50th Anniversary Party

One of the great blessings of being here at this time in my life is the chance to learn from those who have gone before. Dolly & Vince Mungillo celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary today. They have spent much of their married life as missionaries in Irian Jaya and now here in Kenya. "A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: 'You are not your own'(1 Cor 6:19)." -Oswald Chambers

Hellen Keller said, "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."

As I have come to know the Mungillos & other missionaries through the years, I've learned that a pedestal is not needed. Many have been honest with me about things they struggle with, even in their 70's, but they do know that their life is not their own. And they don't know that because of any super-human strength or qualities that the rest of us don't have, but because the Holy Spirit has taught them. Even in the "retirement years", they are still seeking to be faithful, like Hellen Keller said, in the small tasks given to them.

"It is in Jesus, of course, and in the people whose lives have been deeply touched by Jesus, and in ourselves at those moments when we also are deeply touched by him, that we see another way of being human in this world, which is the way of wholeness." Frederick Buechner

Kid food & misc

While I may be adventurous in some ways, I could not be classified as an adventurous eater! As a child my parents always required I take a "No, thank you" helping if I didn't like something. I still try to eat what is offered (thankfully the Kenyan diet is pretty bland so it's not too difficult to tolerate), but when it's my choice, I choose kid food! So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered a recipe for macaroni and cheese that was actually quite good (almost as good as the blue box:). I invited some of my small friends over to enjoy the meal with me:

Here's some other recent pictures of fun at "Aunt Issa's" house (thanks to my parents for supplying me with lots of bubbles!):

When you live in a hospital compound and most grown-ups you know are doctors, playing doctor is a common pasttime:

Elise wants to be a doctor for "eye boo-boos" when she grows up - hence, the stethoscope on the eye. She probably doesn't need to learn that the stethoscope goes in her ears if that's the case! :)

And a couple pictures of grown-up fun:

Movie nights are great with a projector loaned from a long term missionary family - here we are watching "Indiana Jones" on the wall with a visiting doctor couple who I actually knew in Birmingham (small world!).

One of our favorite activities is racquetball - great exercise, stress relief, & competition!

Tenwek Weekend Part 2

One weekend each month, I am on call for either the pediatric or internal medicine service. This weekend I have been working in peds. Basically that means 48 hours of rounding on patients in the peds ward, nursery, and ICU; helping to assess and treat all pediatric admissions with the intern; attending deliveries when the infant might need resucitation; and taking care of any emergencies that may arise. The benefit of living 5 minutes from the hospital and walking to work is that I get to come home and sleep in my own bed between these duties - at least a few hours each night depending on how crazy things are.

Pediatric stats for this pretty typical weekend: Admissions 13, Discharges 9, ICU patients 5 (would be more but the ICU is full so we have a couple ICU-worthy patients on the peds floor), Deliveries 8 (including triplets), Nursery patients 33, Peds floor patients 35, Deaths 6.

Pictures from this weekend:

Walk to work Saturday morning - hospital chapel ahead

Also on the walk to the hospital - construction for a building to house interns - note the scaffolding! Training interns is a huge part of our work here at Tenwek - the goal being to disciple them and create compassionate and skilled clinicians who will then bring improved healthcare throughout the country. [If you are interested in assisting financially in building the 2nd intern housing building, let me know.]

Rounding in the ICU

View from the maternity ward

Elijah, one of our interns who is still smiling in the emergency room despite being up all night taking care of many sick surgical patients.

Parents of a child with pneumonia and severe malnutrition

Intern Beryl checking the oxygen saturation on an 11 year old boy with severe congestive heart failure from rheumatic heart disease

595 gram newborn whose mother went into premature labor after having surgery for ruptured appendicitis

Infant who was in the ICU for bronchiolitis now much improved and going home

As you can imagine, dealing with the pediatric deaths is the hardest part. All of the deaths except one (a 10 year old with severe head trauma from a car accident) this weekend were small infants with complications from being born too early. There is comfort in knowing we fought hard for them but nothing makes it easier to break the awful news to parents that their child has died. I unfortunately have gained much more experience in these difficult conversations with parents over the past 9 months as children come to the hospital sicker and we have fewer resources to offer them. In dealing with these difficulties of practicing medicine in a developing country, I seek to focus on the victories - the miraculous recoveries - and I rejoice in those. With the inevitable defeats and losses, I still have to believe that, even when we can't see it, God is making all things new and the "God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." 1 Pet 5:10

Tenwek Weekend

Pizza and games with the interns and residents

Fun at "Aunt" Alyssa's house - Abi and Micah

Elise, Hannah, & Anna

Hike to the waterfall with Anna & Abi

Anna, Heather, Abi, Susan, Rebecca, & Susie (the dog)

View of Tenwek from Mount Motigo

At the top of Mount Motigo

Anna & Elise