Kristin Thornton’s Blog

Monday, January 5, 2009 (5-1-09 Africa style)

100_0747.jpg100_0749.jpg100_0751.jpg

Today was my first experience with Clinic days at Nilerigu Baptist Medical Centre!  We started the day at 7am with staff devotions and then I shadowed Dr. George Faile this morning and afternoon.  Saw just a few patients on my own.  Some of the more dramatic patients I’m remembering are a couple of women with Osteosarcomas (bone cancer) diagnosed by just looking at their femurs.  One looked like she had a 2L pop bottle stuck inside of her leg, the tumor was that big!  I wonder if they come to the doctor only when its to the point they can hardly walk, its amazing and so sad.  Also saw multiple men with inguinal hernias, some the size of a grapefruit, but they were reducible.  Most of them will have to wait at least a month for their surgeries because they have so many to do.  Also saw a D&C, miscarriage, and amputation of a middle finger off a girl who had been bitten by a snake.  The doctor I was with today probably saw 100 patients and there were 3-4 other docs seeing patients and performing surgeries today as well! :)  Such a great need and so many patients.  We saw clinic patients after rounding (about 10am) til 6pm with an hour lunch break, then did the amputation. 

Harmatan(sp?) is the name for when the winds blow the sand from the Sahara desert down to us and its hazy out.  In some of the pictures I posted yesterday and trying to get a few more on today, you’ll notice a “fog” but its really sand from the Sahara!  Quite interesting, this is their dry season and Harmatan is part of it.

Tomorrow Sam Gillis (a retired surgeon) is traveling back to the U.S. after working here for the past 6 weeks, I know he would appreciate your prayers for his traveling safety.  Also, I ask for your prayers as well!  Thank you so much!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015643&l=c93a2&id=162801085
The facebook link above should be accessible by anyone and contains 5 more pictures. You may have to copy paste it.

100_0739.jpg100_0739.jpgToday we went to the hospital to round at 8am til 10am.  Then we went back to the guesthouse to wait for Elizabeth Faille (Dr. George Faille’s wife) to pick us up for church.  You will see a picture and maybe video if it uploads correctly of church.  The children shared their memory verses with us this morning in English after worship/prayer time, then the sermon was given in both English and Mampruli (i think).  He spoke about 4 things that we need to “shake off” in order to do God’s work in the New Year.  1-Discouragement, 2-Criticism, 3-Low Expectations, and 4- the spirit of “I can’t do it.”  It was a good time of fellowship and they asked us to stand in the church and introduce ourselves, just a little intimidating, but not to bad!  The children just stare at us, white people are quite rare around here, LOL.

This afternoon we went with several of the missionaries to hike and view the encarpment(?) or Cliff and then to visit another couple who have lived in Africa for several years.  There are a few more pictures I’m going to attach of the view from the “cliff” and our little hike up there.  Also is a picture of some little skinny cows we saw on our way.

 Tomorrow will be a very busy day for us at the Hospital, it is a clinic day, Sarah and I’s first.  We have heard that they are very busy and long days.  We will meet at the hospital at 7am for a staff devotional before starting to see patients at 730am til lunch and return until we’ve seen everyone that has come.  Once clinic is finished we will go to ”The Theatre” to do minor procedures and surgery.  We have shadowed some of the volunteer doctors here on rounds for the past two days and most of the patients have Malaria, Gastroenteritis, Pneumonia, or Upper Respiratory Infections.  A few patients in the isolation ward have infected wounds and Meningitis.  There are a couple of patients with snake bites right now as well.  We have been assured that we will become very familar with all of these diseases and also become quite familiar with lumbar punctures (my first will be in Africa, wait for that story!).

Well, I’ll try to attach some of these pictures and a video or two if I can manage it!  Love you all and please continue to pray for us! Much love :) 

Nilerigu Hospital

This morning we flew from Accra to Tamale, a 2 hr flight.  From there we were picked up and drove 2 hours by truck on paved and red dirt roads.  We have a nice room with our own bathroom and shower with running water.  Unpacked and rested for a bit today before our lunch of hotdogs and baked beans.  At lunch we met a pharmacy student, Scott who has been here for about a week.  Then Dr. Sam (surgeon) and Dr. Cindy (FP) and Dr. Paul (FP) who will be here for a few more days before returning home to the States.  Later in the afternoon we went to the pharmacy to meet Jane.  She gave us the pharmacy list of available medications which is about 2 pages long, a dosing schedule for Malaria medicine, and a coding system for diagnosis (not quite ICD-9, but similar).  From there we went to the Theatre (operating/procedure room) and met Dr. Faille.  We were able to observe an I&D done on a small girl with Ketamine as her anesthetic.  Tomorrow we will have an orientation and go on rounds with some of the doctors.  This evening we had a potatoe/chicken casserole and green beans which tasted good!  We’ve found the school where they have wireless internet and a tv with cable, so we will be able to blog whenever there is time.  Thank you all for your prayers and I’ll keep you updated by this blog!

Day 1 in Accra

100_0737.jpg100_0735.jpgToday we slept in and then went to Osu to look around, eat lunch and see a little of the city.  Along with this post are a couple of pictures.  One is with Black Africa the artist from whom I purchased a canvas painting and the other of a bead maker who “gave” us our first gift in Africa!  He also mentioned that we could give any money from our heart, the bracelets he said usually sold for 5-7 cedis, approx $5.  Tomorrow at 5am we will leave this guesthouse and fly out at 6am for Tamale where we’ll connect with a driver that will take us to the hospital in Nilerigu.

We’ve Arrived in Ghana!

Sarah and I have just arrived at the guest house in Accra, Ghana, Africa.  We have traveled for 23 hours and are glad to get a shower and a nice bed to sleep in!  Will write more later, but wanted you all to know that our travels went well! :)  Please continue to pray for us.  We will stay here in Accra for two nights, this being our first and then leave on a early morning flight to Tamale where we will have a 2 hour bus ride to Nilerigu where the hospital is located.  Thanks so much for all your support!

Going to Ghana!

Family, Friends, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I write to you with a request for prayer.  Many of you know that I will be traveling to Ghana, Africa soon.  My flight leaves Kansas City on December 30, 2008, just a few days after my beloved sister’s wedding!  The preparation has been coming along well, but I need your prayers.  I recently went to a Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, KY where medical missions minded people from over the world gather for a time of worship, encouragement, and learning.  I was greatly encouraged to see so many men and women of God living out their calling on the medical missions field and am excited to be among them soon.  It was such a beautiful blessing to see so many excited about what God was doing and gathering together to build each other up!  The worship was amazing, joining with so many to lift our voices up and sing praises to the God we serve!  God is so good!

Matthew 28:18-20 tells us some of Jesus’s last words on earth, he says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 tells us, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  This verse really spoke to me, because it tells us what our purpose is as Christians.  I’ve been traveling around for school over the last few months and its been tiring and frustrating at times.  One day I was down and opened the Word to draw near to God, this was the verse I read.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was down because I had lost sight of my purpose and life seemed gray because of it.  Acts 1:8 reminded me of my purpose as a child of God, I’m to be a witness.  As I looked closer into what the verse said I saw that he called us to be witnesses in 1) Jerusalem, in 2) Judea and Samaria and 3) to the ends of the earth.  To me this was saying, I’m called to be a witness at 1) home, 2) the surrounding communities and 3) to the faraway places of the world.  As Christians our calling is simple, its to be witnesses at home, nearby and far off.  I know that many of you aren’t able to go far off, but I’m asking you to “go far off” with me by praying for the people in Ghana.  Pray that God will open their hearts and minds to His Word, His Salvation, and His Love.  Please pray that Sarah (another medical student from KCOM) and I will be prepared for what God has in store for us and that we will be open to hear His voice guiding us each day.

You have been a source of encouragement in my life, you’ve walked alongside me at different times and God has used you in a special way.  Please continue to be used of God in whatever capacity He’s calling you to and I hope its also in prayer for the people “far off” and for me as I go.

This trip to Ghana, Africa is for medical missions and is part of my schooling for medicine.  I’ll be working at Nalerigu Baptist Medical Center in Ghana, Africa and learning about international medicine.  December 30, 2008 is my departure date from Kansas City.  I’ll arrive in Ghana for New Year’s Eve and continue traveling to Nalerigu, northern Ghana, West Africa where I will work for 4 weeks.  Then begin traveling back home on January 30th.  INMED is the organization I’m going through and they’ve set up a blog for me to write and post pictures while I am gone.  The link for this is below and I encourage you to check it out.  I’ve also put a link for INMED and Nalerigu Baptist Medical Center below.

Thank you so much for your love and prayers,
Kristin Thornton, a servant of Christ Jesus