Thoughts from Honduras

As you are probably aware, we are nearing completion of the construction of the hospital, a project that began almost 10 years ago.  We hope to occupy and use the front half of the hospital as a clinic and outpatient surgery facility in the next couple of months.  We plan 2 more teams the beginning of December to complete any construction needs and to help us move!   In January, we will have 5 permanent missionary doctors; 2 family docs, 1 pediatrician, and two surgeons.  We hope to expand our clinic services to 5 days a week, and surgery to 4-5 days.  It will probably be at least another 2 years before we become a "hospital" with regular in-patients.   The week after Thanksgiving, the Cornerstone board will be traveling to Honduras to meet with all the missionaries.  It will be a time to give thanks and to discuss the transition from the construction mode, to increasing focus on patient care.   We have been busy, not only...

I have a new perspective on patients.     This week I have spent hours at the bedside of my mother in Emory Hospital in Atlanta.     She just had surgery for pancreatic cancer. I know too much!  For a general surgeon, there are few diagnosis that are so difficult to treat and have such a dismal prognosis.  When I first received the news of her diagnosis, found during what was supposed to be an operation for a benign process, my heart sank.  My earliest childhood memory, burned forever into my mind at age three, was the image of red and blue tubes protruding from the abdomen of my mom’s father after his operation for pancreatic cancer.  He died shortly thereafter.   When I first heard about Mom’s symptoms in April, my surgeon’s training said, “rule out pancreatic cancer!”  As her workup continued, the tests were negative for pancreatic cancer, but my suspicion was still there, as it was for the doctors involved in...

When a stone is thrown into a pond, it generates a series of ripples that spread out, causing everything in the pond to undulate.     A big stone causes a large change. A pebble only alters its environment a little.     But everything in the pond is changed to some degree. Recently we hosted a team from our hometown in Ohio.  The ripple effect was obvious.  As my family had been caught up into the ripples of Honduras in 1996, so have many of my friends, and many folks I had never met before.  Each of us has magnified the effect of the original ripples, influencing others with our enthusiasm for God’s work in Honduras.  The effect continues on.  None of us will ever be the same again.  Those within our sphere of influence will likewise be affected as we share our experiences with them.  Possibly they will be caught up in the ripples, to make their own ripples, and to change others in the process....

Life will never be the same!     Last night we went to church in Lis Lis without driving THROUGH the rivers!     We drove OVER them on our two new bridges!   The bridges are not quite completed, but finished enough to be used.  Another contractor needs to fortify the approaches so they don’t wash away during the rainy season.   For the people in Balfate and Lucinda, this means they won’t be stranded this year by the rains.  They will be able to send the milk from their cows to the dairy year-round.  They will be able to ride the bus rather than slop through the mud and wade through the rivers.  They will be able to keep their general stores stocked.  Of course, the people further down the road will still need to deal with the Lucinda and Esteben Rivers.  But once they get to Lucinda, they will be able to catch a bus.   It also means that property value in our area will likely soar as people fr...

I knew as soon as I saw her sitting weakly on the bench, awaiting her appointment, that she was going to be a complex patient.   As she was carried into the exam room by her mother, grandmother and friend, it was evident that she couldn’t sit any longer, and that she needed an IV.  She was pale (hematocrit of 16), with yellow sunken eyes, breathing rapidly.  Her mother told me that her daughter, only 28 years old, had been sick for 4 months, and had been in private hospitals twice, but no one could help her get better.  They thought she had hepatitis, and showed me her lab results.  They only showed that she had hepatitis A in the past, but did not have an active infection currently.   She looked like an end stage cancer patient, dehydrated, not long for this world.  I could not see an obvious cause for the problem on physical exam.  I looked for a vein to start an IV, but had doubts.  I prayed for God’s hel...

Life in Honduras usually follows the pattern of two steps forward, one step back.     But recently, we have been pushed back about three steps! This year started very slow financially for the Cornerstone.  We assume this has something to do with the economic uncertainty in The States.  We had hopes of actually moving the clinic into the front half of the hospital this year, but we will have to wait and see.   Because of this slow down, the construction work force has been diverted somewhat to missionary homes, which may be a good thing!  We have two mission families here in Balfate needing homes, and two others hoping to move here before the end of the year.  The O’Neils have been told that the house they were renting is now for sale, but the asking price is unreasonable.  So they have started work on their new home near the hospital.  The Schofields, our newest mission family, also need a home.  More o...