Kids’ Doc in Jos

It’s been a quiet day on pediatrics, to the extent that the resident just briefed me on a couple of the “problem” patients and I didn’t go on rounds. The only problem was one I walked into “accidentally” when I went to the ward for something else, just when little Miracle had become alarmingly lethargic. So it was a day for catching up on some other things, such as getting another computer ready for one of the nurses (despite the fact that she has since left Evangel and moved to JUTH), ordering some supplies that Saralynn will be able to bring when she comes, answering email, and helping Luke with school. So it’s a good point to catch up with a few things here in the blog, too.

First, in case you missed it, Saralynn had to return to the USA last week, alone, because of her visa problem. She’s headed to Washington DC today with her sister Lisa (8 months pregnant now) to apply in person for her visa, and says she’ll be wearing a zani (wrapper skirt) for whatever that will do to help. I’m guessing she’ll get the visa next week but it’s going to be hard to find an affordable seat on a flight to Nigeria so close to Christmas (though Christmas day is said to be a promising possibility).

Second, Luke’s teacher Sara also had to leave suddenly to return home due to the tragic death of her sister-in-law and niece in a car accident. Sara is with her family now and does not know whether she will be coming back to Jos, especially given that her term was ending in June anyway. That leaves a big gap as far as Luke’s education; Sara has done an amazing job with Luke in just four months, and we don’t want to lose the momentum. For now, I’m teaching him as I can in the mornings around my work schedule, and Barb is taking him to school for the classes he participates in with first grade (art, music, PE, library). We really need to find a good plan for the rest of the school year, though.

A bit of good news that got buried in the rush around the events of November was that we discharged baby Babalola a couple of weeks ago. As far as I know, he is the smallest premie to have survived at our hospital, at 650 grams (1 pound, 7 ounces), at least in the past 15 years. This is a baby who should be named Miracle. (See the post of September 6.)

Next, James (previous post) has done wonderfully well the past two days. From being extremely ill Friday night, he’s now doing fine without oxygen, he’s eating, and he’s making plenty of urine.

Finally, I’ve been thinking about the issue of “Intelligent Design” and the surrounding controversy, having read some of the articles and editorials about it, and having just finished the book Summer for the Gods, an excellent history of the Scopes trial. I’ve been organizing my thoughts and questions and will post some of them here, hoping for ideas and responses from others. Just for starters, some of the questions are,

• Is science all that matters?
• Even if ID is not science, can it still be true?
• Can a thinking Christian accept the concept of ID?
• Can a thinking Christian avoid accepting ID?

Time for bed, an hour ago. I missed watching an episode of Monk (Lisa introduced us to that show last month, bringing the 3rd season DVD set) so I could write, and I still am up much too late for my tired bones.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 at 12:11 am and is filed under Mike's jottings, My patients. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.