the jungle story

at this point i must take a hiatus from bolivia postings to display the saga of my yard. I had decided that this was to be the "year of the yard"... planted a new garden in the spot where the old swing set used to be (thanks to my dad!), sowed some wild flower seed in the back corner (thanks to Hillary and Jarrett!), and planted sunflowers right behind my house on the sunny south side (again, Hil and Jarrett - thank you, i think...). and then i left for a month. Here is what it has become: out of control!!!
















SO, i subdued the tomatoes in the garden, which was a challenge given their viney selves. and found some very large zucchini.











and then set to work slaying the vines and trees that the "wildflower patch" had become. this ended up being a 3 hour ordeal involving shovel, shears, a lot of sweating and dirt. i discovered pumpkins, volunteer tomatoes (underneath the jungle) and a few, very few flowers. and my cat. Kemba.




















The result of my labors:
3 pumpkins (from one plant, apparently part of the "wildflower mix"), 6 very small but red and ripe Roma tomatoes, one stalk of Zinnias, one yellow-flowered plant, Kemba and a HUGE pile of ... weeds!













i also found a cantalope in the true garden. so i ate it for dinner. with three of the small red ripe roma tomatoes.












Lessons learned:

• don't plant the "wildflower blend"
• put the tomato cages up when the plants first go in the garden
• don't get behind on weeding
• Illinois earth is very fertile?
• i still have a lot to do for the "year of the yard"

visitors are welcome. bring tools.

some of my patients

here are a few pictures of my patients that i wanted to post. i'm back now, re-entering life in Peoria. trying to digest the last month.

Fermin is a pastor who came into HOH with a severe bowel obstruction, likely due to Chagas disease. We watched and prayed and supported him throughout the night (our second or third) until he went to surgery in the morning. I remember Jon Silversides (anesthesiologist from UK) telling his family, through an interpreter, " if he doesn't go to surgery, he will die. if he does go to surgery, he may die. But we trust in God... " Indeed, he went to surgery, and a large part of his colon was removed. and he lived!!! with much gratitude and praise to the LORD, we took photos of him, his wife and family. Praise the LORD.










Here's another patient i saw in one of the clinics. Roberta. She has hypothyroidism and a goiter (see her neck below).














This is a mom and daughter who speak Quechua - so when i saw them in clinic, i had to find an interpreter to translate from Quechua to Spanish for me. I had the honor of praying for the mom (in Spanish, the first time i've done this) because of her anxiety and depression symptoms. We agreed that the LORD understands whatever language we speak... what a blessing.










i continue to hear reports on Raul. He is improving little by little. Please continue to pray for him and for his treatment. The last we knew, he likely has Lupus (an auto-immune disease which affects multiple systems). It is treatable, but not easy even in the US.

I will have the opportunity to share about my trip coming up this fall: at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds (a weekly gathering of all the Internal Medicine faculty, staff, residents and students), at Pediatrics noon conference and Internal Medicine noon conference. Such a blessing!