Suicide Rocks

On Saturday, I went with the Radcliffes, Leigh Anne, Angela, Ethan Myers, Sam Bennett, and Dr. Bill McCoy to Suicide Rocks. As you can see in the pictures, this is a place where you jump off the rocks into the flowing river below. I am not sure how deep it is, but I didn't touch the bottom when I jumped in. I am not sure how it got it's name, I they say one volunteer doctor broke his ankle while trying to jump across the rocks, but that is the only injury I have heard of. This is a great place to go on the weekends to get away and to see some of the local people. To get to the rocks you have to hike about 15 minutes or so below station. Along the way you see a lot of PNGers bathing, doing laundry, and swimming in the continuation of the river in which we jumped into above. You can float down the river to end your day, similar to Schlitterbahn's lazy river, with plenty of surprises along the way.

My new home

Yesterday, with the help of the Radcliffes and the McCoys I moved into my new home. Thankfully I haven't been here long and I only came with 2 suitcases and a carryon - so there wasn't a lot to move. I am now at the far end of the station, so there is less station traffic; but I am closer to the village, so apparently it can get loud at night. Last night wasn't a problem, so we shall see. I do live right next to the McCoys and to Dr. Bill's garden. He said I can pick out whatever I want whenever I want. Thankfully for him, I am not a huge vegetable fan, so I don't think I will be depleting his supply of fresh veggies. He does have pineapple and cabbage which I like, and I will keep trying more veggies as I am here, but don't look for me to become a vegetarian anytime soon.

Field Trip to Mondomil

On Thursday, I traveled with the missionary kids, their teachers, and some of their parents to Mondomil. It is about an hour away. Mondomil is a Swiss Evangelical Brotherhood Church mission station that was started back in the 50s. The PNGians put on a little drama showing us how the first swiss missionaries came, how they make fire without matches, how they use bamboo to peel kaukau, and the kind of instruments they used. They were dressed in their traditional attire as you can see. Now they don't dress this way, they wear nml clothes. After doing some cultural things, we made some bread over a fire - swiss style, and we talked and then played in the river. All in all it was a good day.

Volunteers

The hospital regularly gets volunteer doctors, medical students, and nurse anesthesists who come for 1 month or more to serve at the hospital. It has been fun for me to get to meet the different volunteers who have recently been here. I have also enjoyed have extra invitations for dinner. When new people arrive the missionaries invite them over for dinner, and often I have been invited too :)

Drs. Susan and David Oviatt are from Grand Rapids, MI. She is a FP and he is a heme/IM guy. They are here for 2 months. They have enjoyed doing all sorts of things while here. Above they are getting ready to place a cast on this gentleman's leg. They have been working on the medical ward thus far taking care of many complicated patients. Dr. Susie is becoming an expert at diagnosing hepatomas with US, and Dr. David is providing a lot of assistance with doing bone marrows and determining which type of leukemia some of our patients have.

Angela Jordan is a CRNA. She will be here for 3 months helping out our nurse anesthesists that we have here, and giving some of them a vacation. Outside of surgery, she helps out by providing anesthesia for our minor procedures that we do each day - from setting broken bones to incising abscesses to debridements. She has also been helpful in our neonatal resuscitations after CS.

LeighAnne Dageforde is a 4th year medical student at Vanderbilt who wants to go into General Surgery. She has spent her time here with Dr. Jim Radcliffe in surgery and on the surgical ward. She is putting in a chest tube above. She is engaged and looking forward to seeing where God places her for residency.

Presents from patients

This week I have gotten presents from 2 patients. The first is from Dorin. She is a 20 or 30 yo with severe asthma. I saw her last week and wanted to admit her because her oxygen saturation was in the 70%, but she said she didn't have the money. Her father died when she was really young and she doesn't like asking her adopted family for money. Since she has a chronic disease she is always needing money to come and see the doctor and get medicines. When she came back on Monday - she brought me the bilum full of vegetables. Onions, cabbage and pineapple. It was quite humbling. Here is a lady who can't afford the 45K for admission - but is willing to give me vegetables and fruit that her family grew. It reminded me of the Widow's offering - Mark 12:41-44. She is a Christian. You can pray that she would continue to be able to get the medical treatment she needs.

The other bilum is from a pt named Willie. He came in with a large pleural effusion (fluid in his lung) on his R side. I did a thoracentesis over the weekend and wanted to admit him, but he didn't want to stay. The most likely cause of the pleural effusion is TB, which is very common here. Anyway, he thought I needed a new bilum - so he gave me one. It is bigger than the one the Lee's had given me before I left, so I now am using it to carry my stuff to and from the hospital. He did come back yesterday for admission. He told me today that since he has been sick, he has been spending more time with the Lord and praying to God. The chaplain today gave him a new bible. So pray for Willie as he starts on his journey as a Christian. Pray that his pleural effusion would go down and the TB meds would work, and he would continue to take the medicines even though he doesn't feel sick.

Baby Abraham Lincoln

Almost everyday here at the hospital someone dies. At times, the amount of death and disease is overwhelming. While on call yesterday, there were 2 babies, 1 child, and 1 adult that passed away in the hospital. So admist that, it is good to have a bright spot. Baby Abraham Lincoln has filled that recently. His parents, above, had already lost 2 babies, and mom was in labor with him. She was making slow progress so Dr. Bill and I took her to CSection. Mom had a placental abruption, and when he initially came out he looked like a FLK - funny looking kid. He looked like he might have a syndrome of some sort. Praise God he now looks great. Most PNGers don't name their children right away until they go home and cook a lot of food and celebrate, but Abraham was already named before he was born. (At least that is what they tell me) His mom Lydia, is a teacher and one time read a book about Abraham Lincoln and she liked it so she decided to name him that.

Ps 139:13-14 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

OPD - Outpatient Department

After daily ward rounds, I head to OPD to start seeing the pts for the day. Each day the OPD - outpatient department (the clinic) has many interesting patients to be seen. Some are very sick and others aren't as bad. Some recent pts I have seen include pts with ectopic pregnancy, pericardial effusion, septic arthritis, elbow dislocation, fractures, osteomyelitis, cellulitis, pud, tb, pneumonia, hemiplegia, lipomas, and much more. Procedures are part of the daily routine here at the hospital. The boy above had septic arthritis which we tapped of his R hip. Scott and I reduced a dislocated elbow (I wasn't strong enough, so he had to do it). The man above had osteomyelitis of his little finger so Dr. Jim helped me amputate. Doing paracentesis, thoracentesis, splinting and casting, and ultrasound are all part of the daily clinic day.

Rock Watersliding

Today I went with the Dooley family, some of the Bennetts and Radcliffes and some new volunteers to the Rock Waterslides. From the station, it takes about 45 minutes to hike up a mountain into a rainforest and then to the waterslides. These waterslides are no more than rocks which have become smooth from the years of water running over them. No mats or rafts are used, just your bottom. There are 2 places where the rocks are, and a few different slides at each one. Some in the group went head first, feet first, and even tried surfing it. It may not have all the slides and excitement of Schlitterbahn at South Padre Island, but it is refreshing, fun, and free.

My week on C ward

This week I have been rounding on the C ward - medical ward. I have been splitting the ward with Dr. Bill McCoy. Dr. Bill is a lot quicker than I and usually finishes his side long before me, but not before I ask him for insight into my pt's problems. I am thankful for him. He has a lot of experience with all the diseases I am not familiar with and I have learned a lot from him. One of the sickest pts I have cared for is a lady named Pessy (pictured above getting blood). She is severely anemic - Hgb today 3.8 and that is after 4 units of blood. Our blood bank has been low so myself and some other missionaries have donated blood for her. She is having a GI bleed, but also has multiple liver abscesses. We are waiting her for stabilize before Dr. Jim decides if he should try and drain her abscesses in surgery. God's hand has sustained her these past 2 days and we are praying for Him to continue to see her through this illness.

Sam's Mumu

Today I got to watch a mumu preparation. Sam Bennett turned 18 recently and his adopted PNG parents - Simon and Esther - gave him a pig for his birthday. Mumus are a traditional PNG cookout. They are often done at times of celebration, weddings, and other noteworthy events. They are expensive and require a lot of work to put on so it isn't something done everyday. From what I saw today, an over simplification of the steps of having a mumu are 1) dig a pit in the ground 2) line it with banana leaves 3) heat rocks over a fire until they get hot 4) systematically place the rocks on the leaves 5) more banana leaves on top of the rocks 5) add the vegetables which have been peeled and prepared 6) banana leaves and stones 7) the pig and all it's parts with more vegetables around it 8) banana leaves on top which are weaved in such a way that it all stays together 9) let it cook 10) eat. Due to being in a CSection, I didn't actually get to see how it works once the food is done cooking and how they serve it. Everyone enjoyed the food so it must have been good.

OB ward

This week I have spent time rounding on B ward - which is the OB ward. This ward contains patients who are waiting to deliver, or have delivered and their newborn babies. Dr. Scott Dooley has been helping me learn the ropes of OB here. Some of what I have seen and done this week include: sewing up a 4th degree laceration, casting a newborn for clubfoot, caring for a women who was kicked by her husband and has preterm premature rupture of membranes, caring for preterm twins, and caring for a lady who presented with a transverse arm presentation, who had ruptured her uterus at home and was in shock (Praise God she made it through surgery). God has given me the opportunity to pray with many of these patients and I have had opportunities to share Jesus with them.