Back in the Saddle

It has been three weeks since we arrived back in Papua New Guinea. Sorry I have been silent, but things have been busy and we have been settling in. The weather here has been much the same as before, warm days and cool nights. Hope the snow and ice has not been too bad for the rest of you.

It is avocado season here and I have been busy getting them down for us as well as for the other missionaries. A long bamboo pole with a loop of surgical tubing duct-taped to one end seems to be the ideal tool. Fresh avocado right off the tree is very nice. I had also forgotten how good the pineapple and bananas were. Tyronza has recently discovered a particularly tasty PNG version of plantain. She makes a plantain crumble that tastes like fresh apples and really goes down well. Needless to say, I have not lost any weight, you get the picture. (With Tyronza’s encouragement, I am trying to walk in the mornings for exercise.)

The clinic is similar to last year. I am kept very busy by my PNG nurse, Judy. She has one child age 6 and tells me she has gotten remarried since our last trip over. Judy speaks very good English and tries to keep me out of trouble the best she can. She and her new husband live off station, about a half mile up the national highway. They live in a bamboo hut with a grass roof. They have no electricity, no indoor plumbing or running water. They cook over an open fire pit. She does have a cellphone, but no TV or radio. Each day she charges her cellphone at the clinic. The patients are also similar to those I have seen before. I am always dismayed at how far advanced infections and cancers seem to get before the patients will seek medical help. PID, pelvic inflammatory disease, is a real staple, and cervical cancer is one of the most common clinical problems. In the past three weeks, I have seen 11 inoperable cases. There is only one linear accelerator in this country and the likelihood of getting timely irradiation care when there are so many to treat is slim. Please pray for my PNG patients.

Surgery is going well. The most common surgery is a caesarian section, followed closely by pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and cancer surgery. So far I have had 21 major surgeries plus a number of minor cases, deliveries and episiotomy repairs. There has been only one disaster so far.  I had a full-blown emergency for fetal distress, but the time-lapse-to-cut is so slow around here that the baby was dead at birth. I did get a heart rate back and eventually some spontaneous respirations, but without a ventilator the baby expired two days later.

Thanks for listening to the Stork Tale. Hope you are all healthy and enjoying the last gasps of winter. You are never far from our thoughts and prayers. Please hold us close in yours.

Dr. P and Tyronza