Niger

good news! i've arrived in Niamey, Niger and have seen God's provision moment by moment throughout my travels and first day here. My flights from Chicago to London to Casablanca to Niamey went off on schedule with no problems at all; and my trip through customs was a miracle - no rummaging through my bags at all.
i am at the home of Jeremy and Susan Beebout, missionaries with Reformed Church of America, and cousin of a friend in Omaha (Cheryl Dyer - thanks, cheryl for the connection!!). They have fed me, shared their internet with me, have given of their time and family to make my first 24 hours here a delight. They are from Iowa, Susan is an internist and they were both involved with the Navigators around the years i was, so we've been discovering all sorts of mutual connections and experiences. Again, Praise the LORD.
I will be here in Niamey until Saturday, when i fly to Galmi on a small SIM plane and begin the work at the hospital.
PRAYER needs: for protection and safety - this is one of my main concerns since i've been here, not in terms of physical danger, but more from getting malaria or other diseases (Susan and one of her girls have had malaria despite being on prophylaxis); and then in a spiritual sense - the Muslim world is where i am right now, and i can feel it. pray that i would be filled with Jesus and that He would be fragrant in my life.

leavin' on a jet plane...

so apparently i've used this title before, and it's a joy and privilege to use it again... this time as i am hours away from departing to Galmi, Niger.
i fly from Chicago at 9:50pm September 30th to London to Casablanca (and only have 50 minutes there, unfortunately) to Niamey (capital of Niger). i'll arrive at 02:00am on October 2nd. Please pray for all those flights and connections and airports and handlers of my baggage. i'm thrilled to report that people have given such that i packed 2 LARGE suitcases of gifts to take to Galmi.... including a lot! of medical supplies (medicines, vitamins, IV supplies) which need to make it all the way across the world. Praise the LORD in advance for His faithfulness.
Please stay tuned - i hope to have the chance to update frequently.
and i'll check email as well. write often.

5 reasons why i like ID

this is in honor of brook talsma.
"ID" in medical lingo means"Infectious Disease", which is the sub-specialty i'm working in this month. i like ID because....
1. it sounds cool.
2. we get consulted when the 'general' doctors can't figure out the infection or what to do about it [bear in mind, most of the time i am that general doctor... haha! not this month!]
3. it's like being a detective
4. chances are i'll see some crazy, weird, uncommon infections this month
5. people with infections requiring ID consult are properly sick... and i think as i progress through residency i realize that i find the most joy in medicine when i'm taking care of people who are really sick. this is in stark contrast to the ones who 'think' they are sick, are 'sick' because their hearts and lives are so painful that their bodies become full of pain as well, or who don't/can't take care of themselves and let things go and go and go...

so there you go, brook. thanks for asking :)

to give

I thought it might help to have information posted on how to give toward my trip/work at Galmi, if you feel so led. it's tax-deductible, goes directly into my account to pay for expenses such as travel (around $2500), room/board while at the hospital, visa, etc. Estimated cost is $3000. missionaries i've talked with and heard share about having 'short term-ers' often admit that it can be a burden to the long-term missionaries to 'host' short term volunteers. my prayer is that i would be as little burden as possible, and a sizable blessing to the staff who are serving at Galmi full time. expenses being covered for the in-country needs contributes to that blessing on those missionaries. giving to such projects also allows more than just me to be part of something the LORD is doing among the unreached people of His world.

the 10/40 window... find Niger :)








World Medical Mission
Samaritan's Purse
Attn: Melody Waldrep
PO Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607

(Checks payable to World Medical Mission. write K. Venable Accnt # 003691 in memo line)

OR

call the office of my logistics coordinator (Melody Waldrep) and use a credit card over the phone: 828-278.1175 [updated phone #]

more soon!

A new adventure is coming!

I have great news to share with those of you who are long-suffering enough to check my blog again after so long a silence:

I will be going to Galmi Hospital in Niger, West Africa for the month of October. I will work with several doctors there, through the ministry of SIM (Serving in Mission) and WMM (World Medical Mission). In the days to come, i'll post updates and prayer needs, as well as information about giving.



(i've also had some lovely travels and experiences on my recent vacation, which i'll be posting soon as well. stay tuned...)

13.1

excited to report i finished my 2nd half-marathon, in Chicago, August 10th. it was a glorious day, answers to prayers abounded all over the place, it was a physical, mental and spiritual challenge like i've never experienced all wrapped into one. (me with Laurie Asher, fellow runner, after finishing)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us; let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith... "

AIDS

Since the Global Health Missions Conference, i've had an increased awareness of AIDS.
And a growing desire to respond to this crisis.
Devastating our world. Making orphans of millions.
People dying in mass, daily.
World Vision has some fantastic material and stories in preparation for
World AIDS Day, December 1st.

updates all around

here are some new improvements to the house! Landscaping by Julie (and a little by Kate). Painting by Kate. Floors by Bob Kelch Floors. Amazing transformation...

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!

the end of week 2

so, the end of the second week has come. and the beginning of some time of travel and vacation with it. to wrap up the time line from before, i'll finish out what these days have looked like:\

16 july - 18 july: the grueling schedule of before stayed with last week. we revised our role to be that of consultants and as needed help overnight. we helped with the more critical patients, did pre-op evaluations as requested by the surgeons, while the Bolivian staff did the majority of management (as they had been prior) still. however, as we had input to give overnight, or with post-op complications, we were able to give it more freely.
i think we learned a lot about the differences in management styles, communication, and practice of medicine through these weeks. i'm still thinking on these issues, trying to sort out what lessons to take away for the future.
we have seen tons of GI problems: gall bladders gallore! in young patients (20's and 30's), and their course post-op has not always been easy. in a 52 year old man who had a laparascopic (camera, minimally invasive) surgery converted to open due to the size of the stone obstructing his bile duct, his post-op course has resulted in the surfacing of an auto-immune disease, we think, that may not allow him to leave the hospital. His name is Raul, he is a pastor, and a dear, dear man of God. Please pray for him - for his family, his ministry/congregation, and his life. He is very, very ill and there is little more that can be done medically (even if we were in the US).
Other "fires" we've been called to put out included issues with pain post-op, pain in a man who had a surgery 1 month ago and had a obstruction in his bowels. it's definitely a challenge when you can't get STAT labs and X-Ray in the middle of the night, not to mention wishing you could send them for a CT scan... so we've done our best with clinical exam, supportive management, calling the surgeons to evaluate patients, and praying a lot.

18 july: julie was very sick (vomiting, nausea, exhausted - lasted for about 24 hrs and she's better) and i took the day to go to a village where some of the team went and set up a clinic. it was the village of Falsuri, up in the mountains north of where we are. beautiful, beautiful! they don't have a doctor there, it's very possible to get into the city/town to see a doctor, but either they are afraid, they don't have money, or lack the education/knowledge to know when it is best to see a doctor. largely the patients i saw were pretty healthy - the usual complaints of "pain all over" (usually arthritis type, or tense muscles due to their very difficult manual labor), gastritis pain (due to diet and it's very common to have H.Pylori infections in the stomach here), "my child doesn't want to eat and has belly pain" (parasites) and dizziness (because they don't drink water and only drink a little juice or soda most of the time.)
so we gave a lot of anti-parasitics, some antiacids, tylenol and ibuprofen, and vitamins. i had the opportunity to pray for a woman who described non-cardiac chest pain whenever she was worried or nervous about things, when she was depressed or sad. it was an honor to ask the LORD for help on her behalf and share with her the hope of Jesus - God with us.

upon my return to the hospital after taking several little mini-van buses back down the mountain and into town, i was met with on of the staff here asking me to attend his wife's delivery. she was on the 'operating table'/delivery table and about to deliver her first any time. so i quickly changed and then waited around a while ... and before too long she delivered a little boy! He was a bit too blue for my comfort initially, and my NICU training compelled me to take action a bit quicker than the nurses there, or general doctor seemed to. after some suction and warming and oxygen, he pinked up - but slowly. someone later wondered aloud if because of the altitude (8500 ft), babies look paler/bluer at first. perhaps. He's doing well now and his name is Ricardo. i'll try to get a picture.

19 july: another clinic in the morning. not as remote a village. lots of vitamins. lots of tylenol and ibuprofen. returned in the afternoon and napped until dinner.

20 july: today. said good bye to the large, large group and then there was silence. the 6 of us that remain are re-grouping, doing some planning for local activities (hiking, eating, seeing things) and resting.

all for now...

Vida en Vinto, Bolivia

"Life in Vinto, Bolivia"

hello all, and apologies for the lack of postings!

to start with, i'll give you an idea of what the days have held since we arrived...

6 july: arrived in Cochabamba (the larger city in the highlands of Bolivia) safely and rather miraculously after getting 2 seats on a "full" flight. We were met at the airport by one of the Hospital Administrators named Paul, wearing a llama sweater and holding a sign saying "Hospitals of Hope". He was a welcome sight. He took us the 30 minutes to the HOH complex outside of a smaller town called Vinto to the HOH guesthouse.

We met our housemates, other volunteers who have been here varying amounts of time, mostly college students (Josh, Stephanie, Stephanie, Jean, Katherine and Pepper), rested, settled. The guest house is beautiful, we have our own room and bathroom. There is a common kitchen and the first night we had a great meal of tacos :) and went to bed exhausted, but well.

7 july: more resting and relaxing, and actually, preparing for the BIG group from the US, Canada and one guy from the UK to arrive in various installments later that day and the next. This is a team from MMI (Medical Ministries, International) composed of surgeons, nurses and a ton of 'general helpers' (more college students, teenagers, older folks). Most are staying in the guest house with us, which makes things very full/tight, with others staying at another house off site. We became part of the welcoming crew and 'house managers' since we had been there all of a day before the others. It's been a blessing, though, to have arrived before them, and to be sort of "independent" from the larger group, as we have more freedom to go about without obligation to the group activities/dynamics.

8 july: Sunday, mostly spent preparing for the week to start, with surgeries and patient care dynamics, etc. The hospital is fully functional with bolivian staff, however the surgery team brought a large influx of patients, with much more complicated issues, and so the preparation and management of this has been tricky, and a challenge for the Hospital staff.

9 july - 13 july: the work schedule here at the Hospital has been grueling, actually. we spent each of these nights (aside from the last, Friday) up all night at the hospital. I thought i'd be getting more rest here than at home ... but last week that was not the case. The LORD certainly has had His designs for us to be here at the same time as the surgery team, because the role of pre and post-operative management has fallen to us. Julie just finished her Internal Medicine residency which makes her perhaps the most qualified one here to manage critically ill patients, of which we have had quite a few. I have had the blessing, joy, and pleasure of working with her to manage these patients, talk through things, and learn learn learn.

We have had some frustrations and challenges working with the Bolivian staff physicians, as their approach to management differs quite a bit on some things, and our US practice of medicine has conflicted with theirs on a number of occasions. Toward the end of the week, a lot of these issues were sorted out (slowly!!!) but it is still a challenge to communicate over another culture and language in addition to the culture of medicine being different here. (Julie has likened it to 1950's medicine in the US).

i'll give some patient stories in the next entry.

14 july - 15 july: 2 glorious days off! we slept, ate great food (out! in the city, with a small group of the 'original' volunteers - so lovely! see pix below), and tried to regroup to sort out what the 2nd week should look like. we spent time in the city shopping, exploring, and trying to learn more about the people and culture here. it's beautiful here. and the people are dear and sweet. they are very proud of their heritage, their city, their country and children.

16 july: Week 2 begins. more of the same in terms of management of patients....

so there's a bit of an update. and at this point i'm only as far as reflecting on what has been happening, more than how i'm feeling about it, or more of my thoughts. i am in need of some time to process and reflect and pray and then i'll be able to share more.

one question i've been asked several times: how is the Spanish going?

it's going. always wish i were able to communicate more freely, more smoothly, with better grammar... but overall, it's going very well. i feel like most days i understand more, and am able to use what i hear to improve my own skills. i am one of few "spanish-speakers" among this large group of americans, so i do a lot of translating. amazing, really. a gift from the LORD.

thanks for your prayers. please continue. this has been a hard 10 days.

some images of Peru

Prayer Requests

Here is a "prayer card" for the month ahead:

Prayer Requests

Kate Venable & Julie Fletcher

Hospitals of Hope, Cochabamba

Bolivia -- July 2007

http://www.katevenable.blogspot.com

www.hospitalsofhope.org

• The LORD’s protection
• Willing hearts to serve
• Eyes to see where the LORD is leading, how to serve
• Skill in language
• Unity among believers there, volunteers, Julie and me
• Opportunities to share the gospel
• Continued growth in medical skills
• Encouragement to the Scripture Union missionaries in Iquitos, Peru we will visit (July 2-5)
• That God would be glorified
• Leading and direction for long-term medical missions

we fly out on Sunday, July 1 and return July 27.
I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

off to Bolivia

seeing as it's about time for my monthly post... i thought i would introduce the next adventure i am blessed and so thankful to anticipate.
i will be going to Bolivia, for the month of July, with my dear friend and colleague, Julie, where we will be working in Hospital of Hope near Cochabamba. the website for it is: http://www.hospitalsofhope.org
i/we will be trying to keep up with some posting during the trip. i don't know what internet access will be, as the hospital is in a rural area. i'll post some prayer requests before i leave.
thanks! i'm so excited...

more on noah

so my little wee nephew has his own website, for anyone who would like to see oodles more pictures of the cuteness! :) i'll get to see him in person tomorrow and for the weekend. so exciting!

a visit with dear old friends

here are some pictures from 2 weekends ago when Brook, Renae and Joie blessed me with a weekend visit to Peoria! thanks again, dear friends. it was such a gift to have you here. come again soon.... and anyone else - visitors are always welcome!

introducing...

Noah Elias Venable
birth day March 24 to Stephen and Karli
my first nephew!

restoring order

i think there's reason that order does the soul good. and the body as well. and today - my home. the LORD is a God of order and not of chaos and we're made in His image.
it's hard to appreciate the newly created order without seeing the previous chaos, but here are some pix to prove that the floor exists in my office... and that my nook where i had hoped to spend time reading the Word actually works... and that the nightstand from Dad and Judy (for Christmas) brings much needed order to my bedroom.

Tis the Season...

well it's high time that i post something, or so i've been hearing from various sources. So i thought i'd add to the blog some festive photos (renae, i actually thought of spelling photos "fotos" to go with "festive"...).

i recently had a Christmas party for my department (Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Combined Residency Program) - residents, families, staff, attendings, even some students who are interested in our program. there were about 30-40 people there throughout the evening. i loved it! an answer to prayer for the use of my home.

i wish you all be here with me in my little home. Caron came this week, with Annabelle and Violet. What a treat that was!! Thank you for coming, girls.



i hope the season is a blessed one for all. Immanuel, God with us. Praise the LORD.