From Thighland to Thailand

Thailand 4.7: Miracles

February 23, 2012-Thursday

Happy Birthday Cindy Wu!

Our morning began with a health crisis of one of our own. Andy was taking one of his usual morning strolls and felt a deep pain in his side. You know, one of those “getting old aches”. He thought he pulled a muscle. It was an unusual pain, one that he had never experienced before. Most of you know that Andy is a pretty tuff guy. At least he acts like one but Diane says he’s a pussycat. He felt this wave of pain going down his flank (muffin top area for those of you who can relate). It is an unbearable pain for which most need narcotic (opioid) injections, like morphine or Demerol. The closest we had was vicodin but that doesn’t work with Andy. I even tried to contact my Betelnut pal for pure opium, but she says that she doesn’t deal anymore. Good for her! With Kane at his side and after some Zen-like meditating and using the Lamaze breathing technique, “Hee, hee, hee, who” Andy emerged from his room sweat dripping from his brow. The crowd roared, “An-dy! An-dy!” He “only” had the pain for a few hours as the stone eventually passed down the ureter (tube connecting the kidney to the bladder) as large stones that bulge could take a long time, even days, to pass as stones often gets stuck and the muscles of the ureter try to propel it down this narrow diameter tube, wave after wave of peristalsis. Doug Owyang quoted Jay Leno, “Passing a kidney stone is like given birth to broken dishes.” You get the idea. I’m waiting for his stone to pass so I can post a photo of it in the next blog. Andy says it reminded him of the song “Rolling Down the River”.

As Kane commented It was truly God’s blessing that for those of you who have not experienced a kidney stone (I can relate) he passed it into his bladder in a relatively short time. Now Andy could have stayed in bed the rest of the day but he is a trooper and wanted to take his post in triage. It would have been a tight bottleneck without him. I pray that the rest of the trip that he’s doesn’t get stoned again.

We got detoured today and instead of going to a prison due to logistical changes we went to the Huaisan Public Heath Center with is along the way to Luka’s village. He must have connections because he only has to make one call the day before to send “The Word” for patients to quickly gather. The facility was a fairly nice medical clinic, albeit a little cramp but we always make do. The dental clinic worked in one corner in their “open Air” suite and in the other corner we had the pharmacy. In the corridor the eye clinic sat up shop and rumor had it that there was already 100 patients lined up for just their clinic alone. Pastor Jack joined the lens grinder team due to his “Axe grinding” experience. The medical docs were enclosed in the administrative wing with fairly tight quarters.

Daily Stats: 200 patients
1. Medical: 79 patients seen
2. Dental: 71 patients seen
3. Eye: 51patients (or 102 eyes) seeing (see that coming?)

Lisu tribes woman

Case of the Day:

We are medical missionaries. We have a unique opportunity to evangelize and to care for them spiritually as well as physically. Some can do it better than others. I know sometimes I have that I can have that “get ‘em in and get ‘em” out attitude just due to the number of patents that we have to see. “Next!” but Kane has a knack to look for an opportunity to share the gospel. That’s just one of his gifts. I was eavesdropping on his conversation with a patient in the next room (It’s not my fault, I mentioned it was cramped space.) I was trying to get pointers. A patient came in complaining of your typical back pain. “Get ‘em in, get ‘em out.” Then he probed into her past medical history and she already had a total knee replacement and needed another one in the opposite knee. Then she complained about other body ailments and that she felt that her body was breaking down, that she looks fine on the outside but that she can’t fix her body. Kane explained to her that he is a Christian medical missionary and he took the chance and asked her if he could pray for her. She said, “Yes.” Fortunately, Ghan, Luka’s wife was translating and could relate to what Kane was about to say. “Are you a Christian?” he asks. “No, but I went to church once.” “Have you heard the Christian gospel?” “No.” “God didn’t plan for our bodies to break down. He intended for us to have perfect bodies.” Kane then proceeded to explain that because of the downfall of man we are punished for our sins and that our bodies will suffer because of that and when we go to heaven our bodies will be restored. Then the patient added that her husband had been cheating on her for years and had recently left her for the mistress. Kane explained how if the husband knew Jesus that perhaps he would have emulated him because Jesus taught us how to love and respect one another and things may have been different with Jesus in her life. Kane offered her to pray for her and although it would not cure all her ailments it could give her hope to cope with her suffering. Furthermore, in Revelations, it is written that there will be no more pain. No more suffering. No more tears. Wow! How’d he get through the New Testament in 20 minutes? He was hoping to encourage her to go to church again for support and further discovery.

Now as this was going on, in the next room Doug was with a patient and they, too, could hear the whole thing. I wasn’t the only one eavesdropping! You could see them looking at each other’s wide opened eyes in amazement. Doug had just treated the patient’s migraine with an injection and her headache was gone. It was the first time that she ever had relief of her headaches even after going to another clinic time after time. She was, in fact, experiencing her own miracle right at this moment. The patient then turned to Doug and asked him, “Will you pray for me?” Whoa! Heavy duty man. Pastor doesn’t believe in coincidences and that this trip alone could have been to bring just one child to Christ.

We had a nice celebration for Cindy Wu’s birthday today as the innkeeper had a Jell-O-type birthday cake, watermelon, and mango spread just for her. It was very generous and the whole staff at the Golden Triangle Inn has been very hospitable. After our dinner and devotion which covered what you read above (we do contemplate and reflect each evening and cools our jets) we had an enjoyable night at the Colors of the World festival which had a gathering of several dozen ethnic “Indigenous” tribes from around the world. A single Tee Pee was even their representing the American Indians as a whole. Many unique foods were tried but we managed to avoid the roasted cockroaches. We can get them anytime in our bedrooms. Thanks Bill.

Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow-Mark