I haven’t blogged in a while – things got rather busy here.
Josh is running non-stop as he figures out what it means to be Acting Director of ACTION Gulu. He feels the weight of that responsibility – having employees who depend on ACTION to put food on their tables, having 40 some children at Home of Love who are entirely dependent on us for everything, including their spiritual discipleship, having a school that is huge and needs reforms, building a missionary team…
We’ve been eternally blessed by the presence of Elizabeth this summer – a young lady who desires to serve God and joined us in Gulu for a few months to serve our family. She has focused on Gracie’s homeschooling and therapies and Gracie has thrived under Elizabeth’s attention! Elizabeth has also picked up the slack for me as third trimester of pregnancy hit with the fatigue that comes along with it.
And then the illnesses hit – with four kids, 7 total household members, and a big belly, it seems that the illnesses have been hitting harder than usual this summer. My goal is to avoid the hospitals here at all cost, so I am equipped to be doctor to my family – not my favorite role. But when Ana developed an impressive rash, high fevers, and lethargy… I was so grateful to get some advice from a trusted colleague who has spent years of his life in a low-resource setting in Africa.
And so I hit her with everything I could to knock out the illness.
In the USA, I have the antibiotic-ear infection discussion with parents and let them make the choice if they want to use antibiotics or not (they almost always choose antibiotics). Here, I’m much quicker to treat everything.
In the USA, a fever is most likely a viral infection, and I spent 6 years of practice in the USA working on perfecting my “antibiotics don’t help viral infections” speech. Here, a fever COULD still indicate a viral infection… or could indicate one of many potentially fatal illnesses – malaria, dengue, typhoid, meningitis, etc.
In the USA, I could defer to lab tests if I didn’t want to throw the kitchen sink at my child. Here, I lack confidence in the lab tests that could be theoretically be run in a clinic and I lack confidence in the safety of the tests (clean needles, etc.).
In the USA, I could ask a colleague to take a look at my child so I wouldn’t have to make the decision to give her shots or treat her for meningitis. I could ask a nurse to give her the injections so that I wouldn’t have to. I could just take my dehydrated child to the doctor’s office for some IV fluids without worrying that the doctor’s office might inadvertently kill her in the process of such a simple procedure.
The nice thing about practicing medicine here is that I can simply go to the pharmacy and buy what I need (as long as it’s available). Oh, I want ceftriaxone injections? Okay, “Itye maber, Doka, amiro cefriaxone ki syringes.” I can order directly from the medical supply store in Kampala. Once I figured out what is available here (and I’m still figuring it out), there are definitely some things to practicing medicine here that are nice!
I would prefer to have constant electricity and water, especially the nights that the children are sick… I would prefer to be able to plug in a baby monitor to keep an ear on Gracie without having to get out of bed… But, here I am, following God’s call to raise my children in Africa – LOVING it, full of peace that we are where God wants us to be and that nothing can happen outside of HIS control. He is sovereign and illness, human error, and fatigue are not bigger than God. Satan is not bigger than God. I can’t say that I haven’t been heavy-laden with concern over my very sick children this past week, but if I can lay those burdens where they belong – at JESUS’ feet and not my own – I have nothing to fear.
Josh is running non-stop as he figures out what it means to be Acting Director of ACTION Gulu. He feels the weight of that responsibility – having employees who depend on ACTION to put food on their tables, having 40 some children at Home of Love who are entirely dependent on us for everything, including their spiritual discipleship, having a school that is huge and needs reforms, building a missionary team…
We’ve been eternally blessed by the presence of Elizabeth this summer – a young lady who desires to serve God and joined us in Gulu for a few months to serve our family. She has focused on Gracie’s homeschooling and therapies and Gracie has thrived under Elizabeth’s attention! Elizabeth has also picked up the slack for me as third trimester of pregnancy hit with the fatigue that comes along with it.
And then the illnesses hit – with four kids, 7 total household members, and a big belly, it seems that the illnesses have been hitting harder than usual this summer. My goal is to avoid the hospitals here at all cost, so I am equipped to be doctor to my family – not my favorite role. But when Ana developed an impressive rash, high fevers, and lethargy… I was so grateful to get some advice from a trusted colleague who has spent years of his life in a low-resource setting in Africa.
And so I hit her with everything I could to knock out the illness.
In the USA, I have the antibiotic-ear infection discussion with parents and let them make the choice if they want to use antibiotics or not (they almost always choose antibiotics). Here, I’m much quicker to treat everything.
In the USA, a fever is most likely a viral infection, and I spent 6 years of practice in the USA working on perfecting my “antibiotics don’t help viral infections” speech. Here, a fever COULD still indicate a viral infection… or could indicate one of many potentially fatal illnesses – malaria, dengue, typhoid, meningitis, etc.
In the USA, I could defer to lab tests if I didn’t want to throw the kitchen sink at my child. Here, I lack confidence in the lab tests that could be theoretically be run in a clinic and I lack confidence in the safety of the tests (clean needles, etc.).
In the USA, I could ask a colleague to take a look at my child so I wouldn’t have to make the decision to give her shots or treat her for meningitis. I could ask a nurse to give her the injections so that I wouldn’t have to. I could just take my dehydrated child to the doctor’s office for some IV fluids without worrying that the doctor’s office might inadvertently kill her in the process of such a simple procedure.
The nice thing about practicing medicine here is that I can simply go to the pharmacy and buy what I need (as long as it’s available). Oh, I want ceftriaxone injections? Okay, “Itye maber, Doka, amiro cefriaxone ki syringes.” I can order directly from the medical supply store in Kampala. Once I figured out what is available here (and I’m still figuring it out), there are definitely some things to practicing medicine here that are nice!
I would prefer to have constant electricity and water, especially the nights that the children are sick… I would prefer to be able to plug in a baby monitor to keep an ear on Gracie without having to get out of bed… But, here I am, following God’s call to raise my children in Africa – LOVING it, full of peace that we are where God wants us to be and that nothing can happen outside of HIS control. He is sovereign and illness, human error, and fatigue are not bigger than God. Satan is not bigger than God. I can’t say that I haven’t been heavy-laden with concern over my very sick children this past week, but if I can lay those burdens where they belong – at JESUS’ feet and not my own – I have nothing to fear.
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Love and hugs from Delaware,
-Larisa Forest
-Paige F