Hello from beautiful Papua New Guinea. It has been a beautiful week here. We have had no rain for the past six days, so we are beginning to be concerned about the cistern, but other than that we are both healthy and doing fine.
I thought I would take some time, like Tyronza, and let you know what my typical day and week is like.
I rise at 5:45am each day. All is calm except for the whistling of the locusts and the crowing of the local kakarukas (roosters). The locusts look like our cicadas, but make a buzzing whistle-like noise that sounds like an alarm clock going off. This serenade usually lasts about 30 minutes. During this time, I am up walking with several other mission doctors and Brutus. The course is two miles.
Brutus is a beautiful black Labrador. He is not very well trained and it is hard to say who is taking whom for a walk. He is always eager to go and seems to be slowing improving in the obedience department.
After the walk, a shower and breakfast are in order. The shower water is left in the tank from the previous days sun - heat and so is only warm, but feels good after a long walk. Breakfast consists of oatmeal, bananas, pineapple, toast from Tyronza's bread and tea. The bananas here are like nothing I have ever experienced in the states. My favorites are called apple bananas. They are short, firm and very sweet. They taste a bit alike an apple and go down very well. There are over 200 varieties of bananas here, some very large and some small. Most are yellow but a few are red. Some are for eating and some are for cooking (strang banana). As I write this note, I have had my eye on a particularly large bunch of eating bananas. I hope to have the whole bunch hanging from my porch very soon.
At 8am, after breakfast, I walk 2-3 blocks to the hospital to start by medical day. I usually have 7-8 Gynecology patients to round on, then 20-30 obstetric patients to see. After rounds I either go to surgery or to the clinic.
The clinic consists of gynecology patients that have mostly been screened by the family doctors and I see them to consult and review for possible surgery. There are also problem obstetric patients to see. I usually do a physical exam and ultrasound on each one. I see about 15 clinic patients each day.
Scheduled surgeries are primarily done on Tuesdays and Thursdays and unscheduled surgeries fit in on a daily basis as needed. Each week I do 6-8 major cases plus 4-6 unscheduled c-sections and ectopics. I also assist the general surgeon, Dr. Jim Radcliff, on his major cases, usually 6-8 per week.
We break for lunch at noon each day and are usually back in the clinic by 1pm. The work day ends at 5 or before, except for call. I am being on call every other night and every other weekend for obstetrics and gynecology.
My days are fairly busy, but I do find time to enjoy this beautiful place. God's creations are so astounding!
I hope all of you are well and staying busy. God bless you and keep you safe. I hope to write again soon. (Mi raitem yu bihain sun.)
Scot
for pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.250305375044841.59195.100001961413037&type=3&l=209e4ae86b
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