Snake bite in Kulban

     I was standing on the clinic porch going through my mental check list of things that needed to be done for the day when a teenager walked up. "Bing Bing" told me that a man named Ma' aw was sick because he had been bitten by a snake and that he needed medicine.  I asked when this had occurred and Bing Bing replied "sambatu lingu," about one week ago. I asked if he could walk and he said no. "Is there anything else wrong?" I asked. "Yes," Bing Bing replied, "His leg is really swollen, and his face feels like it is on fire."  I asked what type of snake had bitten him, hoping I could identify it and possibly read up on the problem, but Ma' aw had been bitten at night and did not see the snake.  I tried to explain that I did not have medicine I could send for Ma' aw and that they needed to bring Ma' aw to the clinic where I could assess the problem and possibly send him to the hospital.  Bing Bing gave me the usual look and said "Oh Chris, it's too far and steep to carry him".  I kept insisting that they needed to bring him to the clinic and finally Bing Bing left.  He never said if he was going carry Ma' aw or not.  I figured that 1 of 2 things would happen.  Either they would carry Ma' aw to the clinic if he was really sick, or I would never hear about it again and I would assume it was not a big injury.  I had thought about hiking to this village to see Ma' aw myself, but a few months ago people from this same village asked for medicine for a man who could not walk due to a skin disease. I decided to hike the hour and half trail that is extremely steep only to find the patient reclining outside and perfectly able to ambulate.  His only problem was he had a skin rash in his groin area and I had a suspicion he was to embarrassed to walk to the clinic.  Unfortunately this jaded my trust in this village and I was not so willing to rush out and see what was wrong with this new patient.  However, later that day Bing Bing's father also came to the clinic and asked me to come.  I called Leonda, the career missionary, and told her the situation and she thought it would be a good idea to check it out. I brought the clinic backpack with supplies in it and also a box that generates electricity for snake bites.  It's a water tight ammo can with an alternator inside that is turned with a handle on the side to produce electricity. The electricity is then delivered to the skin via two cables tipped with a pen like object.  It's very medieval and I heard from another missionary that it really hurts.  It's the only snake bite therapy we have, though according to the pamphlet inside it has not been proven to work. 
     I found Elias, a fellow missionary, and asked, "How would like to go on an adventure?"  He was up for it and dropped off his back pack. I asked, "Don't you want to bring your water and stuff?"and he said "No, it's not that far."  I shrugged and said "O.K." assuming he knew where we were going.  Later I would found out that he had misunderstood and thought we were hiking only about half an hour away.  Needless to say he was very thirsty by the time we made it to Kulban.  We arrived to find Ma'aw on the porch, and I could already see his right leg was massive.  Elias volunteered to wash the leg while I got vitals and asked other medical questions. Once the leg was clean it was obvious that the main problem was that the bite had become infected and he had cellulitis and an abscess.  His leg was very red and hot, with three out of four pitting edema.  I could express pus from the bite site so I decided to drain it.  I made a 1 cm incision over the area and was able to drain about a cup full of purulent material.  By this time it was dark and Elias and I were using our head lamps to finish up.  I packed and dressed the wound and then we stated our case that Ma'aw needed to be carried to the clinic.  We explained that his wound needed packing everyday and that I had not brought enough antibiotics to give him a complete course.  They agreed and said that when they got enough people they would carry him.  They offered to feed us and we enjoyed palm heart and potatoes with rice.  I was thankful and ashamed that I did not trust that these gracious people would take care of us.  Elias and I asked if we could sleep in the village and they showed us a hut.  I had only brought a very tiny blanket and our clothes were wet with sweat.  Elias and I laid down and tried to share the blanket but it only covered our upper bodies.  Bing Bing later brought us two more small pieces of material that we wrapped around our legs and feet. Needless to say it was the coldest night in Palawan since my arrival. Morning finally came and with a reminder to bring Ma' aw to the clinic, Elias and I headed home.  Three days later two church members who were passing by finally carried him to our clinic.  Ma' aw spent 15 days at the clinic so we could pack and dress his wound before he could walk home. 

Chris Kinney

May 2012

Just when we think that things will get easier, that we’ve got everything under control, something else happens reminding us that we are not the ones in control, God is. We are feeling pretty tired because we have had inpatients for most of the month of April and May. Getting up in the middle of the night to give meds wears you down pretty quickly. Most of the patients have had typhoid but we have had some cases of pneumonia as well. One older lady was carried to our clinic. She had been sick for a long time and had called all her children to her house because she thought she was about to die. Eventually someone convinced her to come to the clinic. She actually recovered fairly quickly and when she realized that she wasn’t going to die, she was full of gratitude. She was hugging us and telling us that we were her children now. We were a little embarrassed and surprised too. Most people who come to the clinic seem indifferent. A lot of the time we have to convince them to take medicine or they are angry because we want them to take medicine and they don’t want to because it’s bitter. We’ve tried all sorts of tricks for getting children to take medicine and hiding the medicine in crunchy peanut butter on a cracker seems to work the best. Anyway, it was nice to have someone say thank you when we were so tired. With everything going on here, we just have to lean on God’s strength and not our own. And while it is challenging, we can see how God is growing our faith and trust in Him.

                We also had our 1^st patient die. While we have heard reports of deaths in different villages, this was the first patient that we were involved with. A family came with three children and all were very sick. They had been sick for two weeks already and were just now coming for help. Chris assessed them and got clearance to send them all to the hospital in the lowlands. They were too sick for the care we could give them in the clinic, so we arranged for them to be carried out. Unfortunately, the oldest girl died on the way down. Because the others still needed to go to the hospital, one of the missionaries brought the body back to our clinic and the church members buried her the next morning. It was weird because there was no funeral, not even a family member there to say goodbye. I’m still struggling with that a little bit, thinking of how different a funeral would be in the states. But the good news is that this little girl has hope. The next thing she sees will be Jesus Christ coming to take her home to live with Him for eternity.

                Other than working in the clinic, in my spare time I’ve still been helping with farming. For some reason I thought that once the rice was planted, the hard part was done. But that’s not the case. Once the rice starts growing, the weeds start growing too. So we have to go through the field and pull them up. I have discovered that I really like weeding. Maybe it’s because I can see the results of my hard work instantly. I was weeding the other day and I had a thought. The farm is like our life and the rice is like the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.). When we spend time with Jesus every day, it is like letting Jesus work on the farm of our life. He wants to plant these good things in our life. But the weeds are like sin, selfishness springing up everywhere trying to choke out all the fruit. It is not possible to grow rice with the weeds, it won’t produce any fruit. Also, this weeding process is continual. I can’t go and weed a whole farm in a few hours. Maybe I’ll finish a little section, but to keep up with the weeds I have to spend time weeding every day. It is the same with spending time with Jesus. If we only spend time with him once in a while, the weeds get thicker and choke out our spiritual life. Only by allowing Jesus to work in our life, by spending time with Him every day, can our lives produce fruit.  

              We appreciate everyone who is praying for us. It really makes a difference! Thank you!

AFM poster

April 6, 2012

A few people have asked about the outreach we are doing in Lep Lep. It is still going strong. We actually go to three different villages near Lep Lep because everyone moved after the Cholera epidemic and no one lives there anymore. It is exciting to see the growth of our high school students as they give Bible studies and to see the interest of the families.

The past few days we have been in the lowlands meeting the Georges and working on team dynamics and communication. One day we did a cultural study comparing the cultural values of Philippinos, Palawanos, and Americans. It was so interesting to see the things we have in common as well as realize the differences. We also had time to do some fun activities. This time together was important because as with any relationship, it's vital to evaluate and improve communication and set goals for the future.

We have a few prayer requests. The first is that God will give the church members strength to resist the attacks and temptations that Satan throws at them. The second prayer request is for more teachers for the high school. They are not learning science and history because there are not enough teachers, but these high school students are so eager to learn. We appreciate your prayers so much! Thank you for taking an interest in the people of Palawan.

March 28, 2011

Hello again to everyone! Thanks to everyone who sends us little messages via Facebook. We've been busy as always at the clinic. We had a stream of inpatients the past few weeks with one patient with typhoid staying 10 days. Typhoid fever does weird things to people and she kept us busy trying to prevent her from pulling out her hair, IV, or urinary catheter. Also, the local public health office down in the lowlands sent a group of people to our clinic to do education about malaria, do blood smears, and hand out mosquito nets.

As I am recovering from my fourth experience with malaria, my mom suggested that I describe a little more about it. Malaria can have a variety of symptoms but the telltale signs are usually fever, chilling, severe headache, nausea, and diarrhea. Malaria is usually cyclical so it is not uncommon to fever at the same time every day. While malaria itself is not fun, the medicine's side effects are not much better. The treatment consists of 3 drugs, chloroquine, primaquine, and Fansidar. I've gotten to the point where I cringe every time I give these meds out to patients at the clinic. With malaria I usually start feeling better by the third day, but it usually takes about a week to get my strength back.

Aside from medical things, it is planting season here. Most everyone has slashed and burned an area for their farm and now are planting rice. The farms are located on the sides of the mountains and I sometimes wonder how they manage to keep from falling off. It is an exciting time for the Palawanos and you can hear whooping and hollering all over the hills. Everyone gathers to watch when someone is burning their field. The next step is to gather all the sticks that didn't burn the first time and stack them in piles to burn again. Then the field is ready for planting. They plant rice by poking a hole in the ground and putting 6-8 grains of rice inside. They don't plant in rows, just wherever. Helping out with the farming has given me a new appreciation for the food we eat here.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Picture ubdate

                                                         Surlin making linidgid

                                                                Amy planting rice

                                                       Unweeded vs weeded rice

                                                         Kemantian, where we live

                                                                     Chris and Imir

                                             The family of the man who had a snake bite

                                                            Chris doing a house call

Chris and Manyar (who was recovering from Typhoid)