Snapshots

 Sorry for the long delay between my blog posts. Life has been busy here and my computer is currently broken, which makes it harder to write blog posts. I was thinking of how I was going to convey all that has happened since I last wrote, and it came to me as I was looking through pictures. So I’m going to share a number of pictures from the last month with captions. I’ll start with pictures from the hospital and then move to life outside.

This is the ultrasound of the kidney of a male patient who came to see me with several months of abdominal swelling and feeling a mass on his left side. I’m unsure if it is a tumor or just severe hydronephrosis (swelling of the kidney) from some type of obstruction but he will be scheduled for a nephrectomy (removal of the kidney) with our surgery team.

This X-ray was from a young man who was hit by a car. He had complete paralysis of his legs and partial paralysis of his arms. The X-ray shows a cervical spine fracture. He was placed in traction but likely faces a very difficult future.

This is an ultrasound of abdominal lymphoma with lesions in the liver of a young man who came in with cachexia and fever. We initially treated him for helminths (parasites), presuming the lesions to be infectious. When he didn’t improve, he was able to drive to a different hospital and get a CT scan (prohibitively expensive for most patients) and the diagnosis was made. We started him on chemotherapy, but again, the prognosis poor.

This is the follow up film of a young girl that had come in with a week old fracture of her forearm. It was a really difficult reduction, but we were surprised and happy at the improvement. We end up reducing and casting a number of fractures that would go for orthopedic surgery in the US due to the limitations of our surgical capacity. 

One of my favorite patients, this little boy came from the Jimi valley, a remote and poor area of Jiwaka, with a badly infected burn to his head. Unfortunately burns are common here as many people cook indoors and children have a lot of independence. While he didn’t like dressing changes, he usually was a very happy kid, full of giggles and baby chatter.

A couple of months ago a local school was burned down, presumably due to some disagreements over land. This led to local unrest and vandalism at the hospital. We were unfortunately closed for a few days to ensure the safety of staff. Thankfully this did not last long and we were able to reopen to help our patients, but there are still scars in the community over this act of violence.  

My parents were able to come visit for 9 days a month ago. Thankfully they didn’t have too much jet lag because we crammed in tours of the hospital, a hike into the surrounding mountains, a mumu (traditional way of cooking with hot rocks and banana leaves in a hole in the ground), snorkeling and a hike to a volcano. It was a huge blessing to be able to see them.  

I am frequently mistaken for one of my colleagues (Dr Matt) at the hospital by many of the patients. The above picture may explain why. It has been a huge blessing to me to be able to work with and learn from so many amazing physicians here.  

Finally, I was honored to be able to give the Easter sermon at Konduk church, a small church in the mountains south of station. There were beautiful flowers and stirring music. I shared on Jesus appearing to Mary and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, how they both needed Jesus to open their eyes, and how he did so in such intimate ways. I pray that God may open your eyes in new ways to His love and presence as well. Thank you for all your support!