In-house Nurse

My roommate and good friend, Keziah, came back to Haiti three weeks ago.  She had been in America since August caring for a sick friend.  It is great having Kez back for so many reasons.  We pray and worship together on our porch.  We swap stories: she shares about nursing classes and people she has stitched up recently and I share about my students.  We discuss the ups and downs of Haiti life.  Sometimes we have deep discussions, but most times we laugh and joke.

There are many perks to living with a nurse.  For example, last week I was sick for three days with a nasty stomach bug.  Keziah made sure I was drinking plenty of gatorade and gave me medicine. She even got up with me in the middle of the night to give me a shot when I could not stop vomiting.  Not many people are fortunate enough to get that kind of care right in their own home!

Interesting things happen while living with a nurse, too.  People tend to show up at your door unexpectedly in need of medical care.  Last year, a friend showed up at the door with his fingertip cut off and the piece of missing finger on ice.  Tonight, a friend of ours knocked on the door with a buddy of his.  The man had a bite sized chunk missing from his lip.

He had gotten into an argument with someone and she bit his face, tearing off a chunk of his lip in the process.  He had the missing piece of lip with him, hoping that it could be reattached.  Unfortunately, it was too mangled.  So, right there at our kitchen table Kez stitched up his lip as best she possibly could.

It is in situations like these when I hear words coming out of my mouth that I would never imagine myself saying.  For example, "Here, throw this in the trashcan.  Be careful...don't open it.  His lip is inside the bag."

You just never know what a day will hold for you here in Haiti.