Outside/Insude

 

 

These two beautiful girls have pretty smiles, but when you look into their mouths you see they have major defects. Both of them have had surgery and have gone home and I am sorry to say I do not have an "after" photo.

We face different problems each day. Two of our surgeons have left, but we are keeping the OR's busy with the ones we have. Mary and Della Marie departed this morning for Sualt Ste. Marie, Ontario. Mary was having a lot of problems with asthma and Della Marie had family members at home that were facing major surgery. We hated to see them go because they were both great workers in the hospital.

We are sending all of the babies who weigh less than 10Kg to another hospital for surgery. They have better facilities for pediatric care and we will not be able to get to everyone as it is. We have agreed to pay a set fee for each surgery.

I have never seen polution as bad as it is here. When I think that they are planning to play some of the Olympic soccer games here, I feel for the players and am concerned about their health.

Here is a quote from a letter from a surgeon who worked with us last year. "I took my bath in May. Part of my decision to do this was made on my association with you last year in Xi'an."
Do you know what he means and why he is writing in code?

Getting Ready To Go Home

 

 

 

 

 
1. Lisa, Caitlin & Rosalyn at the morning conference.
2. Rosalyn received a big promotion - directly to the OR where she cleaned instruments.
3. These are parents of our patients looking at the morning paper.
4. This is what they were looking at. A full page in the largest daily paper in Shenyang telling the story of our mission.

We completed 8 surgeries yesterday. We got a slow start, but things went well. Caitlin is getting pretty tired since she remains in the OR for both shifts. We are hoping that is the last day she does that.

We sent some of the patients home that we treated yesterday. It is so much fun to have the parents come by and thank you and to see the smile on their faces. I'll post a few pictures some of the cleft palate patients who still have the tongue suture in.

One story. One mother whose daughter has a double cleft lip, registered the child yesterday. She just had one question. "If the surgery fails will she be even more ugly?" I'm sure what the mother said in Chinese lost a lot in translation, but the mother was expressing the attitude in the villages towards kids with clefts. These kids are not unloved, but they are scared because of their physical defect. When you fix a face on a child you change not only his/her life but the lives of the entire family. Maybe even the community.

Same Day

 

1.Granpa Buckallew would appreciate my eye for a good mule 2. I have an old friend who is a new friend 3. Doctors visit the village of their patient 4. Lisa & Elizabeth

I failed to identify the photos in the last blog.
1. Translators Maggie & Ann 2. Caitlin & Maggie 3. One of these ladies is Miss China
4. Cousin Mary & Daughter Della Marie

We finally have all of the medical people registered and with temporary licenses. It has been a rough time, but we are operating and have completed about 10 cases. We will not likely be able to do all the patients we have registered, but we will keep working through the week and until we leave the end of next week.

Our hospital is a good place to work and we have a good team. We had a meeting today to try to coordinate our schedules better and I think tomorrow will be a much better day.

We are all well. We have a nice hotel and the weather is much better than in Texas!!!

Thanks for looking at our blogg.

 

Surgical Mission, Shenyang, China

 

 

 

 

We had our opening ceremonies today. Lots of speakers, even more flowers (Caitlin thought it was more like a funeral than an opening ceremony) and a few patients.

Rosalyn and Caitlin are already in love with several of the patients.
LL photo of a little boy who looks great until you look in his mouth (LR photo) and you see a rather large palate defect.

We have run into a lot of problems getting started. First, China customs claimed most of our meds and some equipment. Then, they decided that all the health care workers had to have copies of their licenses notorized. This was a first for us in China. With the assistance of a lot of Chinese workers and some transplanted Americans, we were able to get all the papers documented at the US Consolate. We will see what happens tomorrow.

We are all well, a little frustrated and more than ready to begin work.

Daring young men on the McGraw Trapeez

 

Thanks Hut now this will be Reagan's next goal!

 

Go Reagan!

Hutton still has it....

 

Video Of Reagan...not sure this will work

 

Honor to Whom Honor Is Due

 

Dr. Samuel Cariaga is a general surgeon. His wife Elvie is an accountant. They are two of the finest Christians I have ever worked with. Dr. Sam works full time for BandS and is our representative in the Philippines. Elvie keeps our books and is so thorough in her work that I sometimes get bored reading the details. She refuses any pay and says it is her ministry in the Lord. Dr. Sam conducts many medical clinics in churches that are isolated and very difficult to get to. Recently he drove 7 hours and walked another 5 to get to the village he had promised to help. More than 200 patients were treated including several minor surgeries.

The churches in these small towns are asked to feed the volunteers who make up the team that travels with Sam. They also open their homes for the workers to have a place to stay.

The medical mission for this week had to be cancelled due to the unrest in the area where BandS had planned to go. The communists and government forces were fighting and it was too dangerous to travel. We have rescheduled the campaign for later in the fall.

Dr. Sam, Elvie and their two children are a great asset to the Kingdom and I am honored to have them as partners in the work we do in the Philippines.

Friends and Fellow Workers

 

I could fill many pages of pictures of the people I work with in the Philippines. Each of these photos has a special meaning for me, but I hope they will serve as a reminder of the great family God has all over the world. Some of them are even pretty.

The First Leg of Our Journey

 

Greg Smith, John Bailey, Gary Daniels and Danny Carrigan made a hurried trip to the far east. These photos were taken in NRT after a long flight from DFW. I wanted you to see how fresh and awake we were at this stage of our trip. After 9 days with only 5 nights sleep, having visited 4 countries, 5 islands, spending 50 hours in the air and traveling over 25,000 miles, we didn't look so good. Sen. Phil Graham said we are a nation of whiners, but not these guys. There was never a discouraging word even in the midst of a typhoon, 4 overnight flights and a few hours of suffering an uneasy feeling in the abdominal region. Notice I changed from the first person to the third person. The reason is I stayed in the Philippines 3 more days to attend to some business. I wanted to stay a few days longer, but I could not get my ticket changed. However, when we approached the counter there was a sign saying the flight was over booked and they were offering volunteers a nice package to stay. I jumped on their offer and got to stay in the finest hotel I have ever stayed in. The food was great, but this luxury only lasted for 24 hours. However, the package I received also gave me $200.00 so I had the funds to pay for the other two nights in a lesser hotel, but none the less, adequate.

You might wonder what the rush was, so I will explain. Greg, Gary and Danny are all working for a living. Greg and Gary offered to make this trip to photograph some of the things BandS is doing in Indonesia and the Philippines. They took over 1300 pictures and several hours of video. I have seen some of their work and they captured the story on film. These are the same photographers who documented our trip to China last year. Danny has been interested in BandS for some time so I thought this would be a good trip for him to get a close up look at what we do in some of the places we work. I could not have had better traveling companions.

I'm ready to go to China in 5 more days. I had cataract surgery a couple of days ago, so I will be traveling with my dark glasses on. I hope I will not be singled out for extra security checks. I don't think I will be because I have read that there is no profiling and I certainly believe what I read. I will not be doing any surgery on this trip because I am not certified to do any procedures in Braille.

Texting Is An Art in the Philippines

 

When it comes to texting, America is a backward nation. The real pros are in the Philippines. They can text in the dark, with both hands while driving! They have their own texting language that is a mixture of English abbreviations and common symbols with some Filippino dialects mixed in. There are signs at cross walks in Cebu that read, "NO TEXTING WHILE IN CROSSWALK". Notice in this picture both Sharon and Gigi are texting using two phones each!

It doesn't matter. I love them. - Papa

Historic Day - Rainey Bailey

 

Rainey Bailey lost her first primary tooth this morning. The historic event took place while she was eating her breakfast waffle. Congratulations are in order. Papa

Not Mine

If you read this blog you will know why I chose this picture.
The trip to Indonesia and the Philippines was great. We had to weather a typhoon in Manila, change our travel plans that ate up one nights sleep and got a day behind in our very tight schedule, but we all survived and almost without any problems.

As expected, the younger guys, Danny Carrigan, Greg Smith and Gary Daniels, all suffered from the food they ate, but it was an illness of short duration and minor consequences.

Greg and Gary were the photographers who documented our China trip last year. They did the same job on this trip. We were able to witness 95 eye surgeries on the island of Nias. We went to Cebu and saw the "Give A Kid A Goat" program that is going extremely well and has potential beyond anything we have done to help move people out of poverty.

We went to the island of Mindanao and visited with the Leyte orphans that we have built houses for. These kids who have lost so much, are doing remarkably well. We have received a few more students, so we are expanding both the boys and girls dorms.

To summarize, this whirlwind trip of 12 days covered abut 26,000 miles, 12 flights, 50 hours in the air, included 4 countries and 6 islands. Our hotel cost were minimum because we were flying on four of the nights.

I have some great pictures of eye surgeries, pretty scenery, beautiful people, but I hesitate to post them because I am unsure if anyone visits this blog.