In the moments of darkness here, I’ve been looking for the hints of grace and light. I had originally planned to write a post about some of the harder cases and pain that I had seen and experienced over the last 6 weeks, but as I sat down to write it, I struggled to begin and to feel motivation to share those stories. I then paused and looked back through the pictures on my phone. I saw different moments of life and joy that broke through the darkness, and I want to share those instead. Maybe I will still share those hard moments in a different blog, but today I want to show the new life and hope God is bringing forth.
I got to work in the nursery for a few weeks last month. I enjoy working in the nursery, getting to see the small babies grow, celebrating the grams gained since the day before. During my time in the nursery, I took care of a set of triplets. Most of the babies born this small don’t survive here due to their need for advanced respiratory support. But miraculously God had sustained these three babies. It was a joy to watch them slowly grow.
On my counter for the last several months I had avocado pits suspended by toothpicks into water. I got to watch them finally break apart sending down roots into the water and stems up into the air. A month ago, I transplanted three of them outside into my yard. Looking out at them in the morning reminds me of God’s work to sustain life all around me.
A visiting surgeon and his wife, Tom and Tina, have become close friends. They frequently have me over to play games, eat dinner, or make an occasional bonfire. Tom and I have gone on several hikes together. It has been good to have more fellowship the last couple of months, especially as some of my closer friends here have been back in the US. A trip up to Mount Tapi a few weeks ago showed me again the beauty of this place that God has called me to.
Last week in clinic I had a sweet 5 year old boy who came in with a supracondylar fracture (a fracture of the arm near the elbow). His arm was severely angulated, but he stayed calm even though he was in a lot of pain. We put him to sleep so that we could try to straighten his humerus. After three unsuccessful attempts, we finally felt some movement with the 4th pull, so we repeated the Xray. While not perfect, he should heal well and be able to use the arm normally in the future.
Finally, while in the midst of chaos from a large car accident in which 20-30 patients came into the ER all at the same time, a young man who had been shot in the head was carried in by his friends. He was able to sit up and talk and had a small entry wound on his forehead that was bleeding a little. Spencer (a PNG doctor) and I were astonished by the Xrays. The patient stayed in the hospital for a couple of days and was subsequently discharged home. Thank God for the small miracles.
