The wild blue yonder

So many miracles have already occured to get Marie to the point of being able to travel to the United States--John finding out about her grave condition at the 11th hour; Marie being accepted by a hospital on Easter Sunday; the Naperville host family materializing at the Haitian guest house; getting the visa after an initial denial. Even Marie staying alive through this whole process.

And making it through the arduous trip from Port-au-Prince to Naperville. As anyone who flies now knows, with all the security checks, the "undressing", the flight changes, the cramped seats, traveling by air is not for wimps. This trip presented its own challenges from Marie being accosted by a drunk and impaired woman to having their flight from Miami to Chicago cancelled due to mechanical problems after they were already on the plane. But Marie is nothing if not a wimp.

While they were waiting for their new flight, John had to ask the airline attendants to get their baggage as Marie had packed the medicine that she needed to take. Some of the medicine was a diuretic which makes you get rid of fluid. So when they finally did take off on a different plane for Chicago, Marie had to make many trips to the rest room.

They landed at O'Hare and Patricia O'Donnell who would serve as a host family during part of Marie's stay was there to greet them with a limo and hot soup.

Marie was finally here. Welcome to America.

The pain of dealing with US embassies

One of the most painful parts of bringing Haitians to the United States for medical care is dealing with the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince. Even when we get the visas, which we almost always do, there is something dehumanizing about the process. The wait. The arbitrariness of the process. The assumption that everyone who is applying for a visa is somehow cheating.

The abrupt convergence of the first world with the third world at these embassies brings out the worst in the first world. Is it guilt? Is it fear? Is it the press of people trying to get visas? Is it greed? Is it wanting to be anywhere other than a U.S. embassy in the developing world?

I'm speaking not just from the point of view of helping Haitian patients apply for U.S. visas. We had our own frustrations during our adoption process and our neighbors right now are having their own hair-pulling experiences with the embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. So it's not just Haiti.

Marie's visa odyssey wasn't any different. Her brother helped her complete the 15 page online form. The internet isn't exactly reliable in Haiti--it kept going down and the entered information would be lost--so it took two days to fill out the form. Haitian Hearts paid the $180 fee.

Marie was able to obtain an appointment fairly quickly because she had a medical emergency. The embassy required four letters: one from the accepting surgeon, the accepting medical center, the physician in Haiti who had examined Marie, and the host family.

Marie showed up for her appointment. She was very weak from her extreme congestive heart failure. At her appointment, Marie was denied the visa. She was told that all the necessary documents weren't in place.

We told Marie to wait outside the embassy. Several people made phone calls to the embassy to confirm that the documents had been received. Finally, after several exhausting (for Marie) hours, she was called back in the embassy and her visa was granted.

So all was good in the end, but, oh my, gird your loins for this process.

Above, the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince

We need a host family on the double

So thanks to Dr. Bryan Foy and Edward Heart Hospital in Naperville, Illinois, we have a surgeon and a medical center for patient Marie, who is badly in need of surgery. Now, we need a host family. In order to apply for the visa, we must have letters from the surgeon, the medical center, a doctor in Haiti who has examined the patient, and the host family. The host family letter needs to document for the embassy that the the regular living expenses of the patient will be covered by them.

We are putting out the word for a host family and are coming up empty. Marie has a coveted visa appointment at the embassy in the next few days, and we need the host family and their letter for her to have any chance of getting this necessary stamp in her passport.

So John and I are on Google chat, brainstorming furiously about where Marie might stay. A Catholic convent in Chicagoland has been gracious enough to host other Haitian Hearts patients, but they are 45 minutes away from the hospital. As we are chatting away, increasingly desperate, a woman named Kim, who is staying at John's guest house in Port-au-Prince comes into his room. As John has Marie staying at the guest house, many of the guests are aware of her situation and are trying to help. A group of American visitors has just arrived and are getting their room assignments. Kim wants to tell John something.

"Your new roommate is from Naperville."

Less than an hour later, we have a letter emailed to the embassy stating that Patrick, John's new roommate and his wife Patricia O'Donnell will serve as Marie's host family.

Thanks to them for being another miracle for Marie.

We take a brief break from the miracle of Marie. . .

. . . to bring you the picture above which was taken in the last 24 hours in Cite Soleil, a large slum in Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince. When I see pictures like this, I ask myself, "Why? Why do we live in a world that allows--forces?--people--children--to live like this? Why haven't the people of the world who have enough--more than enough, so much enough that it's killing us--banded together, risen up, and changed the world?"

I know the causes are many and complicated. I know it's been like this forever. I know there are obstacles to helping. But I still can't seem to get my mind around the reality that we live in a world where so many people live in places like the above, or slightly better while others of us wallow in affluence.

It's hurting all of us.

Easter Sunday Miracle

So John made the long trip from Peoria to Port-au-Prince, did what he could medically for Marie's congestive heart failure, and prayed and waited to hear from a hospital.

Against all odds, he didn't have to wait very long. On March 31, Easter Sunday, Marie was accepted by Edward Heart Hospital in Naperville, Illinois. Dr. Bryan Foy,  an excellent heart surgeon, who has operated on other Haitian Hearts patients, would be the surgeon. This may be the quickest a Haitian Hearts patient has ever been accepted by a hospital. And a good thing, too, as Marie was very sick. Walking was problematic. All Marie's energy was going to staying alive.

Now, onto the visa application process and other administrative details. . .

A Faraway House Call

"I'm so sick. I can't lie down to sleep. I'm dying." Those were the words Marie Claude Toussaint spoke to John from her home in Port-au-Prince. John listened from 1,800 miles away. He talked with Marie; he emailed her cardiologist; he agonized over her meds. But in the end, her congestive heart failure proved too difficult to manage via phone.

So on March 29, John traveled to Haiti to see Marie. As my dad said, "It's the longest house call I've ever heard of. " When John arrived, he found Marie as sick as she had described, swollen with fluid, unable to sleep. He put her up in the guesthouse in Haiti where he was staying. He managed her diuretics without labs. She got a little bit more comfortable and was able to eat. But it was just a temporary reprieve. As John said, "She needs the knife." 

Specifically, she needed new heart valves. Marie had had heart valve repair surgery in the United States in 2001. But these repairs last only so long. Prior to his trip, John said the hard part wasn't going to Haiti to try to help Marie. The hard part would be leaving Haiti, leaving Marie. So John put out the word that he had a patient who needed surgery now in the dim hopes that he would be able to leave Haiti with Marie.

And then he waited.

Everyday Life

We are all of us, me included, caught up in our own lives. Most days are filled to the brim with jobs, chores, meetings, errands, chaffeuring kids, social commitments. So much of it seems essential. And then there's the non-essential stuff that takes up a lot of time--surfing the Internet, television, excessive social media, shopping, etc.

Normal, modern day, American life.

So what do you do when in the midst of this normal craziness, a voice drops in on your life and says, "Help me. I'm dying."

It's a voice from a poor country, filled with poor people in a world that is more poor than not. So many people are in this caller's shoes. Kind of makes it easy to ignore her voice.

Except in this case, you know the person. You've helped this person in the past.

Do you send her money? Tell her you'll pray for her? Try to help her from afar? Tell her that you're too busy. Ignore her?

Do you tell yourself you've helped before. There's only so much one person can do. You're so busy doing a lot of good stuff up here.

What do you do?

Stay tuned.

Haitians and Irish

A couple of weeks ago, my mom, cousins, son, and I went to an exhibit, the Greening of the Prairie: Irish Immigration  and Settlement in McLean Country. The exhibit is in the McLean Country Museum of History in downtown Bloomington. Some of my relatives--the Killians and the Larkins--were featured in the exhibit--my great aunt Julia Larkin talking about the nuns teaching them Latin at their boarding school and my great grandparents P.J. and Nellie Killian and their six strapping sons.

But why I want to mention this Irish exhibit on my Haiti blog and on St. Patrick's Day, no less, is because it reminded me how much the Irish are like the Haitians. To wit:

Haiti and Ireland are both island nations.

The Irish language, sometimes called Gaelic, and Haitian Creole were both spoken languages before they were written languages. Both languages are tinged with poetry.

The Irish are supersitious; so are the Haitians.

They are both big lovers of music, parties, and hooch.

Both countries were terribly oppressed by a colonial power.

Both the Haitians and the Irish fled the terrible hunger of their countries on boat. Many of these boats turned into coffin ships.

Ireland and Haiti are Catholic countries filled with people who are devout in their belief in God. Sometimes it's been all they had.

Of course, Haiti is much closer to the pain of her history (i.e. it isn't history) than is Ireland.

I'll close with a great quote from the movie "The Commitments." Just substitute Haitians for blacks.

"Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: 'I'm black and I'm proud.'"

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine what it would be like to have a hole in the side of your face? To have this painful disfigurement on the part of the body that people most commonly associate with you? To have pain every time you move your jaw to talk or to eat? To only be able to open your mouth so far? To have to deal often with infections that can be life-threatening? To have this go on for years? Can you imagine?

And what about this: can you imagine a group of people--your brother, a couple of U.S. doctors, an American friend, a Haitian in the United States--who really care about you? Who examine you in Haiti? Who send your records to the States? Who advocate for a hospital for you? Who pay your visa fees and help you with your paperwork? Who offer to host you in their home?

Can you imagine going to the U.S. embassy for a visa appointment, knowing that getting help depends on the outcome of the appointment? Can you imagine waiting?

And then can you imagine going to bed at the end of the day that you were granted the visa? Can you imagine despair changing to hope changing to joy?

Mimose can. We will welcome her to the United States on March 19, 2013.

Missing Elie

John has written another moving post , this time about the life of a poor Haitian family who were trying to keep alive their two-year-old son, Elie, who had a major heart defect. Tough to do when you live in a tent. John expended a lot of time and effort to try and line up a hospital and surgeon for this child. He also examined Elie on his trips to Haiti, provided medications, and kept in contact with Elie's mom. But, unfortunately--an understatement--Elie died.

When you get to know a child who lives in Haiti, the child ceases to become an abstraction. What do I mean by this? In the United States and the developed world, we get a fair amount of news coverage of the millions who have malaria, or the tens of thousands who are homeless from an earthquake, or the hundreds of thousands who are living in refuge camps or under tents. Those numbers are overwhelming; it's difficult to get your mind around all that suffering. What the mind can't comprehend, it often ignores. These inumerable people--it's almost like they are not real to us, only unfathomable numbers. But one child like Elie who needs heart surgery, one child who needs regular meals and schooling--one person, this is a situation that speaks to our hearts.

And when you know a person, like Elie, it becomes much less easy to rationalize their not getting the heart surgery they need. John makes the point in his post: we here in the United States would move heaven and earth to get treatment for our child. More to the point, we wouldn't have to; it's an expectation. It should be an expectation for ALL CHILDEN EVERYWHERE. It's not about lack of resources; it's about lack of will.

This isn't to say that we don't need big, systemic solutions to the problems that plague Haiti and elsewhere--clean water, schools, decent roads, innoculation programs. We do. But while we're working on these big solutions, we can't ignore children like Elie.

Pictured above Elie's father and neighbors outside his home.

Real Problems

There is this awful social media meme called First World problems, where people write in with the little things that bug them about being the world's most privileged individuals. It's really disingenuous: people like to complain, but they know it's selfish and small minded to complain about such trivial things. So this cute movement has been launched where people are laughing about their complaints--"Yes, we are wise to our self absorption," as if this somehow mitigates the complaints. But in the end, they are still complaining, and their complaints--and maybe their lives--revolve around petty concerns.

Ouch. I guess the above is kind of harsh, but I'm writing it after having read a post that John just wrote, The Praying Man. John was working at a clinic that included dental services. A man who was in terrible pain and waiting to have a tooth extracted was in line, praying to be seen. As Haitian luck would have it, the person before this man was the last patient of the day. However, the staff promised this man that he would be first in line tomorrow, which was the last day of the clinic.

In a stroke of more Haitian luck, this last day of clinic was cancelled; due to the armed presence of unhappy, young men in the area, the staff didn't feel safe and decided there would be no clinic.

Have you ever been in really bad pain? If you are fortunate enough to be a First World resident, you have most times been able to get your pain alleviated. I keep thinking of this poor man in Haiti, with his excrutiating tooth pain. Too bad there's not a social media movement for his Third World problems.

Cite Soleil, Three Years After the Quake

A Tale of Two Sarahs and Haiti's Future

Long time since I've posted to my blog. It hasn't been for lack of news from Haiti. Between the endemic presence of cholera, the hurricane that wiped out so many of the country's crops, and John's seven trips to Haiti in 2012, lots has happened. Our patient Luckner had successful heart surgery in Naperville in September 2012. Our smaller patient, Sarah, in Cite Soleil ended the year better than she started it. John was pretty sure she was going to die from starvation when he first saw her, looking like she does in the top picture. But a few months later, she had put on weight and was much healthier, as you can see in the bottom pic. Her challenges aren't over, but now she has a chance.

January 1st is a big day in Haiti. Besides being the start of the new year, it's also the anniversary of the country's independence. Haiti is 209 years old today. They've been rough years. Is it delusional to feel any sense of optimism for Haiti? Maybe not, if we remember Sarah.

The Secret of Everything

Since John has returned from Haiti, he has been repeating a statement that I think is the secret to life, to happiness, to many problems, to . . . everything. It may seem too obvious or too simple or too incredible. But try it; you'll like it. Here it is:

"The only people who are happy are those who are helping others."

The Cite Soleil Photographer

I know I'm biased, but my husband John is the best doctor I know. He has dedicated his head and his heart to learning medicine; to be a great doctor, it takes both kinds of knowledge.

But if he ever wanted a second career, he could be a professional photographer. I won't waste your time with words. Just look at the pictures that follow.

Good Communication

John has been working in Cite Soleil at the clinic run by the Daughters of Charity. He has also been inteviewing people on their experiences with cholera and reporting on what he finds at his blog with the Peoria Journal Star. He received an interesting comment about this post from someone called Hait8T. Here, in part is what they said:

"You should stop acting like there just misery in Haiti. . . the Canal has been abandoned for years. . . quit making things appear worst than they seem. . . there more gang violence in the US a million times more than in Haiti. . . The Haitian government plans to bulldoze it (Cite Soleil) completely, they haven't done it yet because of the housing situation which still remain complex in Haiti. . . you are getting your information from 2 females who are not educated who are illiterate and cut off from Haitian society and remain in one place."

The comment goes on. You can read it in full at the above link.

I thought John made a really good response to this comment.

"You are an anonymous, well-to-do Haitian. Sign your name and don't be afraid. I will meet you in Soleil. I can show you the pediatric clinic and Saint Catherine's Hospital and we can drink coffee and talk. And you can be part of the solution. Thanks, John."

The point is that no matter our perspectives, it will take everyone in Haiti working together--the government, the rich people, the NGOs, the poor people, the churches, the middle class--to build a better Haiti. We have to listen to each other, too.

Someone else thought John's comment was good also. Hait8T left a follow up comment:

"I am in tourism and by 2017 to help Haiti progress in its tourism in the town of AQUIN where we own land which will be developed. . . It's not about being judgmental about your work because you could have chosen not to get involved period but you did and I'm sure its appreciated by a lot of people in Cite Soleil where I personally would not go, not because I do not care about Haiti, but my family's plan is different. . . I thank you John either way, I am glad that you replied, and you have replied well, all I am saying is that although you are speaking the truth, but Haiti can be presented differently."

Remember and Honor By Serving Redux

John has been in Pestel, Haiti the last several days. In my last post, I used the word remote to describe Pestel and its environs. Even though Haiti is only 600 miles from the United States, the whole country can see isolated, given its disastrous infrastructure, its scarce government, its disjointed relief efforts; when you are bumping along a road in Cite Soleil, a slum in the teeming capital, you can feel like you're on another planet. But Pestel takes the remoteness to a new level. Surrounded by the ocean and mountains, the town/area on the northern coast of Haiti's southern peninsula is difficult to get to, and then, once you're there, difficult to get aound. In traveling between Pestel and the surrounding mountains, John said he rode on the worst road he has ever been on in Haiti. That is saying something, as many of the roads there eat tires and axels for snacks, and John has had a lot of opportunities to ride on these roads in his 30 years working in Haiti. People in Haiti who are trying to make contact with John are calling me, at home in the States, figuring I might have a better chance at getting ahold of him.

John gives an excellent account of his trip on his blog at the Peoria Journal Star.

Most of the cholera patients at the small, dirty, and understaffed hospital in Pestel are coming from these mountainous regions, where patients have to walk or are carried in by their families. This journey can take several, arduous hours.

One of the men who was laying with calm resignation on a cot in the hospital said to John, "I'm waiting on God." I'm continually amazed at how poor Haitians, those who we would say have gotten the short end of the earthly stick, at least from a material perspective, those who might have less reason to believe in God, believe with such peaceful strength.

If we could give a good answer to "life's most urgent and persistent question" posed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we could help validate this faith.

"What are you doing for others?"

Pictured above, the crowded port at Pestel.

Remember and Honor by Serving

I heard on the radio this morning that Michel Martelly, president of Haiti, has made today, January 12, the second anniversary of the earthquake, a holiday.

Also today, my husband John is making his way from Les Cayes to Pestel, a remote town on the north coast of Haiti's southern peninsula. Cholera is hitting the Pestel area hard, including in the difficult to reach mountains surrounding the town. A recent report stated that 55 people have recently died of cholera in this area and that there may be more than 300 cases. Because of the difficulties of data collection in Haiti, the numbers are probably underreported.

John will work with cholera patients. He is also going to gather information for public health officials working in the U.S. and Haiti who are trying to limit the deadliness of the cholera epidemic.

Perhaps the best way to commemorate the lives of those who died in the earthquake is to try to help save the lives of those who are suffering from this new disaster.

Pictured above, John working at a Cholera Treatment Center in 2011.

Thankful

Above is my rugged husband John, who is spending Thanksgiving in Robillard, a small town in northern Haiti, not far from the country's second largest city, Cap Haitian. He is working at a Cholera Treatment Center and clinic run by the parish of Father Andre Sylvestre. Father Andre put out a plea for help earlier in the month, as the many people with cholera who were coming to his clinic were overwhelming his small staff of one doctor and two nurses. John responded to this call and flew to Haiti six days ago.

Thankfully, the cholera cases have at least temporarily decreased. However, there is still plenty of medical work to keep John busy, including a man with terrible machete wounds on his hands and a 90-year-old man with cholera. I know John is grateful to be able to practice medicine in Haiti and that the people he is serving are grateful to have him among them.

I am thankful for so many blessings. I will list a few of them here.

1. That I am married to such a wonderful, generous man whose life work is caring for those who have so little.

2. The sound of our son Luke singing in the morning as he dresses for the day.

3. Having two such great families--the Kings and the Carrolls--to celebrate Thanksgiving and life with.

4. Our parish, St. Mark, a beacon of love on the hilltop.

5. Being born in a time, place, situation, and family that allows me to however imperfectly contribute to God's plan.

Really, the things I am thankful for are infinite, like God Himself. I hope that wherever you find yourself, you have a gratitude-filled Thanksgiving.

Nowhere To Go

I've been with my husband, Dr. John Carroll, as he's worked in different settings in Haiti: temporary clinics, hospitals, permanent clinics, whatever room we might be staying in. One of the consistent frustrations for John is that after he's helped a patient as much as he can, he often doesn't have a place to refer them to get more care. A patient might need a blood test, an x-ray, or to be admitted to the hospital. Frequently, there are no good options for the patient. Either there is no place close that can help them or they don't have the money to pay for care. John takes his time with patients and does everything he can for them. But the hardest thing about practicing medicine in Haiti for him, is when these patients leave him and he knows they need more medical care.

I got a small taste of this frustration when I worked at discharge planning at the Navy clinic. Many of the patients we saw would have qualified for one of the USNS Comfort's surgical slots if there were any left. In particular, there was one woman who had female problems such that she was bleeding. She was wearing a print sundress and carrying around a large, cotton-lined pad that she would sit on. At the discharge planning table, she was referred to a gynecological clinic. But she told us that she had no money to pay for this care. She said, "Can't they at least give me something for the pain?" I had some ibuprofen in my backpack, and I gave her several of them.

It felt like a very weak response.

Above is a view of the USNS Comfort from Cite Soleil.