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Tetanus Trouble |
The doctors were frantic. They were loosing all hope that the little two
year old boy was going to live. They asked us what American doctors do for
such cases. We had never seen tetanus. We hurried to our nursing textbooks
and searched for answers. The doctors were doing all the recommendations
found in the text book. We went to the Lord on our knees and asked what
else we could do. The answer seemed silly. It seemed impossible to do. We
were to try using the remedy of charcoal. Since the child was going to die
anyway, all were desperate. I was sure the Lord had encouraged this
remedy. We told the doctors and they were glad for some suggestion. We
searched for a pan to set the baby in. There were no bath tubs at all in
the hospital. A little baby plastic tub was found. Warm water was prepared
and a cup of powdered charcoal was mixed into the water. |
| The little boy was having 10 seizure like episodes every five minutes. There was not much opportunity to gain any oxygen in his lungs. He was rigid as he fought for air. His body bent over backwards with these contractions. It was hard to get him into the warm charcoal water. With the help of another nurse and the father we placed all we could into the pan and held him till our arms felt like breaking. We took a short break and I went up on the roof top to pray. We dumped out the water and started over. After doing this throughout the first 24 hours, we noted improvements. |
| I sang softly to the little boy after he calmed down
during his baths. I prayed with the parents and kept treating him though
less often. We were thrilled the day he went home. He had learned to walk
again and was smiling and full of energy. The doctors were amazed. They
had never seen a person recover from tetanus.
We never see it in America for we immunize children when they are very young. We thanked God for He impressed me to study the effects of charcoal as a nursing project in a college assignment before I went to Mexico. It was valuable information. It has helped me for many many years in many other countries where I have doctored on mission trips. I praise God for how He leads in our lives. |
The precious sweet Bible worker one day found this little family as she
went to see all patients after they went home from the hospital. They were
up in the mountains so it took her a long time to have time to go visit
them. The little boy was very healthy and the whole family were very
willing to study the Bible with her. They wanted to know more because a married
couple of volunteer nurses, without any pay, had come clear to
Mexico to live among them right when they needed help for their son. It
brought us so much joy just to know the little boy was doing well and they
wanted to learn more about Jesus. |
| Another tetanus patient came in. She was much older, she was 42. They came quickly to ask how to treat an adult with charcoal. We had to use wet towels on the back of the lady because there were no bath tubs to fill. The family forced it down her throat in a drink too. I was worried she might breath it down her lungs while she was in seizure but somehow they managed against my advice. This lady survived the illness and again the doctors were surprised. They had not seen any success when the tetanus had gone so far. These patients had come to the hospital in the final stages. |