Highlights of 2011

Some of you received this via email, but I wanted to record it on my blog as well. 

At the beginning of 2011, I was just past the halfway point of my two years in Kenya. I was so thankful for God’s direction in leading me to join the McCropder team, but we didn’t know yet where we were going (though we hoped it was Burundi) or which mission agency we would partner with (though we hoped it was World Harvest). I had a one month old niece I’d never met and family I hadn’t seen in over a year. Our power supply was very erratic due to lack of rain and malfunctioning of the hydroelectric power plant. I wondered how much I should invest in the new Kenyan intern class knowing I wouldn’t be there to the end of their internship. I unavoidably realized anew my strong desire for others’ approval and acceptance rather than resting in the unconditional love of my Heavenly Father. But thankfully, amazingly, God continues to bring treasure out of jars of clay. Which leads me to:

Highlights of 2011

 

 Caring for the premature quadruplets as three of them miraculously recovered from necrotizing enterocolitis (without TPN) and went home to their happy parents at 4lb each.

 

 Being encouraged and refreshed through medical missions conferences and retreats with like-minded friends around the world (pictures above and below)

Growing through mentorship with the Sonship discipleship course and understanding more and more the beauty of the gospel in my everyday life. 

Visiting Burundi (East Central Africa) in May and experiencing the joy in teaching bright, enthusiastic medical students and caring for underserved patients in one of the least developed, poorest countries in the world. Understanding truly that this is the long term work God has for me and the McCropder team.

Witnessing the pediatric team at Tenwek praise God for healing Bab – the boy pictured who was admitted with severe meningitis (CSF WBC 1500) and uncontrollable seizures but who suffered no long term effects from his illness.

Mfangano Island medical mission trip in Lake Victoria – a trip I very reluctantly and apprehensively agreed to help lead in partnership with two churches from the U.S. But despite my hesitation, God demonstrated His power and love amazingly both to His children on those underserved Kenyan islands and to His children with different but no less significant needs on the team. 

Joining World Harvest Mission, an agency that emphasizes the centrality of the gospel and whose mission is “Laying down our lives to proclaim the Kingdom of Jesus Christ through preaching, healing and equipping” – exactly what our team feels called to do! Picture represents the East Africa WHM missionaries (Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan) at our retreat in August.

I’m so thankful for the joy of getting to know this amazing intern class through our Bible study (which they’ve continued) and through working together in the hospital. I miss them but am glad to get updates through Facebook and email!

Hanging out with friends, playing games, eating homemade pizza, and watching movies with the projector are some of my favorite memories of 2011 and of my time at Tenwek. This picture was from New Year’s Eve 2011.

Christmas with the Pfister pfamily all together again in Nashville. What a joy! 

As you’re making New Year’s resolutions, consider committing to monthly supporting my ministry in Burundi. I still need to raise $2830/month. Email me for more information: alyssapfister@hotmail.com.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support. Happy New Year!

My Tentative Schedule for 2012

January – hospitalist work in Birmingham

Feb, Mar – tropical medicine course in Peru

April – work and travels in Birmingham, Nashville, Boston

May, June – cross cultural and language acquisition training at Mission Training International in Colorado

June 23 – my sister’s wedding 

August – begin 10 months of French language school in Albertville, France

Summer 2013 – move to Burundi!

Christmas

What a joy to celebrate Christmas with all the Pfister pfamily traditions and with the whole family together for the first time in several years!

 

Lauren, Alyssa, Mom with Sam, Dad, Bud with Emma, Leslie

We did miss Lauren's fiance Wei Chi, but we enjoyed some pre-wedding fun with lunch and bridesmaid dress shopping with a few of Lauren's closest friends. Looking forward to the big event June 23! And so thankful I'm in the country for all the fun!

Isn't Emma adorable?! She's so much fun and quite the dare devil - loves being thrown up in the air and climbing the stairs whether anyone's spotting her or not.

Gigi (my mom) found so many fun activities for the grandkids like this cardboard castle. Isn't Christmas so much more fun when little ones are around?!

Christmas Eve enjoying the festivities at Opryland. (From Bill Bryson's book "Notes From a Big Country": "But what really sets Opryland apart is that it is a Total Indoor Environment...It is, in short, a flawless, aseptic, self-contained world, with a perfect unvarying climate and an absence of messy birds, annoying insects, rain, wind, or indeed any kind of reality.") It is a beautiful place, especially at Christmas-time, but I'm thankful I don't live there. The messiness and irregularity and annoyances of everyday life, and my response to them, are what remind me that I need a Savior. And I'm so thankful Jesus came to cleanse the incredible ugliness of my heart and to bring true beauty into this fallen world. 

Samuel blowing out his candle at the Christmas Eve service at West End Community Church. Samuel continues to love church and sits more quietly than I do through the service! 

Traditional Christmas morning breakfast - sausage and egg souffle

Dr. Samuel, gift from Auntie Alyssa! Maybe he'll join me in practice in Burundi someday!

Examining baby sister Emma

Enjoying laughter and conversation with special family friends, the Spillmans

I'm thankful for the peace and joy of the Christmas season, the reminders of the beauty of Christ and the gospel, fellowship with the body of Christ, and the giggles of small children. Merry Christmas!

Work

Last week I began working nights as a hospitalist (nocturnist, some would say - but that sounds like a possum or other night critter to me) here in Alabama. I must admit, the first couple nights I walked around a bit dazed by the wonders of modern technology. Thankfully things haven't changed too much since I finished residency in 2009, but wow, are things different from Kenya! A few examples (and I apologize for the medical lingo for my non-medical blog readers - it's a little hard to avoid in this post):

1) An intubated patient was transferred from the Emergency Department (I can't stop calling it Casualty in my head - the British term we used in Kenya) to the ICU via CT (certainly no CT scans available for inpatients during my years in Kenya). As the nurse gets her settled in the ICU, he reports to me, "I think her ETT may have dislodged a bit during the transfer, but she's still pulling good tidal volumes on the vent, so I don't think it's come out too far." An astute observation that likely would not have been noted in another setting. He orders an x ray. Within 10 minutes, I look up and see that not only has the xray been taken, but it's actually visible digitally right there on the portable x ray machine. The tech waits patiently while the nurse & I unsnap the ETT securing devise (no pulling off tape or unrolling gauze), push the ETT in a bit, and resecure it. Then she shoots another x ray and I verify the placement immediately - again, on the screen. I still listen for equal breath sounds with my stethoscope, but out of habit more than anything else. And then a radiologist actually calls me with an official read of the x ray in another 10 minutes. I'm completely astonished at the efficiency of it all!

2) Another ICU patient has both pulmonary and cardiology consultations complete within 5 hours of admission (which was after 5pm). I missed subspecialty consults greatly in Kenya! Though it does take some adjustment to remember when I should consult a specialist here.

3) I was paged to the bedside of a lady with advanced cancer who was developing respiratory distress. For better or worse, I certainly gained a lot of experience with end of life discussions in Kenya. There was a steep learning curve there, though, as so much of end of life care, expectations, and decisions are culturally derived. In Kenya, these discussions are traditionally had with family members, not with the patient. And no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, so they generally don't tell other family members who aren't present that a loved one has died but only ask them to come. Even the Kenyan nurses describe a dying patient as having "changed condition" as opposed to a more definitive assessment. Speaking to this lady in Alabama about her wishes was so simple - we spoke the same language, she understood the implications of what I was saying, & I knew she understood because we even spoke the same nonverbal language. And I knew the culturally appropriate ways to comfort her. I did feel significantly more pressure to document this discussion in the chart than I ever did in Kenya, though!

Of course I'm also amazed by almost immediate lab results, computerized records, and hand sanitizer everywhere among other things. But, though these conveniences and technology are a refreshing change of pace, the fact remains that another doctor would care for these patients if I wasn't here. My heart goes out to my overworked colleagues at the mission hospitals in Kenya right now. At Tenwek, a series of recent events (one being the loss of the five McCropder docs a couple months ago - a scheduled departure, but nonetheless challenging to find five docs to replace us) has left them significantly understaffed. And December is always a busy month with higher numbers of patients and lower numbers of hospital staff due to annual leave. But to make matters way worse, now the mission hospitals are essentially the only hospitals open in Kenya. The Kenyan doctors went on strike on Monday due to concerns of lack of drugs, equipment, and adequate pay. Click here to read an article about the strike. This means government hospitals are closing and mission hospitals are running over capacity. Click here to read a missionary colleague's blog about her experience at Kijabe mission hospital the last couple days (note interns are included in the strike).

Please pray for this situation in Kenya. And pray for compassion for all of us - for the members of parliament and the doctors in Kenya, for the exhausted and overwhelmed staff at the hospitals there, and for me as I seek to care for patients here in Alabama - patients perhaps not so physically needy, but just as much in need of the compassion and love of Christ as anyone else in the world.