Outreaches

Every week two or three teams leaves from Davao City to a distant village in Mindanao. We see many different patients at clinics, and in most places, train local health care workers. While it is a busy schudule, with lots of traveling time, various floors to sleep on, and hundreds of patients to see, I can't help but feel like something bigger is going on.

Individual's lives are changed at each outreach site: a malnourished child gets vitamins, a baby has his first check up, a man has his sub-mandibular cyst removed, a 10 year old boy has a 10in hydrocele removed from his uppper arm, the list is endless. However, as I look over each of the patients I see, send them to the pharmacy (our tub of medicine), counsel them on how to eradicate scabies from their home, I know that hope is somehow growing. Not only in those we are serving, but also in me.

Right now, I'm sitting at an internet cafe in Davao City. I apologize for not updating more regularly and not getting more pictures to you all; its been very busy. We also haven't had internet at the house for a little while. Irregardless, I really do wish all my friends and family could be here with me. There are so many stories, so many adventures. I'll leave you with this.

At a recent clinic in Lutayan, an older woman walked into the shaded school office-my first patient. At first glance she looked very healthy for 66, and when she sat down her crooked smile calmed my morning nerves-she only had two front teeth. "All I want for Christmas is..." running through my head now. Anyway, Vergenia told me that she had blurred vision for the past four months, numbness in her hands and feet, and a slight cough. The more I gathered through the translation, it sounded like diabetes. I was reaching for a glucometer when the translator told me she said, "The doctor diagnosed me with diabetes last month, but I don't have any money for medicine." Her glucose level was 231! I then learned that no one told her about the proper diet for diabetes, and that she had been eating anything she wanted- which is not good for a diabetic with retinopathy and numb hands. Vergenia graciously listened to me and my translator as I told her how to cut out sweet foods, and how to keep a close eye on any cuts or scrapes on her hands. It was a good start to the day.

The end of the day: a young boy who was very malnourished. His eyes glaring blankly at the wall, his gaunt frame overflowing with asperity- he most likely had primary complex TB. With all of the enlarged lymph nodes, lack of cold symptoms, cool, clamy skin, and malnutrition, it had to be at least a consideration. Both of Jonathan's parents worked at a farm, where they could barely put food in their children's mouths. We talked to the teacher at his school, and explained the situation, gave Jonathan multivitamins, and recommended that he go to the municipal health center for a TB acid fast test. I was heartbroken, because I knew the multivitamins would run out, that his parents have little chance of gettting new work, and that if he had TB, his immune system was already fighting an uphill battle. My hope is that the teacher will follow through and make sure Jonathan eats, gets vitamins, and gets tested/treated for TB. Maybe my readers could pray for Jonathan with me as well.

Again and again I am reminded how temporary and fragile human life is, and yet how strong we are. Why does our race push against the tide of evolution, differing from our animal friends, and provide extra care and attention for those who have disabilities, sicknesses, and weaknesses? It seems that survival of the fittest is health care's worst enemy. Like I said, seeing these people who have no access to health care, who either get better or die, get free paracetomol or a quick consultation makes me realize hope, compassion, and love are not so temporary or fragile. As the good Lord said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." The details of medicines and SOAP notes fade away, and faith, hope, and love remain.



"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..."