The holidays have now come and gone, and here we find ourselves looking down the road of another year. But before we get too far down that road, we need to tell you about how the past year ended!
To start off, we had some visitors over the holidays! Chris L (an ophthalmologist and also one of the big supporters of the eye clinic) and Shawn, a friend of his skilled in construction, spent a week and a half with us. We had them over for dinner a few times, we celebrated Christmas and New Years with them, and we even got in a game of tennis. Their visit was a huge blessing. This was not only due to the gifts they brought (mmmm....beef jerky and chocolate), and the trunk-loads of supplies for the eye clinic, but they also brought with them much encouragement for both of us, and much teaching/training time for Wendy and Elisee in the eye clinic.
We've had a number of "firsts" this last couple of weeks! The first of the firsts is....thanks to our new Bongolo airplane, "Air Calvary," (see below) our YAG/SLT laser finally arrived for the eye clinic! This might sound like technical gobbledygook, but it actually is something very good. This is the laser that many of you, our friends and family, helped us to buy! Thank you so much!
The YAG component of the laser will allow restoration of sight to people who have had cataract surgery but who later developed scar tissue that had again blurred the vision. It restores clear sight and ensures that the benefit from the cataract surgery is not lost! And the SLT component of the laser is a treatment that is given to a patient to lower their eye pressure and help slow the progression of vision loss from glaucoma (a disease that is rampant here).
Here is our first patient to receive a YAG: his name is Samuel. Samuel gladly gave us permission to share his picture with you all. When I did his cataract surgery last month, he was the first patient I've had who insisted on praying for his own operation (usually one of the nurses or surgeons prays) - and he did this while lying on the operating table with his head covered with a sterile drape and his eye propped open. He must have prayed for a solid 3-4 minutes (in a local African dialect I didn't understand). He went from blind in that eye to seeing 20/20 within a week. Great result!But why the YAG? ...the other eye had had cataract surgery elsewhere and had already developed scar tissue that gave him blurry vision. I have to tell you that Samuel is a "retired" evangelist. He wasn't happy with seeing with just one eye because, he said probably 10 times, "I have to read my Bible to share the gospel." So here we are (above) with the YAG, restoring the vision in his other eye too. He was delighted! Merry Christmas :) .
Other "firsts" for the eye clinic lately: we did our first two phacoemulsification surgeries, thanks to Dr. Chris' help! This also gave us vitrectomy capability! And we implanted several Express shunts! And we got a new slit lamp! I'm afraid I'll just say that much technical jargon for my ophthalmology friends - but for the rest of you, just know that these things are good for our patients. This is likely the only YAG/SLT in all of Gabon. Both of the patients who had the phaco surgeries are seeing 20/20 or better.
Back to daily life....Also during this time, we had another arrival - our friend Eric was back from school on Christmas break. We had the pleasure of also having him over a couple times for dinner, going to his house to enjoy an authentic African meal for New Years, watching a soccer match together, and marveling at his skill in opening coconuts! In the time it normally takes me to open one coconut, our friend Eric opened 7!! Sadly, he is once again back at school, but we sent him home with a care package full of goodies including peanut butter, bug spray, and an assortment of spices to add to his normal daily meal of rice.
In addition to having visitors, we also had a whole list of events that have occurred in the past couple weeks:
Dec 23rd: About 15 members of our little church were invited to sing in front of the big church here at the hospital - we sang Silent Night (in French), ironically while the not-so-silent storms raged outside.
Dec 24th: After work, all of the missionaries (18 of us, including kids) celebrated the birthday of one of the missionaries by going out to eat at the new restaurant in town. We ended up eating in shifts (because we kind of overwhelmed the restaurant with our numbers), but fun was had by all. Afterwards, we all went over to a couple's house for cookies (12 different kinds!!), Christmas carols, and a couple special visitors (Santa and Mrs. Claus!!!)
Dec 25th: In the morning, Wendy and I enjoyed a quiet time of listening to Christmas music and opening presents (see a picture of all of our loot!). Then we went to church, and afterwards, we had a big pot luck with the other missionaries, followed by Christm
as caroling in the rain! That was a first for me, but Wendy said she had caroled in the rain many a time in Seattle. Oh, and one of Wendy's favorites - we made Christmas bread!! Mom, do you think we let the dough rise enough???? :)
Middle of the next week: The plane, the plane!! It has arrived. Bongolo Hospital now has a plane that is available for transporting people to/from Libreville. A trip that used to take 8-10 hours over rough/bumpy roads can now be made in less than 2 hours! What a blessing! The pilot is expecting to make the trip about once a week, with additional trips as the need arises. It's thanks to this smooth service by Air Calvary that we were able to receive our YAG/SLT laser. Otherwise the bumpy roads may have been disastrous to the optics in this expensive laser.
New Years Eve: In honor of being in Africa, the home of many elephants, we attended the 3rd annual White Elephant gift exchange. We were told that the gift should be roughly $5 in value, and we were told - NO JUNK. But who defines junk anyway? One man's junk is another man's treasure. What types of g
ifts does one find at a white elephant party in the jungle? The most popular items were beef jerky, home-made cookies, and ranch dressing. Wendy ended up with a horse poster and some coffee (which we have since traded for peanut butter) and I got chocolate sauce, BBQ sauce, and Heinz catsup - bring on the fries!!And last, but not least, Wendy, with the aid of a couple missionaries, neutered one of the mission cats (a final "first" for the last two weeks!). All went well, and the cat is now up and about. (To protect patient privacy, we have refrained from including any photos here.) This surgery was a warm-up for when she neuters our cat Johnny in another month. I tell ya - Wendy is one talented gal!!
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