He is Risen! This week as I have been reflecting on the new life and hope found in the resurrection of our Lord, I have been thankful for the ways that I have seen God move and work here.
One day in clinic, Dr Angeline, one of my PNG colleagues, asked me to come see a little boy in her clinic. As I walked into the room, I was amazed at the transformation of the figure I saw before me. A month and a half before, Jacob (name changed) had some into the hospital with complete paralysis of the right side of his body. He suffered from a double-outlet right ventricle, a congenital heart defect that caused him to be chronically short of oxygen. We weren’t sure if he had developed a clot in his poorly functioning heart that had then broken off and gone to his brain or if he had some type of infection in his brain causing the symptoms. Without neuroimaging it was impossible to confirm the diagnosis, but we started him on TB medications and strong antibiotics and prayed for his recovery. I took care of him for a couple of weeks and saw some marginal improvements before I was moved to another ward. Now, he was greeting me with an almost straight smile and a firm handshake. He had walked into clinic by himself. I smiled and laughed with him and his mom and we prayed again, thanking God for the healing.
When Dr Susan, our only Pediatrican at the time, left, I was handed the work she had been doing with our congenital heart disease children. Although I was trained to take care of children, I am certainly not a Pediatric Cardiologist. But over time I have slowly improved my ability to identify and diagnose some of these children. With the help of a visiting team of Pediatric Cardiologists from the US we have been able to do better screenings and identify some children for treatment. Last year I helped to arranged transportation for 9 children to go for screenings in Port Moresby and 2 received procedures, one to help open up a stenotic valve and one to close a small hole. Last month I put in a lot of extra work to help one patient get all the paperwork needed to fly to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he was able to have open heart surgery (for Ebstein anomaly). He is continuing to recover in the US from his surgery before he will return to PNG. This is truly life changing for him and his family.
A few months ago, a young man came into my clinic room looking miserable and tired. He had clearly been sick for quite some time. He related that he had gotten medications repeatedly at different hospitals but continued to get worse. He had large skin lesions on his face and swelling of his left leg. In consultation with a colleague, I ordered a test I almost never check, a skin slide looking for Mycobacterium leprae, the bacteria that causes leprosy. His slide showed the presence of some of these bacteria, and he was able to start treatment for this curable disease.
A few updates outside of the hospital. I help serve on the Spiritual Life Team here on station. Easter morning we put on a Sunrise Service for our missionaries, a time of reflection on Jesus’ work on the cross. Our men’s bible study continues to meet at my house and has been a great encouragement and support to me and many of the other guys.
Stella is doing well and has been enjoying our newfound activity of hiking on the weekends. We have to go early before it gets too hot.
Dr Ben, our current Director of Medical Services, is leaving for home assignment. I will be taking over his role while he is back in the US. Please be praying for me with the new responsibilities.
