Goodbye PNG

Sadly, I have left PNG!

I had a sweet send off with circle time (where the missionaries gather and pray for me, then throw flowers at me as I leave) and the McCoys driving me to the airport (and Dr. Bill almost never goes to the airport). Dr. Bill McCoy was responsible for the other side of the medicine ward, which means he was usually the closest person for me to ask a question to. He has been a missionary for years, first in Swaziland then PNG. He has an enormous amount of wisdom and love for the Lord, and is a great mentor! I learned so much from him! He was very encouraging and patient. I don't think it is a very good picture of either of us, but it's what I have. The second picture, about 10 minutes after liftoff.

I was supposed to have a 5-6 hour layover in Port Moresby that I wasn't looking forward to. However, when I arrived, Air Nuigini moved up my flight, and in fact I ended up with a relatively short layover! PRAISE! Then I feared Australian customs, but that was really a breeze!

I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to come to PNG! What a blessing--Praise be to God! I cannot begin to tell you everything I learned! I am thankful for the kindness, generosity, patience, and encouragement I received from all the missionaries. I hope the Lord wills it that I can come back again!

I love the flowers!

CON

Saturday I was invited to help out the Chapmans invited me to help out with a social event for the College of Nursing (CON) students. It was to be an afternoon of games. We broke out all my favorite childhood games plus a few I had never played before. We did the Human Knot, Sack Race, jump rope relay, stomp the balloon, Last Couple, Flying Dutchman, etc, etc.

It was a blast to see them all having so much fun. Most of the games were new to all of them. And I am not sure if some things were lost in translation or just because they are not used to relay type games. But I noticed they took most of the rules pretty liberally. And when someone new would arrive, even if the team had the most people on it already, they were out recruiting. So we kept having to stop to rearrange the teams. Multiple teams would finish, but you could not really tell the winner. However, would you could tell was how much fun they had.

So when it was time for the balloon toss, we ran it twice. I asked Diane, if I could introduce them to the water balloon fight concept. She agreed (after all it started raining, and they were already tossing water balloons). So I completely pelt one of the students with a water balloon, and everyone gets into it. Then a HUGE balloon hits my head and just soaked me! (well deserved, I know)

Of course, any activity like this attracts a crowd. From the smallest to the oldest, we had quite a crowd watching us.

Diane and Mike have a real heart for these kids. They really love on them, which the kids really love (for most of them it's their first time away from home). I was so happy to get to hang out with them.

After all my fun their, I enjoyed dinner with several folks from the station, as the Dooleys returned from their vacation with Chinese food! This is a real treat, as they had to bring it back from 3 hours away! It was a fantastic time of eating and fellowship, even though the lights were out for most of it!

Out with a Bang

Today was my last day in the hospital in PNG. Sad face. I fly out Sunday for a few days of vacation in Australia.

I have learned so much in my time here. I have been blessed in the opportunity to serve here, and so thankful for all the patience in teaching me from the doctors, nurses, and patients.

In typical spirit, my last day was kind of a knock out kind of a day. The morning started with me giving a presentation at case conference to all the doctors. I spoke about myasthenia gravis.

Then our B ward (medical ward) decided to explode with patients overnight. We had several sleeping on the floor. So it took alot of time to get through rounds, plus I tried to write a little extra to help the person taking my place. I have been happy to see some of my patients really improve. I haven't talked too much about my patients on service here, but I have enjoyed a wide range of cases. In fact, just today, I treated a likely cancer patient (I am carrying the bone marrow biopsy home with me to the USA), a pt with thrombocytopenia (plt count of 3, no schistocytes, awaiting Crt, no splenomegaly, hgb 4--thinking it's ITP), an odd presentation of polyarthritis that is improving on steroids, cerebral malaria, pyomyositis with likely osteomyelitis, pulmonary TB, HIV, Hep B, and CHF.

When I made it to the OPD (outpatient department), my first patient ended up having a broken arm. When I got back from lunch, that was confirmed by X-ray. So I casted his arm by myself (thank you, thank you very much). I diagnosed a spontaneous abortion, and prepared her for a D+C. As I was finishing with that patient, Edith, the little girl pictured above came in.

Edith was carried 5 hours on a bush stretcher to get to me (2 pieces of bamboo with sackcloth stretched across). Her thigh has been swelling for 2 months. She went to a clinic, where they were treating for abscess, although they had no diagnostic capabilities (ie no X-ray or labs). She left barely able to walk, then fell at home, when her parents carried her in. I immediately thought she fractured her femur, but another doctor felt she likely had cancer. It turns out, we are likely both right (so far we have confirmed I am right). She has a fracture of her left femur, and she has alot of periosteal changes. I did not see any pus on U/S, which likely means this is cancer. In the picture above, she has a sweet smile, and she was so brave to smile so big, because I know she was in a great deal of pain. Pray for Edith.

Heaven on Earth

This is Mary, once a week, she cleans the common rooms of my house. Mary is the most gentle sweet spirit that I, perhaps, have ever met. She first endeared herself to me, when upon meeting her, she asked where I was from. Then she told me that she went to Florida herself with her church, which is a bit mind-blowing in itself. And she was describing Disney to me (from someone, who may have never even seen a Disney movie herself). She is telling me about a parade, then the fireworks started. She took my hand and says, "Elizabeth, I just thought heaven was coming down, with all those colors across the sky!" She gave thanks all to God. It was so sweet and genuine, and I do not think she was exaggerating at all. She genuinely thought heaven was coming to earth right then.

Mary has a difficult life, her husband left her, and she is on her own to raise three kids. But you would never know it by her spirit. She quotes massive amounts of scripture. When she found out I was leaving this weekend, she ran out to pick flowers for me. She tells me, "Me lookim yu bihan long dispela graun or heven." (I will see you later either on this earth or in heaven) Then after several goodbyes, she leaves, but runs back in, and says I just have to give you a scripture verse to go home with.

"May He grant you according to your heart's desire, And fulfill all your purpose." ~Psalm 20:4

Mr. Man

Usually my patients come in with a wasmeri or wasman (watch woman or man). In fact, it is required that if you admitted to the hospital that you have a wasmeri or wasman with you, and they do most of your direct care. This little guy showed up to clinic with no one but himself. What you should also take into account is that pretty universally, kids here are kinda freaked out by white man.

Here walks in Mr. Man, with no wasman, and is clearly scared of me. However, we were able to get out of him what was wrong. Although the picture doesn't show it really well, he has parotid gland swelling on his left cheek. He has MUMPS! Add that to the list of things I have never seen in the US.

By the way, I think that is the 3rd or 4th picture I took of him. He looks petrified in the first one, but once I showed him the picture, he got excited. So by this one, I actually got him to smile.

Rain

The internet has been down for a day or so, hence why there have been no new posts.

I always imagined that PNG would have rain every day. There are only 2 seasons in PNG: wet and dry (and I have heard it said, truly it is more like wet and wetter). As best I can tell, the locals have no specific time for when the seasons start. Rainy season starts approximately in November and ends sometime in Jan/Feb. Upon my arrival in PNG, we were in the midst of a drought, which does not necessarily mean no rain, just little rain. Most people rely on their gardens for food, and their gardens were drying up. People were walking long distances to get water. For the missionaries, our water comes from collecting tanks from the water that hits out roof. There was concerns that our tanks would run out of water.

Well, it appears in the last 2-3 days, that in fact, the drought has ended, and rainy season has begun. We have had some heavy rains, which of course, make the best noise on our tin roofs. I am so glad for the rain! Sunday I went tubing again at the river, and there was considerable difference in the water height (and my backside was grateful for the higher water table).

On the down side of the rain would be that we lose electricity pretty easily. One day it kind of flickered on and off all day. The big concern is power surges, as they can damage any kind of electrical equipment, so there is a bit of a dash to unplug everything when the power goes out. In fact, tonight the power went out just as we were sitting down for dinner. The picture is our dinner in the dark, unfortunately it looks bright because of the flash. But besides the candles, it was pitch black in our kitchen.

On the upside, power outages have led to more creative types of fun. Of course, "the Martha Stewart of PNG," Leslie, was ready to break out the creativity. She has had Reni and I hard at work at craft projects.

From a medical standpoint, I have learned the value of a headlamp! Bring your headlamp wherever you go! Clinic in the afternoon, without lights--headlamp. Call in the middle of the night--headlamp! Invaluable.