Kaylene’ Blog

Saturday April 11th

New Friends

We had an industrious morning and I washed my laundry by hand, then we walked back to town. Unfortunately we found all the internet cafes and banks to be closed, so we could not run any of the errands we wanted. However, Spar (the grocery store) and Wonderbake (a bakery) were open, so we bought some snacks and ice cream! As we were sitting there eating our ice cream, a gentleman named Roland introduced himself to us and sat down to chat. As it turns out, his wife works for World Vision, and he works with a mining company. This man talked to us for quite some time and recommended we take a trip to the Kafue River for a boat ride. Back at Spar we met a Baptist pastor, Gary, from Pleasanton, CA, then we decided to walk 3 km up Livingstone Road to Kozo Lodge.

Along the way we were joined by Sledy, a young man who said he was a friend of both Dr. Johnson and Melissa, and he escorted us all the way to Kozo and back to Racheal’s. We had great conversation about Zambia, school, medicine, life, America, marriage, values, politics, and language.

I keep experiencing an overwhelming love and thankfulness to God for bringing me here to Africa. I love Zambia, I love my life, I love being here. I have a lot of peace, and as I said yesterday, I wanted all the world to know and love Jesus because He is so beautiful and good and kind and loving to us.

Friday April 10th

Two Offers of Marriage

Today Kim and I slept in to recover from yesterday, then walked to town for the first time. We took lots of pictures along the way and met tons of people. I love how most everyone will greet us with a bright smile; it’s very hospitable. Along the main street a crowd was gathered for a relay race. They had already run some short races and were just finishing the 10K when we arrived. We met some cute little kids, and several older kids and adults wanted us to take “snaps” (photos) of them.  The first one who asked this of us was a security guard for the bank… and then he asked me to marry him. ! We met another young mother, Cynthia, with her niece Belita and son Cuthbert, and they showed us to the museum. We made plans to go through the exhibit with them on Monday, so we turned back to the main street to see some more of the relays. Back at the relays I was offered nshima (the staple food of Zambia, a starchy maize product) and okra from a small huddle of men, and when I demurred and turned away, there was another man who introduced himself to me and who also said he wanted to marry me. ! Twice offered, twice refused. What a day.

We attended Good Friday mass at the Catholic church, and as we were sitting listening to the choir sing in Tonga, my heart was filled with a hopeful love for the world, and I found myself praying that every heart in the world would fall in love with Jesus because He’s so good, so sweet, and truly loves each person He’s created. After church we shared a sweet dinner with Dr. Johnson and the other fathers at the seminary. Following dinner we went out to look at the stars and were able to see the International Space Station fly across the sky! Truly, what a day.

Thursday April 9th

The Second Longest Day Ever

The first was the day I worked 28 hours straight on overnight OB call; today it was 16 hours of surgery. We did have one break for lunch, but we finished 18 cases today. I assisted in two circumcisions, then went to assess a patient with an acute abdomen and soon afterward we brought her to the theatre to do an exploratory laparotomy. Kim assisted with the elevation of an open depressed skull fracture, then I assisted with a very long, complicated hysterectomy and ureter exploration for urinary retention. We ended up stenting both ureters and a bilateral ureteral reimplantation. That was followed with an emergent c-section for cephalopelvic disproportion in a woman with a history of two prior stillbirths; I got to deliver the baby! And he survived, thank You Jesus! After that we still had one more urgent case to do, which Kim assisted- an ex-lap for volvulus and secondary bowel infarction. We were done around 0100 hours.

My feet are killing me, my legs and back hurt, but it was a happy day. It was hard work today, but some family members thanked us after one of the later cases and called me “sister,” and in that moment, I was really glad that I was here and had been of assistance today. Thanks be to God.

Learning Zambian Life

Tuesday, April 7th

So I have picked up my first few Tonga phrases:

Mabukabuti! (Good morning, how are you?)

Kabotu! (Very well!)

Dinebwa ani? (What is your name?)

I have also been learning the names of my new friends, Shaeri, who sat with me in the women’s ward yesterday and taught me these phrases, Otto and Oswell and the guest house, Kalengo, Chisenga, and Mbenga, OR staff at the hospital.

Today was more victorious. I felt Fear climb aboard when I got to the hospital. I prayed to make it leave. Everyone asked how I was feeling today, and I assured them I was much better. The first case was a C-section for eclampsia, the mother was even having seizures there on the table before she was sedated. I was allowed to be the first assist, “helping” Dr. Saleh, but I’m not sure how helpful I really was. As we finished and applied fundal pressure to expel any clots from the womb, something triggered again. I asked myself Why, since I have seen probably two dozen of these with never any problems, but I humbled myself to lay down on the floor and allow the blood to return to my brain. Kalengo pulled off my mask, gloves, boots, and over-gown, and I didn’t lose consciousness, praise Jesus, but I was frustrated. The scrub nurse prayed for me in the anteroom, and I won over Fear the rest of the day.

I observed a hernia repair and two cystoscopies, and assisetd in a wide local excision of a squamous cell skin cancer, with a split thickness skin graft. We took our lunch and then did some rounds and finished a half-day of clinic. Kim and I decided the kids here play rougher, riskier, and come away with the injuries to prove it. There must be 6 fractured femurs in the children’s ward right now! Some of those plus another fellow with a depressed skull fracture were all injured from falling out of trees. Interestingly, though they cry, it is not as much nor as inconsolable as many children in America do.

Everyone we meet on the roads will smile and greet us, and it seems okay to speak with pretty much anyone. Zambia seems very warm and hospitable, and indeed, we are told that it is the friendliest country in Africa.

The Unexpected but Not Unbelievable

Monday, April 6th

Melissa, and ER resident also from California is finshing her last day of two months here in Choma. I think the small overlap of 1-2 days as she ends and we begin is just a gift from God, as she is able to orient and direct us rather quickly into the roles we will be filling. We walked to Choma General Hosptal today, first met the OR staff, changed into scrub  (dresses) and galoshes, then walked into the operating theater and pretty much started immediately.

The first case of the day was an I&D of an abscessed surgical wound post-reduction of a supraconylar femur fracture. Dr. Johnson went right in with his fingers and explored the wound to debride it, and sadly, my vagus nerve was triggered. I felt the nerve impulse into my brain and knew what was coming next, so I left the room. I sat on a small footstool and soon passed out. I revived to see Dr. Johnson and all the staff looking concernedly over me. I spent some hours in the women’s ward, for awhile still feeling ill and faint and crampy, but then I sat up and burped and literally felt the heaviness lift. After the others had lunch, Dr. Johnson took me back to the guest house, and so I spent my first day “recovering.”

I strongly suspect it is spiritual; as much as it may be fatigue, I feel directly attacked, my body, my mind, my health, and my spirit. I pray my Jesus will sustain me, fight for me, and appoint an angelic guard to protect me while I am here. I rebuke fear in Jesus’  name, I do not submit to or comply with you. The love of God is strong for me, strong in me, and I know that His love conquers ALL!

Back Under Mosquito Nets

Sunday, April 5th

Friday I finished my last US rotation and hopped on my first plane of the trip at LAX, headed for London. I had the good pleasure of an empty seat next to me, so I slept *some.* In London, I was hoping to spend a couple solid hours with my good friend Dima, but we found our time was otherwise designated for standing in line awaiting a seat to open up on my overbooked flight to Nairobi. Praise the Lord, I had prayed with Kara before leaving that if there were any obstacles along the way, that I would only be upgraded by them. And so I was! To Premium Economy I went, with some slightly better rest. In Nairobi I waited almost 3 hours for my final leg of the journey, and promptly fell asleep when I slid into my seat on the plane.

Disembarking in Lusaka, Zambia, I was flooded with some new energy and excitement for the adventure ahead! I easily purchased my visa, passed through customs, and gladly met Dr. Johnson and Kim. My first thought driving away from the airport, with green landscapes on either side of the road was, I’m home! We drove into town, where we had lunch at a local parish, then toured briefly the University Teaching Hospital before setting out for our new home in Choma.

We are staying in the most pleasant of accomodations, and most of the staff at the guest house are believers, how blessed we are! And how thankful to lie flat again to sleep…

Countdown to Departure

T minus 2 days…

March certainly was an exciting month. Match Day was the 19th and I learned that I matched to Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia. Admittedly, I was very surprised by the match. However, the responses I received from classmates and friends were overwhelmingly positive; “Virginia is beautiful,” “the people are super nice,” “Virginia is for lovers,” “only those from Virginia want to leave California and return to their home state,” etc etc. More powerful than these statements were the multiple people, both believers and non-believers, who stated confidently that There is a very good reason for you going to Virginia. One friend told me the first thought she had when I opened my envelope was that the Lord would work through me in great ways in whatever residency I matched to.

In reflecting on the process leading up to the residency Match, the Lord told me to walk through a process discovering what I want in a residency program, and dream about my ideal program. And so I did. Then I selected several programs to apply to, interviewed at half of them, and prayed the whole time that the Lord would prepare a position for me in a program that is the most excellent fit. After submitting my rank list, I prayed that God would have grace on my ranking, and if my number one listed program was not the best fit, that the Lord would take me as low on my list as it took to match to the program of my dreams.

And so He did.

Last weekend FWC had our bi-annual women’s retreat; this year’s theme was Shine, and I had the honor of co-teaching one of the spiritual gifts workshops. It was a very sweet weekend in which the Lord encountered us individually in very personal ways, and at the end of it, one more voice confirmed that the Lord had shown her that I was supposed to be going to Virginia because the Lord had great work for me to do there. Okay God! I absolutely trust You and You know that my life is for You! Thank You for building my faith with these words of confirmation.

In faith I will follow the Holy Spirit to Virginia to live and work for the next four years; likewise, in faith I follow the Spirit to Zambia to live and work for the next four weeks. Please keep Kim and myself in your prayers, interceding for our spiritual and physical protection, our spiritual and medical wisdom and insight, for our mouths to be filled with salty and sweet words of God, and for our faith and boldness to be strengthened in this new environment, as yet unknown to us.

Thank you to all who have graciously supported me already with finances and prayers. Please participate in maintaining a heavy prayer covering over us. We love you, we love Jesus, and we look forward to loving the people of Zambia!

In Preparation…

Greetings! I hope this letter finds you and your family well. It is my joy to share with you that I will soon be embarking upon another medical mission, this time to Zambia with INMED - the Institute for International Medicine (www.inmed.us).

 As you may or may not know, I am now a fourth year medical student at UCI School of Medicine, living in Santa Ana, CA. Five years ago when I graduated from Fresno Pacific, I first went on a medical mission trip to Africa to serve the people of the Embu region in Kenya. I followed that trip with another medical mission to the villages of Moldova and a growing desire to serve people around the world. That same year I began medical school, with the intention of pursuing family medicine and continuing to integrate international medicine with my future practice. It’s fun to see how God changes the details of my plans to more perfectly suit the calling He has on my life, and how strangely and beautifully, He preserves, sustains, and brings to fruition the dreams of my heart. I am now in the process of applying to residency in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and my favorite dream of myself in the future is in Africa with my own small child borne on my back like a papoose, surrounded by the women patients to whom I am ministering.

It is toward the fulfillment of these dreams that I am headed, and this opportunity to serve at Choma Hospital in Choma, Zambia for four weeks in April is one more concrete brick in a foundation for lifelong international service. I am blessed to experience this wonderful international medicine rotation with my classmate and roommate, Kim Stone. We will head out to Zambia on April 3^rd to work with Dr. Kenneth Johnson, an American surgeon who has been living in Zambia for several years now. Our work will be primarily general surgery, and Kim and I will assist Dr. Johnson in a variety of procedures from appendectomies to C-sections to gall bladder removals to orthopedics and vascular repairs.

I eagerly petition you to pray for us, not only in April as we serve the people of Zambia, but even now as we prepare our hearts and minds for this experience. This is not for a vacation; it will be long hours of grueling work in the operating room. But I am most excited about the opportunities to not only pray over people and invite God to perform miracles in our midst, but also to participate in the working out of their healings. Please support our faith, hands, and hearts with your prayers.

Additionally, my work in Zambia is being funded entirely through donations. Every penny collected will be used directly subsidize the cost of the trip, and contributions are tax deductible. You can make your check payable to INMED and mail to INMED, Suite 224, 6700 Troost Ave., Kansas City MO 64131-4401; please include your email address with your donation. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt for each gift via postal mail or email, if available. I thank you in advance for your financial support and encouragement. I look forward to sharing with you about my experience when I return.

Love,

Kaylene J Chlopek