I have been back in PNG for 5 days now and have quickly gotten back into the swing of things. With all the violence that happened during elections, many patients were unable to get to the hospital, so we are now seeing a lot of patients finally come back for their reviews, many off of their medicines for a few weeks, which is less than ideal. I get to care for some cute kids on the Pediatric ward the past few days, which is a lot of fun. They don't all smile at me when I see them each day, but the goal is to get them smiling and home as soon as we can. 
Getting off the airplane, there are many things that are very different than I had been seeing in the past 4 months in the US, but as I got off the airplane and started the drive home to Kudjip, all those differences (potholed filled roads, simple houses made from bush material, everyone and their pets walking along the side of the highway, the roads lined with gardens and more), seem normal and no longer phase me. Those differences go beyond the things I see as I drive home, but also include what I see in the hospital. One of the things I love about working in PNG is the variety of diseases that I see and the different kinds of procedures that I get to do. In just a few days, I have cared for patients with HIV, TB, Pneumonia, fractured arms, high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, malnutrition, Hirschsprung's disease, acute abdomen's, lacerations, Guillian Barre Syndrome and have gotten back into doing ultrasounds, I&Ds and even draining fluid from around the heart, and in many ways it feels as if I never was in the US for 4 months. The welcome I have received from my missionary family and my PNG coworkers has also been amazing and made me feel as if I am at home. It is good to be home.
