ahold of me then as well because i was going alone.  I went to Texas for training then went to Romania with my new acquaintances, but I was also armed with a verse given to me by my Dad!  Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!”

My next “life verse” came to me while in Romania.  A translator named, Gabriel gave me a verse, Isaiah 41:9-10.  You’ll have to look this one up, I do several times a year and am always encouraged, uplifted and reminded of my calling!  It talks about God calling His people and that He takes us with His right hand!  Its so amazing how the God of the Universe uses HIS VERY OWN right HAND to guide and lead us on our journey!  God loves us so much and desires a personal relationship with us, its so comforting to know that He reaches out with HIS HAND not by other means!

Friday was another clinic day.  Dr. Faile was back and it was hoppin’ busy again!  Sarah and I have been in our own room for the past two weeks seeing patients, I think we see at least 50-60 patients per clinic day between the two of us.  Friday Dr. Faile asked us to come see a patient with severely advanced breast cancer.  Her cancer was shockingly apparent and her entire right arm was swollen with at least a couple inches thicker than her left arm.  With breast cancer it messes up the lymphatic system so that it can’t drain off the excess fluid.  In this lady’s case her cancer was so far advanced that the lymphatic system was shut off and her arm was literally blowing up.  It is a really sad case because there is nothing that can be done now, even if she went to the States.  Later after clinic we went to the procedure room and I got to perform another paracentesis (drain fluid off the belly), a D and C (cleaning out uterus from miscarriage) and also assisted with a C-section for a lady who had lost her baby but medical treatment did not allow her to deliver, so we did a c-section.  Very sad.

Saturday we were on call.  That morning we rounded and then helped with a few procedures.  At 2pm we went back to round and ended up staying until 7pm.  It wasn’t all hospital work, but alot of it was.  There was also an awards ceremony for the hospital where several gave speaches, they played musical chairs (hilarious! got a video to show you all) and a game of Tug-0f-War!  Sarah and I played Tug-of-War and they had us on opposite teams, not sure if we were a handicap or a benefit?  My team won and later that evening our team was rewarded with small radios!  Our evening rounds were also busy, it seems the hospital filled up on Saturday with about 10 new pediatric patients and 5-7 adult admissions.  We were busy busy!

Today we rounded a bit before going to Second Baptist church this morning.  The service wasn’t translated like previous ones we’ve been to, but the scripture was 1 Peter 3:1-7 speaking about wives and husband stuff.  There were also 3 weddings this weekend but we weren’t ablt to attend them.

 love ya all, i got 3 min to get this published.  thanks for your prayers and see you in a week!  God bless