~~ Namesake ~~

I recently worked for two weeks covering the Nursery. Each morning’s rounds started in a small room dedicated to the sickest newborns and premies. The room is kept warm and humid, a slap in the senses after my cool morning walk up to the hospital. What’s more striking is the smell which rides upon that hot humid air, combining the sweet (and tangy) aromas of sweat, breast milk, and baby poo. Yum...

Anyway, rounds progress as I peruse each baby’s chart for new weights, feeding progress, and any notes regarding overnight issues. Usually, the babies I see are just “feeder/growers”, but there are the handful who require monitoring on antibiotics, fluids, and/or oxygen. I’m comfortable among the babies, even the complicated ones, though I’ll admit to “breathing easier” when I make it out of that little hotroom to round on the D Ward babies!

The D ward newborns are usually doing just fine, completing a course of antibiotics, or weaning from formula to breast milk (we can’t send babies home on formula – so they’re all required to be 100% breastfed before leaving – which is awesome). Usually with a nurse or two in tow, I’ll make my way around the beds, checking weights and feeding sheets, and doing a brief exam for anything new…which does occur - rashes, thrush, infected umbilical stumps, extra fingers, etc. 

One of my favorite stops was for twin boys, both just feeding/growing, but super cute. Toward the end of my two weeks covering nursery, the twins were getting close to going home, and I asked the mother if she had come up with names yet. “No” – was the answer I got, and I wasn’t surprised – folks here wait a month or two before naming newborns, waiting to see if they’ll survive. The next day while seeing the boys again, their mother covered her smile with a hand and told me she would like to give Twin 1 the name “Ted”, after me! It took me a second to recover my astonishment, but of course replied that I would be honored. I had heard about newborns being named after doctors at the hospital, but to actually have a “Namesake” (as they call it here) was quite a pleasant surprise. 

Here in PNG, children take their father’s first name as their last name, so the baby's full name would be “Ted John” – which I thought was pretty neat since John is my younger brother’s name. The obvious follow up question was, “Well, what is Twin 2’s name?” She hadn’t thought that far yet, so I asked what her own father’s name is, to which she replied “Timothy”. Perfect, I said! Ted and Tim! How good can it get?! She was also sold on the idea, and we all had a big laugh when I explained the meaning of “T&T” to them in Pidgin.

Signing Off, Ted (the former)

Holding the "new" Ted

Baby Ted's medical book

Off-Station Activities...

Where we live is considered remote…by American standards…but Teddy and I are enjoying being away from the hustle and bustle and eagerly join in opportunities to explore the area surrounding the mission station. Spontaneous outings are nearly impossible to come by…a lot must be done before anyone can leave the station for an extended period of time. Outings require: alerting others of our absence, scheduling the use of one of the station vehicles, finding a local “wasman” (a man who guards the vehicle/people/merchandise), and finding a few other missionaries to join in on the outing to split the mileage/fuel cost of the vehicle.

I have recently had the opportunity to go on several outings with some of our fellow missionaries. A couple of weeks ago, a group packed into the 15 passenger van and took a quick trip to Banz…a small town about 20 minutes away from Kudjip. The fun part about this trip was that I got to drive! Having received my PNG Driver’s License a few weeks prior, I was antsy for a turn at the wheel. It’s quite fun driving a manual transmission on the left side of the road...but driving here requires heightened senses and quick reflexes…potholes, pigs, and people need to be avoided at all times.  :)  In Banz, we had a blast shopping at a few second-hand shops…one of my favorite pastimes. I was able to purchase an immersion blender, supplies for our Harvest Party costumes, and a few blouses. We also perused the street market wares as well. It was a great morning! 

Last weekend, we drove into Mt. Hagen and spent the day with our friends & neighbors the Crouch family (Mark, Esther, Anna, Levi, & Lucy). We went to visit a monthly craft sale/fundraiser and purchased a few local works of art to put on display in our home. We then made a stop at Best Buy….not the electronics shop…but the largest grocery store in Hagen. Mark and Teddy kept the kiddos busy, while Esther and I ran through the aisles grabbing essentials. I’m only guaranteed a trip to town once a month on teacher shopping day…so I took full advantage of being in the store and knocked out about half my grocery list. 

After shopping, Mark & Esther introduced us to a place that is a slice of heaven in the bustling metropolis of Mt. Hagen….the Kofi Cave. This café is located in a beautiful little nook tucked behind the airport that is shaded by a canopy of tropical trees. There are a variety of scrumptious items on the menu…and it was fabulous to sit back, relax, and have food prepared and delivered to our table. How quickly I had forgotten the luxury of eating out! We ate on the patio overlooking a lovely fish pond, and observed the other attractions of the Kofi Cave, including, a small crocodile and an exotic bird. All in all, it was a splendid day and we look forward to many more similar adventures exploring the local attractions. Below are pics from both outings.

The Trip to Banz

Driving the van!

Checking out the merchandise with a couple of my students.

Mmm...chicken pieces...see them up close below

Cooked chicken bits for sale...including the head!



Trip to Mt. Hagen

Teddy posing with the craftsman who made the necklace

Inside Best Buy...the grocery store

A busy intersection in Mt. Hagen

Arriving at the Kofi Cave!

        

Exploring the cave...

Levi, Uncle Teddy Bear, and Anna

A Happy Assortment

Dear Followers, 

Rachel and I remain truly thankful to know you are reading and enjoying these posts. God is providing us so many new experiences every day, it’s a struggle to choose what to write about! What follows is an assortment of journal notes, short stories with pictures, and a few random pics that I thought you might enjoy. God bless you - wherever you are!

His Love, Ted & Rachel

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I was seeing a young girl in the ER, her parents reporting the all too common symptoms of fever, weight loss, weakness, and cough. With the differential diagnoses circling my mind, I asked questions to narrow my suspicions, and examined her head to toe. I perform this routine countless times every day, my mind finding a unique path for every patient, seeking the answers which might bring them healing. Lost in thought, I was somewhat startled when a small bird buzzed past my head! Odd things happen here frequently, but a bird flapping around the ER caught even the sickest patient’s attention, and a hubbub of amused conversation momentarily paused the “emergencies” at hand. I found myself smiling at the peculiarity of God’s creation invading our little sanctuary, breaking up the urgent importance of our work, forcing a moment of joy into the busyness. As the bird made for another fly-by, my patient’s mother reached out a hand, quick as lightning, and caught the little bird. A chorus of ooh’s and aah’s erupted, and in typical fashion for PNG women, she hid her embarrassed smile from the room behind her free hand, and passed the bird to her husband. I had to take a picture! I was further intrigued to see the bird then settle into the comfortable palm of its captor as he stroked its back. How remarkable!

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Local flowers, arranged in preparation for hosting dinner. The orange tuft, if examined closely, reveals many small flowers with a cross shape – from which it is named “The Resurrection Flower”.

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One day in clinic I met Toea Wisil, the world famous Olympic sprinter from PNG. She came to Kudjip with her brother, who has cancer of the mouth. This cancer is sadly common in Papua New Guinea since many people chew Beetle Nut, which is both an opiate and carcinogen. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Journal Entry:

Tonight, I caught myself asking this question: Why do I feel like I'm at summer camp? Because I'm enjoying new adventures every day? Because we sit around in prayer circles welcoming Jesus to live through us? Because I'm away from "home"? Yes, in a way, all of these contribute. But tonight, as crickets and tree frogs provided a background chorus, I walked across the lane and joined my neighbor, Adam, on his porch as he picked out a few tunes on guitar. I'm finding that excitement of summer camp in having new companions living right beside me, a regular and joyful accompaniment to the work at hand. I've never lived in a neighborhood before, at least not like this. I am greeted throughout each day with smiles and waves, casual conversations between activities, kids running through the yard, and the sounds of their play alternating with mothers' singsong call to rally. Below is a picture of Levi Crouch, "helping me". His regular high pitched greeting to me is by far my favorite - "Hiiiiii Uncle Teddy Bear!", followed by hysterical laughter. I love it. 

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One day I took a walk to the local road market. Did I take the long way up and around the hospital? Nope! I chose the path less traveled…or maybe never traveled… It was a beautiful sunny day, so cut though the bush at back of station, meandering downhill around garden plots, battling banana spiders the size of my palm, and finally made it to the river (with the help of my new found neighbor, Martha). Kicking off my shoes and rolling up my pants, I waded along the frigid water’s edge down to where the road crosses the bridge. I’m sure all the locals thought I was nuts, but it was fun! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Night Sounds:

- The endless jungle drone of crickets and frogs.

- Scrawny mutts of every local village joining together in bawdy chorus of "who can get the last bark"...sometimes lasting for hours…

- The revving engine of an 18-wheeler, down-shifting to make it up a nearby hill on the "highway".

- A song bird loudly welcoming the new day...starting at 12:01AM... “tweet, tweet, taaaaweet”...over and over.

- Men's voices raised together in a tune reminiscent of hearty sailors' ballads, quite likely aided with a little "homebrew".

- And drowning out the rest - the deafening barrage of downpour on tin, followed by an endless drum line of rain drops beating out a cadence devoid of rhythm.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The unique 1 Kina coin (worth $0.40)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dr. Bill McCoy: Friend, Mentor, and Forever Young

I had gone into Uncle Bill's clinic room to ask a medical question (he's our go-to-guy for all such questions), and this is what I found. What a trip! You will be happy to know each man won with their dominant hand, first the patient, then Dr Bill. Full video can be found at Marsha McCoy's FB page. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cute little girl playing in rain water. 

Rachel’s schoolhouse is in the background. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Decorative items for our PNG home!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Progress on the Path! Rocks have been settled in with sandy gravel, about 40 Amaryllis bulbs have been planted on either side, and God sent the rain to wash it clean. How GREAT is our God!!! 

Food...Fellowship...Fun!

This past weekend was an amazing time to get together with all the other missionary families. Too often, the title, “missionary” brings forth images of somber looking people who dress plainly and aren’t allowed to have fun….our experience here in Kudjip is quite the opposite!

We have been overwhelmed at the amount of fun we’re having serving as missionaries. Living on a missions compound isn’t all rainbows and butterflies….but we’re encouraged each day by the wonderful sense of camaraderie among all the missionary families. It has been a wonderful experience jumping into community life here and we are regularly taking advantage of opportunities to spend time with our neighbors/co-workers/new friends.

This past Friday night was the station Harvest Party. Everyone….kids, adults, babies… dressed up in costumes and brought a dessert to share, as well as their own “hobo dinner.” A hobo dinner consists of food, wrapped in foil, and thrown into a fire to heat up. These large missionary gatherings usually happen at the Haus Win located behind the Myers’ home. “Haus Win” translated in Pidgin…the wind house…is a giant outdoor gazebo. (Gotta love the literal translation of everything in Tok Pisin) : ) Below are some pictures from the Harvest Party.

 We dressed up as robbers!  

 Teddy tending to the fire.

                                                   

              The most AMAZING caramel apples!                         Teddy digging into our hobo dinner!

A few of the costumes featured at the party....

  

            

Three-headed monster  

                     

    My student...Robin Hood                            The BEST costumes!    

        

    

         The Where's Waldo crew!                 Two lovely Waldo's     

              Karate Kid!

Every first Sunday of the month we attend English Lotu…this is an English speaking church service that takes place in the hospital chapel on the station. Every-other month, the missionaries gather at the Haus Win before the church service and have a massive pot luck. There were SO many yummy dishes! During English Lotu various missionaries from outside organizations come and join us on the station and stay for the day of fellowship and worship. We met missionaries from Australia, who work with MAF (Missions Aviation Fellowship), missionaries from Germany and New Zealand who work at the CLTC (Christian Leadership Training Center), and missionaries from America who work with the New Tribes organization. Many of these missionaries drive up to an hour to come to Kudjip and worship with their fellow believers. My favorite part of the service was a time of sharing praises and prayer requests. It was amazing to hear all the work that God is doing in this country and all the needs that require prayer through the mouths of His laborers. It was awesome! I can’t wait for the next one! Below are some pictures from the Pot Luck and English Lotu service.

    The Haus Win where we all gather.

MK's from all countries...swinging in the trees...

The chapel where we meet for English Lotu      

All the missionaries and their kiddos preparing for the service.

The CALL Experience

Taking call at Kudjip Hospital has been interesting, to say the least. Each physician on Station covers call about once a week, and since I’m new, a more experienced doc has always been assigned/available for consult whenever needed. (Not bad!) Call begins after Clinic closes in the afternoon, with any leftover or late-comer clinic patients then redirected to the ED. When I’m covering, I start call by making rounds on all 4 wards, checking in with the nurses to answer questions, and set up care plans for any seriously ill patients. Before heading home, I’ll cruise by the ER to see whatever patients the staff have questions about. Many of the patients who come through the ER are seen and managed by the well-experienced nursing staff, but there are always a handful with some form of trauma or critical condition which the Doctor is called to help with. Other times, the case may not be so severe, but the nurses simply need help deciding whether the patient qualifies for admission, or can be discharged home with clinic follow up. I also perform this “end of the day” ER check since there’s a good chance that if I have not, my home phone will ring the moment I put my feet up. What comes next has become one of my favorite Doctor perks – driving Herbie! The On Call vehicle is a rickety little hatchback off-roader (Suzuki SJ-410), which has been adorned with a Herbie-style racing stripe and the number 53. Bouncing around the little gravel roads on Station, the vehicle’s manual transmission, high-grabbing clutch, and failing brake system make me feel like I’m driving “God’s Must Be Crazy” style!

"HERBIE"

Getting home by around 5-6pm, I can usually make it through about half of whatever delicious meal Rachel has prepared before the phone rings. Though my Pidgin is adequate, and the caller will do their best in English, I’ve discovered it’s usually a challenge to find out precisely where the call is coming from, which patient the nurse is calling about, and what exactly the question is. Much of the time, they’ll just ask me to come up, hoping I’ll sweep in and manage whatever problem their facing, but I’ve gotten into the habit of drilling them with questions to ascertain the true nature of the situation. Of course, occasionally they’ll say something startling like “The patient has no pulse or breathing, and we’ve been doing CPR for 10 minutes – please come”, in which case all I ask is the location before flying out the door. But most of the time, it’s not so urgent, so I’ll get the location, age, vitals, and primary concern(s) before providing advice for their next therapy, or decide to come up. There is a fine line between giving the nurses the autonomy they deserve, and being too much of a presence, but unfortunately the line is usually blurred by the quality of information I receive over the phone. In the end, nothing beats putting my eyes and stethoscope on the patient, and once I’m behind Herbie’s wheel, I always feel an immense sense of purpose and joy in being able to help – no matter the hour.

During my first night on call, among many less exciting patients/calls, I spent the better part of 2 hours in the ER suturing bush knife wounds. “Chop chop” as it’s known here, is the nasty result of combining anger or envy, usually alcohol or beetle nut, and the always available bush knife. Both adults and children are rarely seen without such a tool (blade lengths varying from the 5” kitchen knife to the meter-long machete), which are primarily intended for digging gardens and chopping vegetation. For the two gentlemen I sewed up that first night, the bush knife involved was functioning as neither.

Man #1 was drunk, and was carrying a bare 8” blade in his front jeans pocket when he tripped and fell. The result was a deep laceration into his left thigh muscles, which I was glad to find did not pulse arterial blood when I released the tourniquet. He was moaning a little, but it appeared he’d already had a substantial volume of “anesthetic”, so after thoroughly flushing the wound I numbed him up with a little lidocaine and closed the bloody smile – layer by meaty layer.

Man #2, in contrast, had no such pain-killer in his system, but yet he lay quite still; his eyes fixed on the ceiling, his mouth set in determined resolution, and his left arm clutched to his side – a gaping shoulder wound oozing blood, congealing in a dark pool on his bed’s blue plastic sheet. I admired him for keeping cool, but wondered if it was anger that held the pain at bay. This man, Paul, had argued with his wife that night (obvious mistake!), and when his back was turned, she had swung a butcher knife over his left shoulder, aiming for his heart. The result was a deep laceration into his left pectoralis muscle, anterior to the clavicle and shoulder joint, about 5cm wide. The knife had failed to penetrate the chest cavity, as his rib cage had deflected the knife tip down, rather than in. After a quick exploration of the wound with my gloved finger, Paul too received a thorough cleaning (who knows WHAT these knives have been used for!), and I applied a fair amount of lidocaine throughout the ragged muscle tissue to numb against the bite of my suture needle. After approximating tissues as seemed most natural, I used dissolvable sutures to close his internal layers, which I was pleased to find all matched up in the end. Paul handled the whole thing bravely, and we had a little laugh later when my needle wouldn’t drive through his skin. Apparently some of these suture needles are blunt for safety, and short of tearing his skin, I just couldn’t get the needle through. The joke of course was asking if Paul was related to Superman – man of steel! At 1am, with fatigue and nerves setting in, everyone loved it, and we let the laugh go long and hard.

Paul's check-up in Clinic

I have been on call five times since that first night (I am in fact on call right now), and the stories go on and on. I’ll save some of them for future posts, but I have to share the wild fact that I saw a grand total of THREE pig bites in one night during my second night of call. Pigs are vicious little creatures, and most families have them here, so pig bites are not that uncommon – but 3 in one night is fairly rare. What’s even weirder is that two of the three bites were to the groin of young boys. Ouch! I’ll save you from enduring all the juicy details, but you can rest assured both boys are (mostly) ok. 

Another thing I have to mention is the C-sections I have been doing, and LOVING! I think they are very straightforward (as far as surgeries go), and it’s a beautiful reward to hear the first wail of a newborn. In the US, I would never have the opportunity to perform Sections, but it’s practically a requirement for doctors here! Trust me, I’m not complaining. :-) I’ve been accumulating various methods from other docs, assimilating them into my own Sections, and I’m very pleased to report that all the ripping/tearing that I saw all too often in my medical school training is entirely unnecessary! (Unless it’s an emergent situation). My method may take a little longer, but it’s clean, precise, and will produce less scarring down the road. (A big Thank You! goes to Dr Scott Pringle for his excellent teaching and much appreciated encouragement!)

Sadly, not all calls have happy endings. It was 1:40AM, shortly after crawling into bed for the 4th time, hoping for sleep. This time it was D Ward, the nurse reporting they couldn’t find fetal heart sounds on a newly arrived patient. I was at the bedside within two minutes, and I too listened and failed to hear a heartbeat using the nurses' hand monitor. The woman had carried the baby to term without complication, and reported that she had felt good movement earlier that day. Silently praying, I laid my hands on the mother's belly, molding them around her womb, hoping for some flicker of movement to indicate life remained in the unborn child. Again, nothing. I went and retrieved the ultrasound machine from clinic, and swept the probe back and forth across her abdomen, searching the infant's chest for the movement of a beating heart. Nothing... The idea of calling for back-up briefly crossed my mind - someone more experienced to confirm what I already knew to be true, to somehow share in the burden of telling this horrible news. But no. My voice wavered around the lump in my throat, and I told her the baby was no longer alive. She stared at the ceiling through welled tears, her world collapsing. I prayed aloud then, a few nurses solemnly standing by, and I was thankful to see the young mother join with me in earnest. Surely this must be the worst kind of call to attend, and make.

Final story (on a lighter note): The last time I was on call, I saw a man with an awesome forearm fracture (see picture below), obtained in a car accident. The bones were quite displaced, in multiple pieces, and he had a fair amount of soft tissue swelling around the broken bones. Since the hospital is running low on X-rays at the moment, we don’t usually order films on obvious limb fractures, but the nursing staff had already obtained the film by the time I was called at midnight. Obviously, I wasn’t complaining – a picture is worth a thousand words, right?!

I gave the man some medicine to help him sleep, then set to work straightening his arm. In the States, this sort of thing is done by expert Orthopedic docs using fluoroscopy (live x-ray) to ensure everything is aligned properly. All I had were my hands, and to make things more complicated, the medicine wasn’t working very well to keep him still. (His strong friends were very helpful in this respect). I had his arm suspended by the fingers, bent 90 degrees at the elbow, weights hanging from his upper arm to help stretch the forearm. As I squeezed the flesh around his broken bones, I felt the crunch and grating of bone on bone – not normally a satisfying sound, except that now his arm appeared much straighter. I applied layer after layer of plaster, taking care to keep a regular squeeze over the area of broken bone. It felt right, but no way to know – we don’t usually shoot post-casting films either. In the end, the cast was set, but the man didn’t have a ride home, so I approved the ER staff watching over him until the morning. When I arrived the next morning, I was quite pleased to find the morning ER nurse had ordered a film (?maybe thinking he was a new patient?). Anyway, I was able to put the before and after films side by side, and was perfectly relieved to find his bones in good alignment. The patient was also quite impressed, and attempted to buy me a Coke – which I politely declined as I was still working on my morning coffee.

More stories to come!

Check out my new hand-crafted Name Plate! 

Shepherds, Sheep, and a Savior...

Many people consider it “over the top” when Christmas preparations begin in October...but not here in Kudjip!  Throughout the month of October: the MK’s and I have been practicing for the Christmas play, I joined the other ladies on the station in an afternoon of Christmas ornament crafting, and Teddy and I have been brainstorming ways we can make it feel/look like the Christmas season in our home, come December.
  
Along with being the 4^th-6^th grade teacher at the MK School, I am also the Music Teacher for the 1^st-6^th graders.  We have music class every Tuesday afternoon, from 2:15-3:00pm.  My partner at the MK School, Ms. Judy Ralph, informed me this summer that we needed to put on a Christmas Program with the kids, and asked if I could be in charge of finding/coming up with a program.  In the midst of packing, moving, and tying up loose ends in Richmond, I did not have time to creatively come up with a clever Christmas play.  So, I reached out to Lisa Eggert, our Children’s Ministry Director at our home church (West End Assembly of God), and was put in contact with Ashlyn Bolton, who works with the Pre-School Program at our church.  Ashlyn came to my rescue and not only informed me that she had just the thing, but came to my house and dropped off an amazing Christmas play with CD, script, music and everything!  Yet another way we are SO grateful for our WEAG Family back home!

The kiddos were hesitant, to say the least, about learning lines and songs...there were a lot of eyes rolling and loud sighs happening during our first class.  : ) Miraculously, they are beginning to take pleasure and pride in the work that they are putting into the Christmas Play!  The entire production is based on the Christmas Story that we all know and love…from the perspective of the shepherds.  These shepherds were just ordinary people, with commonplace jobs….yet God chose them to hear and spread the good news about the birth of the Savior!  I love the lines of the chorus of our closing song: “Go and tell, go and tell, Christ is born, Emmanuel.”  So….if you find yourself becoming perturbed with all the “holiday hype” this Fall, remember that God can use ordinary people in ordinary places to share the good news about Jesus….keep your eyes and ears open this holiday season…who can you “Go and Tell” ??

The kiddos practicing one of their favorite songs from the play… “Shaggy, Smelly, Sheep”

My shepherds….who appear happy to be practicing…

 My sheep…obviously not so happy about practicing…

Here are some pictures of my classroom…the kids did all of the decorations…we have a “forest” theme in our room.

                    

Here are some pictures of the kids delivering bracelets to patients at the hospital last week.  The bracelets contained the same colors representing the gospel story, so each child had a color that they explained the meaning of in Pidgin!
They did GREAT!
                                                                                     


"And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."    ~ Luke 2:10-11