Crazy day at Miami...

I went to Miami again today. Pretty crazy in the ER.
I saw lots of kids come through there- many as outpatients.
There were a number of trauma cases that came in. I assisted and bagged with one. But to be honest, trauma is not really my thing. Totally out of my comfort zone there for sure.

There was a 6 year old boy that came in with seizures. They started right after the earthquake and occur almost everyday. The poor little guy. And of course there is not much treatment available for him. We gave him some versed iv and the seizures stopped and a big smile appeared on his face. So sweet. I'm not sure what long term treatment will look like for him- sounds like he has partial complex seizures.

Later there was an 11 year old who has supposedly had a fever since the earthquake. Today his temperature was 102.2 (39). He had been seen in the E.R. last week- x-ray was abnormal and someone put him on antibiotics. I saw him today with a high fever, weight loss and 3 week cough. I pulled up last weeks x-ray and put the picture together and it looked like TB to me. So I was able to send him to a TB clinic. Crazy how so many symptoms are related to the day of the earthquake.

At 3pm we heard that a school collapsed and that the injured children were going to come our way. Apparently the earthquake caused quite some damaged and due to heavy rain fall yesterday and today, it caused part of the roof to collapse. We frantically started to get things set up and also sent away the other patients waiting in the emergency room. After 15 minutes we heard it would be 3 hours before they reached us. We got about 40 cots set up and waited. An hour later we heard that three children died and the rest would be able to be taken care of in clinics nearby. So, damage is still being done. Continue praying for the people in Haiti. (pictured below is the pediatric ward at the Medishare tent hospital)

Tomorrow I am planning on going with the mobile team- this time to an established clinic to see if I can help there. We'll see! For now, it's off to bed. Hopefully in a tent that does not leak tonight. Last night it started raining and within 5 minutes my tent was wet so I ended up sleeping indoors. I did think briefly about sleeping inside and possible aftershocks. But must say I slept very well! Hoping for some great sleep tonight.