PNG Blog #2
January 13th, 2008 Posted in INMEDPNG Blog #2
Salutations from PNG!
It’s been yet another interesting and wet week in PNG. First, let me thank you all for your prayers and support. It is only by the grace of God that we have the opportunity to experience life like we are today, and I am incredibly grateful for your faith in prayer with this particular experience. Thank you.
So, I was on-call this past Tuesday, and it was yet another memorable experience with yet another “chop-chop”. It happened to be a middle-aged woman that was chopped by one of her family members. This chop, however, was to the head. It split her ear in two horizontally at the ear canal and extended through her cheek near her nose. The skull, thankfully, was not fractured, and she just needed some sewing up. I never realized how difficult it is to make a mangled ear whole again. But, we got it back together and she seemed to do fine.
Let see, what else? Oh yeah, I had an interesting case that involved a young woman. She came into the clinic with her father in much distress due to the fact that she had not appreciated any fetal movement of her current pregnancy for the past 4 weeks. After questioning her, it became apparent that the baby’s father’s family had encouraged her to have an abortion. In one of the village “health centers” she received an injection of something intended to terminate the pregnancy. We then decided to do a sonogram to evaluate the baby. And when we did we found life! The baby’s little heart was still beating away and the mother and grandfather wept with joy. I too was overjoyed to be a part of the good news.
This past week in the hospital has been quite eventful. From cesarean section to paracentesis to mandible dislocation reduction, each day seems to be quite intriguing. It has also been somewhat difficult dealing with the terminal cases. This past week I saw two patients in the end stages of a hepatoma tumor. One was 32 years old, and one was 16. Another patient was admitted with newly diagnosed HIV, and another with cerebral malaria. These are all difficult cases and all opportunities to share the love of Christ.
Away from the hospital I have been spending most of my evenings at the missionaries’ homes. They’ve been very hospitable and have kept me well fed. Just yesterday a few of us went on an adventure to “Suicide Rock.” This is an outcropping of rock that has been divided by a river. So, you’re supposed to jump of one ledge of the rock into the rushing water of the river and hold your breath as the current takes you and shoots you out downstream! I wasn’t too sure at first but then decided to give it a go. It was definitely something I hope to do again before I leave. Anyways, we then loaded up on some inner-tubes and floated down the river. This was quite a float trip….unlike any other I’ve ever experienced.
Well, I think that’s about it for now.
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ ” Luke 10: 8-9.There’s nothing comparable to living the Word of God.
In HIM>Kevin.