The last few months have run past me with only brief moments for me to catch my breath. I apologize for the long gap since my last blog. I do frequently think of my friends and family in the US and am so thankful for the support that you provide.
The longer I go between blogs the more daunting the task feels to try to write a new one. I will give a few highlights from the last several months and hopefully in a couple weeks I will be able to reflect in more detail.
Shortly after my last blog, our missionary doctor team met to make schedule changes to try to decrease our burnout rates. It was a powerful time of vulnerability and sharing. Our new schedule is an attempt to allow everyone to fully use their gifts while having space for rest and other God-given responsibilities. In this time of life, I have been blessed with greater freedom and time, and so I am now trying to help support my teammates with families and children. I also picked up the new responsibility of Medical Education Coordinator. In this role I serve as a supervisor to all of the residents and students that come to work with us at Kudjip. I have enjoyed getting to work more closely with these students. I have also enjoyed reorganizing our Friday lecture times as doctors to provide time for spiritual development in addition to increasing our medical knowledge. In this process we also get to model to our trainees what it looks like to be doctors who love and follow Jesus.
Top: Spencer and I on PNG Independence Day. Bottom: Our awesome team of doctors
In September, I was able to celebrate several baptisms at our local church. It was powerful to see people that I work and live with and some of their children being baptized into Christ’s body.
Also in September, I traveled to a leadership conference for the Nazarene Church in Papua New Guinea. I met many leaders in the church here in Papua New Guinea as well as leaders in the colleges run by the church. I gained a deeper appreciation for what God is doing in PNG and the many challenges that our faced here. It is humbling to meet the ministers of Christ who are working with next to nothing in the rural areas of PNG, walking miles every day to go to different villages to share the love of Jesus.
Top: Leadership Conference; Bottom: Sepik-style Stations of the Cross at conference center
At the beginning of November I arranged for transportation of 10 pediatric patients with heart disease to go down to Port Moresby to be seen by Pediatric Cardiologists from the United States who were visiting for the week. Two patients had operations, a mitral valvuloplasty and a PDA closure. The others now have plans for their care, although several will need surgical intervention outside of PNG.
Here are a few clinical cases from the last few months for my healthcare friends.
Top 2 pictures: 40yo M with cervical vertebral compression fracture secondary to either TB or metastatic cancer Bottom: MRSA sepsis in a 13yo F from a pyomyositis leading to bilateral pneumothoraces
Finally, a donor provided some funds for vacations for the doctors at our hospital. I used this to go to New Zealand (hence the blog title for LOTR fans) for the last week and a half. It was a much-needed break in a beautiful part of the world.
