AS YOU CAN TELL.....

I don't get off the ship very often because I am in one of those positions where my work is performed onboard....PACU. A lot of my photos are redundant so I don't post many of the surgeries because they are the same...cleft palates and lips, hernias, etc. But what I can do is tell you about the people. Each patient must have an escort to get on the ship and I just assumed it would be the Moms but I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of fathers involved in the care of their family, especially the children. I have never put much though into the people of south east asia but I have come to have a lot of respect for them. They have a tough time trying to make a living and when I think about our American teenagers I wonder how they would survive some of the stuff these kids go through. The mode of transportation in Indonesia is motor scooter and there are many accidents. The other day we had a 16 year old boy who, 10 months ago was hit by a bus and broke his right leg. He suffered a compound fracture with an open wound and has been in a hospital all this time with a non-healing wound. The the treatment of choice was to put some type of powder in the wound, probably sulphur. He weighed 41 kg. which is less than 100 pounds. We operated on him and placed an external fixator and cleaned out the wound. His right leg is now 4 inches shorter than the left and he will always walk with a limp. When he woke up from anesthesia he was all smiles....never complaining about anything and we had to make him take pain medicine. He was just so grateful to have had the surgery and he got out of bed the same day for the first time in almost a year. Through our education we are performing miracles for these wonderful, resilient people....people that Heavenly Father loves just as much as he loves us. My family and I are so blessed I love and miss you all. May God be with you.