Update from Daniel Patton – Day #4

Today I broadened my horizons. I climbed up on the roof of the hospital during the day. I could see the ocean, the Adventist college with it auditorium about to fall, and the thousands of tents of “tent city”. All set againts the back drop of the green mountains with fingers of the city crawling up with gnarled broken fingers.

I went exploring the camp and clinics outside the main hospital. I found a pediatric, AIDS, and obstetric clinics. I found newly constructed outhouses and the trash burning pit. Venturing behind the hospital I saw a sight the reminded me of when I was a child. I recall seeing cows that had died laying motionless behind my familys barn waiting for pick up by the smelly truck with a winch that would pull the lifeless mass into it’s bowels. There behind the hospital was a ghostly white man-sized bag labeled with label, “biohazard”. There was no one but me and the lifeless man in sight. I felt numb. I feel numb. I want to save life but… I wanted that man to have a family by him… He was alone in a baggy waiting for pick up, alone.

I went and learned a swear word from the Haitians. We all laughed. They laughed at me because I was swearing in a funny accent and I laughed because their reaction was so different from the idea I intended. Language is funny like that.

I saved a life with a knife. A little girl had a huge pimple on her leg. The fancy word for “pimple you can fit your whole finger in” is abcess. Those big pimples will kill more than your chances of kissing a girl. So I popped (lanced) it.

I finished the day by cleaning my room. The cast room was a mess. Now it’s not. I am proud. My back is killing me.