Recuerdito

Meet my man Anderson (Pronounced with a Spanish accent:). One of my cutest patients ever, who didn't talked to my once the entire time that he was in the hospital. No matter how nice I was to him or how much I tried to play with him, he would just give me a blank stare. Yes, a bit disheartening. :( Anyway, he's still cute, even with his blank stare.

This picture is of him when he first arrived to the hospital. His face and belly were extremely swollen. This picture shows how he could barely open his eyes because of how edematous they were. He had something called Nephrotic Syndrome. It's an illness caused by damage to the kidneys, and for this reason he was completely swollen.

Usually this syndrome is treated with a very strong diuretic, Lasix, to take off the fluid, and a blood product, called Albumin, to replace the protein that the damaged kidneys are excreting in the urine. Well, considering the fact that our only blood bank is a list of names of missionaries and their blood types for them to come give blood on the spot when necessary; we definitely did not have Albumin. Despite our limited resources, we decided to start treatment with just Lasix. The first couple of days showed no change in Anderson's swelling, but about three days after being admitted, it started to go down! He was discharged within a week and a half after being admitted to the hospital.

Just another reminder that God is powerful. He is the one that holds the world, the universe, your life, together. Without Him nothing exists. He is in charge 100% of the time. He decides when the sun rises and when it sets. It's funny how we live in nature every day and we see His greatness right before us, and yet we still forget. We forget that it is only through Him that we move and live and have our being. I think that we tend to forget how helpless we really are without Him until He puts us in situations where we are inadequately equipped or not prepared to handle. It forces us to fix our gaze back on Him, and to remember how great and mighty He truly is. We are not confined to our human resources and expertise, but to His; and "He gives to all men freely and without reproach" James 1:5. I have seen so many cases in the hospital where God takes the little that we have in resources, causes it to suffice. He is so great.