2120 W. Laura Street ... come by!

we went (renae and i, to Peoria)
we saw.
i bought.

it's gorgeous inside, original woodwork on floors and moldings, built in 1935, kitchen accented with white and black tile, bright natural lighting everywhere, a lovely yard with a swingset, 3 bedrooms upstairs and a bonus room in the attic. i'm excited to receive this beautiful gift from the LORD!
we walked in 1:23pm and by 1:28 i knew it was perfect. we left the house at 1:43 and by 2pm we were at the realtor's office drawing up the offer. i submitted the offer by 2:30 and the selling agent picked it up at 2:45. at 6:45 i received a call saying that my offer was accepted with no changes and we'll close on June 2nd.

and there's a lilac bush in front. renae prayed for that.

The Vine Trust

so as i've been perusing the web looking for pictures of the Amazon Hope ships, i found a great site for the organization, The Vine Trust. check it out. lots of pictures and more background on what i joined. this is in conjunction with Scripture Union of Peru, the local organization. The Vine Trust in based in the UK. just so good to get my mind off of my own little life and see more of the world.... enjoy, and let me know when you want to join me there...

Some stories from Amazon Hope

the first week:
i was a translator for Dr. Wendy Slater, a 37 year old, spunky physician from Scotland. we had a great time together and i enjoyed being able to facilitate her relationships with the patients and staff as well. it was a strange dynamic being the one to know both Spanish and English (though at times i didn't think i knew English when speaking with the Scottish group.) there were 6 members of the team from the UK - 2 doctors, one dentist, one pharmacist, one nurse and a dental nurse.
In addition to the UK team and me, the Peruvians included 6 crew members and Captain, Luis the chef, John G - lab tech/pastor/general asst., Nimia - nurse/pharmacy/everything else, Dr. Ronald Ramirez, MariLou - midwife, Yodimi - health dept. nurse, John V. - registration/lab/etc. and Fransisco the dentist.

One of the patients that was most difficult to see was a woman in her 30's with a husband and 6 children who was brought to the boat on a stretcher. we were told that she had a vaginal infection - for 2 years. beyond that, we eventually learned that it was actually cancer and that she had an infection on top of that. she was in excruciating pain and had been losing weight - many concerning symptoms indicating that she did not have long to live. John G. (pastor), Dr. Wendy and I met with her and her husband to see how they were doing, knowing that there was no medical treatment we could offer. She told us that she knew Jesus Christ and that she and her family trust Him. We prayed for her, for their family and John spent a while encouraging the husband to love his wife to the very end, to be with her. we gave her Ibuprofen and several antibiotics to treat the infection component. it was humbling and emotionally painful for us to see her leave on the stretcher after her husband carried her up the stairs from the hull of the ship. John reminded Wendy and me that though we could do little to ease her physical condition, we as doctors have something even more important to offer - the hope of eternal life in Christ.

Another group of patients i saw were the elderly, lovely men and women who had cataracts or pterygium (a condition where the tissue on the surface of the eye becomes ridge-like and grows across the eye eventually obscuring vision). these beautiful "ancienos" (in spanish - ancient ones :) ) still work in the fields, eeking out an existence for themselves and their families but can barely see. the most frustrating part of these visits was telling them that though there is surgery to treat both conditions, we were not equipped to do it. however, each time i said this, i asked them to pray with us that Amazon Hope II (see picture, and click on link to see it's progress) would be coming soon and with it, the facilities and staff to do cataract surgery and other general surgeries.










One of the most interesting patients i saw was a woman in her 50's whose concern was a rash on both of her legs. first of all, this was not the first patient i treated for a rash. nearly every patient had some sort of skin complaint. however, this patient was different in that her rash looked much more uniform, less due-to-bad-water, and she had had it for 5 months. Dr. Ronald, my dermatology (and everything else) consultant, had also never seen anything like it. i could see him start to think harder than he usually had to when answering my questions about skin problems. i suggested a possible etiology, which he accepted as within the realm of possibility (for any of you medical people - my thought was a purpuric rash due to thrombocytopenia). we ruled it out with a quick blood test - literally, a prick to see if she bled and bled. she didn't. his next question to the patient was "have you had any change in sensation in your legs?" much to my surprise, she said yes. he tested her sensation by having her lay down on the exam table and asked her to say when she felt his touch on her leg. he scraped one of the lesions with his pen cap (note the sophisitcated medical instruments we used...) and she said nothing. harder. nothing. after a few attempts in different parts of her leg, and her silence continuing, he turned to me and said, "i think it's lepra." or, leprosy. something i had only heard about in the Bible and maybe once in my microbiology class during 2nd year of medical school. we advised her to go to the government hospital in Iquitos where she could be tested for FREE and if found to have leprosy, treated for FREE as well. this is a patient i will never forget. nor will i forget Dr. Ronald's amazing skills in clinical diagnosis.