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The rest of the world has had drug resistant TB for years.  I am sure Papua New Guinea has also had it for years, but we were never able to really prove it . . . until now.  Since I have been here, I have suspected that people had resistant TB if they didn’t improve on their TB medicines, and so I would give them an injectable medicine for 2 months and hoped that would be enough.   Sometimes it was and sometimes it wasn’t.  But without any other option, we did the best we could. That all changed about 5 months ago when we got a new machine called the Gene Xpert machine.  This is a machine that can determine if someone’s TB is resistant to the standard drugs that we use to treat TB.  We have been testing patients we thought might have resistant TB, but hadn’t gotten any positives so far (which was great for our patients).  That changed last week. I saw a kid who had finished his TB treatment in December, but was having more weight loss and coughing.  Just looking at him I was worried he had TB, and his Chest Xray confirmed TB, but then the question was does he have resistant TB.  So we sent him to get the Gene Xpert test and the next day, he comes back to see me with the words MDR-TB written in his book. MultiDrugResistant TB is what MDR-TB stands for.  It is bad.  It means…
Source: It is here . . . from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific

Stab wounds are pretty common.  Lots of people have and carry around knives with them, most commonly a machete.  Many use the knives for gardening and for cutting down weeds in the bush, but there are times when they also use them for weapons. I was called to the ER for a stab wound and was very surprised to find a boy sitting on the table.  The story is this kid and his cousin were fighting over the knife.  The other kid got a hold of the knife and then used it and stabbed this kid.  He spent a day at home, but came in the next day with his mom complaining of pain and some shortness of breath.  On exam he has a small knife wound just to the side of his spine.  The entry wound itself was pretty small, but it did damage as he had quite a bit of blood in his chest when we put in the chest tube. I really enjoy the process of putting in chest tubes, there is just something about putting my finger in between someone’s ribs and getting to feel their lung.  It doesn’t seem like something that anyone should really be doing, especially not in the ER and especially not to a 10 yo kid, but that is what we had to do.  10 yo are too young, ideally they should be more innocent, they should be out playing with their friends, not fighting with knives. Pray that kids can…
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No, none of these are Ronald. These are some Regional leadersRonald has returned from his travels, but he has left behind 2 of our young people who are staying on in Mozambique and finishing-up with the Africa Region Mission Immersion. Mission Immersion is a time for young people who feel perhaps they are called into missions to experience some ministry-related training and experiences first-hand. It is a 2-week experience, so it is not for the faint-hearted. However, they are surrounded by other like-minded young people, and I am sure they are having a great and challenging time.Ronald has returned home tired, as I knew he would be. We had a really low-key weekend and he’s rested and ready for the week ahead. There is so much work to catch-up on. Our own children are getting ready to finish their school year this week. Abigail missed 3 days when she broke her arms, so she is 3 days behind her brother, but both will finish in the next 7 days. Abigail will finish with 4th grade at the age of barely 9 and Malachi will finish 2nd grade at the age of 7. They will start their new school year after Easter because I’m a slave driver like that :). Ha!This week, Ronald has many administrative tasks to complete this week. He’s also playing a bit of catch-up with his master’s classes through NNU. Thankfully his professor is understanding of our situation and gave him grace on a few assignments that…
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