Stitches!

Oh my!  There was a knock on the door and Jess yells, "Kathy!  There's a medical emergency!".  I quickly went to see what was going on.  Little Mayck had blood dripping down his face.  I was so thankful that I keep a cabinet full of first aid supplies in our living room.  I quickly put on some gloves and applied pressure to the gaping cut above his eye.  Thankfully, our doctor was on site and we walked to the nurse's room.  Dr. Sem took a look and said, "He needs stitches.".  I wondered if we had the supplies.  We had never done stitches at Grace before.  After a little looking, we found everything we needed...including lidocaine.  He was a brave little boy.

He sat in a chair and held my hands as the doctor prepared him for stitches.  The worst part was the shot of lidocaine in the wound.  He squeezed my hands so tight as he cried.  I kept talking with him and telling him how brave he was and reminded him to close his eyes.  Dr. Sem covered his face with a special cloth and had cut a small hole out where he would be doing the stitches.  He only needed one stitch and Dr. Sem did a fine job of sewing up the wound.  The photo below shoes Mayck all done with stitches and ready for his bandage.
 

Mayck came over to my house to rest and relax while watching a movie on my computer.  He loved it and was back to himself in no time!

Helping with one head wound was a rush of adrenaline for all of us involved.  Well, there was another knock on the door and the man told me, "Dr. Sem needs you.  There is another head injury.".  I thought ...Oh my!  What a day!  Ok, I am on my way!  I arrived to the nurse's room and the doctor needed my help.  The nurse had already gone home, so it was up to me to assist.  Good thing God prepared me earlier this afternoon.

One of our construction workers was hit in the back of his head by a cement block.  His wound was quite a bit bigger and he needed a few more stitches.  Well, we found all of the needed materials and we were ready to stitch him up.  I was a true nurse.  I opened all of the sterile materials and handed the needed items to the doctor as he asked for them.  At the same time, I tried to distract the injured man's brother since his eyes were growing big and he looked a little woozy at the sight of the blood.  I brought him a bench to sit on and talked with him in Creole to distract him.  He was very concerned about his brother.  Dr Sem loves to teach and so he kept showing me what we was doing.  He wanted me to see where to give the shots of lidocaine, how to grab the skin with the special needle to sew, and how to tie the knots with the needle and clamp.  He showed me his every move.  After the stitches, I helped clean up the area and medical supplies.  I assisted with packaging the medications for pain and infection and explained how to take the medications in Creole.

What a day!  I am so thankful that we have trained professionals at Grace Village to help in medical emergencies.  I am extra thankful that Dr. Sem was still here at Grace Village when the construction worker got hurt.  The doctor was supposed to leave 10 minutes earlier, but he stayed a little late.  God had a plan.  I think God knew I would need help.