Bio trivia

written 22 Apr 00

Greetings, Everyone!

Before I go into anything else: a piece of African biological "trivia" (it's actually not that trivial):
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What animal kills more children in Africa than any other?
a. the lion
b. the hippopotamus
c. the crocodile
d. the elephant
e. other: _________________
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Anyways, although I don't have much time to write this time, I wanted to say THANK YOU for all your prayers & for the emails that you've sent. Your own stories have warmed my heart immensely, particularly when you've shared how God has been working in your hearts, etc. I don't have time for individual comments this time (I'll try to before the next time we connect), but just let me say a blanket PRAISE THE LORD! PRAISE THE LORD!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! for how He's been faithful to each one of you. Wow! He is doing some pretty amazing things in your lives, and I thank Him for it. What a lift!

Not everything, of course, that I got was all a bed of roses for each of you. Please know that I'm keeping you & your situations in my prayers. God says He is near to the brokenhearted.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, but by the time you receive this, it'll already have passed, I'm sure. I hope that the day was a very meaningful one. Praise the Lord that He not only died for our sins, but conquered death through His resurrection. I know that for many of you Jesus' resurrection has very deep meaning, and as your emails attest, that very same resurrection power is still at work. I've been on call again this week, & it'll last until Monday morning. Hopefully I'll be able to go to church.

Guess what happened on Monday night, the first PM of my call week? I saw an ambulance, and I never expected to see one since those who are not able to walk are usually handcarried to the hospital, or carried on makeshift stretchers. The closest thing to an ambulance I saw before Monday was a wheelbarrow. So anyways, as you can imagine, I was quite surprised to hear that an ambulance brought a patient. He was a young adolescent, (re)transferred from another hospital, who'd sustained a serious injury to the head. No CAT scans here, but his diagnosis on his chart was "subdural hematoma," meaning there was a blood collection in his skull that was putting dangerous pressure on his brain; the child was in a coma already a day & a half. He was sent to us because we have equipment to put the necessary "burrholes" in his skull, which would be like pressure-relief holes. Anyways, at conferences in the past, I'd heard of missionaries doing surgeries while reading textbooks, but this was the 1st time to see it 1st-hand, & I didn't expect it to be a neurosurgical procedure!!! How weird it was: I was the one reading the textbook to the surgeons while they were operating. Thankfully we found the subdural hematoma, along with an epidural one (more dangerous), although unfortunately his neurologic status hasn't changed since. Please pray for the boy & his family.

Thanks again for your prayers! And again, PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Sid

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ANSWER TO AFRICA BIOLOGICAL 'TRIVIA' QUESTION:
The correct answer is "e." None of the animals listed are close to the most dangerous animal, whose bit is so severe that it kills one Jumbo-Jet-full of children under 5 EVERY HOUR!!! This animal is the mosquito, which harbors the parasite Plasmodia, causing the disease MALARIA. (Actually, I got a little scare this week when Tue AM I woke up with a fever, headache, and sore throat. I've been getting mosquito bites fairly regularly, and got a little worried since I'm taking malaria-prophylaxis meds! With the help of my "Sanford's Guide" & the "Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple", it turns out I've got herpangina instead, caused by Coxsackie A virus.) It's sad to think that this disease receives little of the world's attention since it takes place in places that are not socioeconomically, and thus politically, unimportant. Pray for this, especially as we're seeing increased resistance of the microorganisms to even the 3rd- & 4th-line drugs we have.
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