Field Missionary

He is 5 years old, has 2 older sisters and a younger brother and he lives in the Jimi Valley.  The information isn’t much, but knowing it attached me even more to the little person laying on the table. His mom brought him in because of left sided abdominal pain, which he has had on and off for a number of years.  This time, it has been there for 2 days and he hasn’t really wanted to eat.  When I looked at him, I saw a cute kid, who looked a little thin and whose belly was protruding a bit.  When I examined him, he didn’t cry nor did he seem afraid, but laid perfectly still while I pushed and poked him.   His belly was soft, not very noisy, and had a mass on the left side, which I thought most likely was a big spleen because he lives in the Jimi Valley.  I got an X-ray and blood test, which didn’t help me much, so then I told them to the ultrasound room to look at the abdominal mass.  Instead of the normal architecture of the spleen, I found a big fluid filled mass instead.  I never identified anything that looked like spleen, but Bill helped me find a very squished kidney under the mass.  So most likely this is a huge splenic cyst of some sort.  Hopefully we will find out in the next few weeks when Jim and/or Ben cuts it out. Please pray for this…
Source: Getting attached from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific

Katherine Radcliffe is one of our new doctors.  She is a family practice doctor and also the mother of 2 adorable little boys.  She is here with us for 2 years through Samaritan’s Purse Post Residency Program along with her husband (more on him later).  Twice Katherine has come as a student and then a new doctor, but now is here long term to care for the lost and hurting in PNG.  She is learning Pidgin and relearning how we practice medicine, but is excited and willing to learn all she can and help out as she can.  Grandma Kathy enjoys the time with the boys while Katherine is working, so it is a win win for everyone. Ben Radcliffe is Katherine’s husband and also the oldest son of Jim and Kathy Radcliffe.  He grew up in PNG and now is back to learn all he can from his dad before Jim retires after 30+ years of missionary service.  In some ways it is like Ben never left, but in others, it is like he just arrived.  He too has been here 2 others times in a medical capacity, but there is still a lot for him to learn about being a missionary surgeon.  Thankfully, his dad is here to help him grow in that area, and others like Scot Pringle can help as well. As we look to the years ahead, we know we are going to be losing 3 doctors who have been a major part of us…
Source: The next generation of Dr. Radcliffe from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific

In a day the doctors see somewhere around 150 patients a day.  Many of those go home with a treatment for a disease that can be cured, others go home with medicines for a chronic condition (like high blood pressure), but some go home after hearing that medically we can do nothing more for them because they have cancer that we can’t treat with surgery or chemotherapy.  Too many go home hearing this.  In one day I saw . . . A 30 yo female, the mother of a 4 yo, walks into my room thinking she is pregnant but also being concerned about some fluid draining she has been having.  I find that she is 3 months pregnant, but that she also has cervical cancer.  There is no easy answer here.  The cancer is nonresectable and any treatment you give to mom will hurt the unborn baby, but realistically not sure either will be alive in 6 months. A 30 yo male comes in complaining of abdominal pain after eating.  I examine him and wasn’t real impressed, thinking he likely had reflux and was planning on giving him some medicines and tell him to avoid spicy food.  Instead, I bring him to the ultrasound room and find a mass in his liver.  We don’t have any treatment options here for liver cancer, we only can over supportive care and prayer.  He was with his pastor, so the prayer part was easy, but telling this young man that he would…
Source: Too much cancer from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific