For two semesters now I have entered a hospital on a weekly basis. This week I have stepped into a hospital but a completely different hospital. It is hot for one thing, there is only one room in the medical ward for eleven people, and the patients have been through so much to get there. The patient that stands out in my mind and probably always will, is an 18 year old boy (who looked about 12) that was laying restlessly in the corner of the medical ward (bed #6 I believe).His mother was at his side and she looked like she was suffering as much as he was. I was told that the boy was experiencing conjestive heart failure and that his mitral valve was no longer able to open. His lungs were filling with fluid and he was slowly suffocating at 18. In addition to having TB I was also told that even an operation at this point would not save his life….
I tried to listen to his heart with my stethescope but all that I was really able to hear was his voice moaning. My eyes filled with tears as I listened knowing that he probably would not see his 19th birthday. There wasn’t anything that I could do but think. I wondered if I would even be alive if I had been born in a providence of Cambodia. Conjestive heart failure at 18. I know that I will never forget his face, or his mother’s face but what I really hope that I never forget is just how lucky I am. I will never know the rest of his story but I know that my story will be different because of this different day at the hospital.

We have returned from the village after a 4 hour trip one-way (about 50 or 60 km.). Back to the reflections…
Progress has been made since we were here last year.
The hospital now has an excellent Cambodian nursing director. Nurse educators have risen from the ranks and teach half time while spending the other half of their time working in their areas of expertise. Susan has conducted teaching rounds for the students and the Cambodian nursing staff.
The orphanage is also much improved through donations from many sources. The orphanage has a relationship with an international school; a Khmer child is paried with a student from the school and together they learn dances–traditional Khmer dances and tradtional American/European dances. They will have a performance right before we leave. The children are healthier; scalp and skin diseases had been mostly treated.
On the HIV home visits, we could see improvements as well. Mothers-to-be are now aware of and are taking the free antiretroviral medications available to them that may help them have a healthy baby.

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Today we are heading to the village where there are 179 families living, 25 or so without rice. We will be taking rice and good will to these families. Yesterday, we spent in the hospital where we saw medical problems such as a young boy with end-stage heart disease likely caused by an untreated sore throat, a man with gouty arthritis, and a woman with stroke as a complication of hyptertension. However, I am so encouraged to see the progress that has been made in the last year….

Not many bloggers took notice of this mission trip but this one did.

Mary and I just got out of surgery. we stood in on the removal of a breast mass and a oral mass. none were believed to be cancerous. it was not my designated day to post, but hearing story after story of the people here wears on me after a while. i need to share.
saoly, an CNA in the OR answered many of our questions. he also shared with us his experience from the khemer rouge. he talked of how he witnessed starvation and cannibalism. he told us of how his father died at his side from starvation. though saoly surrvived, he experienced much pain throughout pol pot’s regime. he showed us his scars from coining. coining is a traditional cambodian pain reliever. many people here in cambodia still do it today. they take burning hot coins and rub them on their bodies to distract them from the pain they are having in another area.
saoly’s story is just another example of how strong willed the cambodian people are. they have persevered through so much misfortune, yet still manage to live and be happy. or as the cambodians would say “sok-sop-bai”, (well and happy)
oh, and a special shout out to Go Gold Battalion at vandy. thanks for staying updated on my super high speed hooah adventures. and thank you Mrs. Shelby for commenting. your patho class has come in handy here. i feel very prepared assessing the different diseases 🙂 i hope you come to my commissioning too!

Kelley and I went to the AIDS hospital today. It was quite an experience since we do not have much experience with AIDS and HIV patients in the US. Many of the patients arrive at the hospital in the later stages of AIDS and in critical condition. They are placed on anti-retrovirals that are now available to any HIV patient that requests them. The drugs frequently allow the patients to recover to a level that allows them to return to the community and to their former lives. We were introduced to most of the patients, and heard their stories from the social worker that knows them well. The stories are of such incredible hardship and yet the patients were friendly and happy to see us. To hear the stories of survival that are so commonplace here are heartbreaking and definitely giving us a new perspective on what we consider “hardship”. Kelley and I gave lectures, with the help of an interpreter, to nurses that do not speak English that well. It’s interesting because they use English in the hospital and learn in English.

so, this whole past week we have been doing the tourist thing. we went to the markets, and went out to eat, discovered the glory of sticky rice and mango, rode in the infamous touk touks, played in the rain, and shopped shopped shopped. however, considering cambodia is quite different than what we all used to, i think all of these activities were vital. It allowed us to get a feel for the culture before entering the hospital and interacting with patients.
wednesday was our first day of “work”. a few of us woke up early for a morning run through the busy streets, the group met for a quick breakfast and then it was time to leave at 7 am for the hospital (which really means 7 30 am in cambodian time) after a tour of all 25 beds it was time for the group to split up. half went to go visit the HIV patients in their homes, and the rest of us remained in the hospital. those of us who stayed went on rounds with the doctors in the medical ward. it was nice because the rounds were done in english. we got to ask a lot of questions and learned a lot from the doctors. one thing i noticed is that what they see here in the medical ward is MUCH different than what we would see in our medical wards back home. diseases here are often left untreated for long periods of time, so that when the patient finally comes to the hospital, the disease is in its extreme stage.
it is great getting to work beside these amazing people. many of them have incredible stories on how they survived pol pots regime and why they are here now working at HOPE. they have all been been so willing to teach us and so thankful that we have come to help. it has been very rewarding and inspiring. and there is still more to come.

We met Monday morning in the lobby at 900am ready to head to the Russian Market. The Russian Market is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. We walked into something that might slightly resemble a smothering flea market and were immediately bombarded by Cambodia shopkeepers trying to sell us anything and everything they could. The overall experience was very interesting and unique to say the least.
After we left the Russian Market, we went swimming. Swimming, even for just an hour, was such a wonderful relief from the heat. It gave us all a chance to talk and spend time together as a team. Once our hour at the pool came to an end, we jumped in a tuktuk that took us the Tuol Sleng. Tuol Sleng was a prison used during the reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. it was used to detain and torture people believed to be against the Angkar (the movement led by Pol Pot). The prison looked frozen in time.
We walked around the 4 buildings of Tuol Sleng and some of us even ventured into the individual cells that were less than 0.8 x 2 meters. Because the Khmer Rouge took pictures of all of their prisoners, some of the rooms were filled entirely with photographs, showing people ranging in ages from approximately 1 to 70. I wish that I could describe the experience better, but Í’m afraid that only upon seeing Tuol Sleng and learning what happened behind those tainted walls, can anyone ever truly understand the emotionally draining experience that visiting Tuol Sleng is.

Sunday began like most of my Sundays–with church. However, being in Cambodia never fails to challenge my perspectives. By worshiping alongside Cambodians speaking another language, reading in their Khmer Bible, your view of the Church (as a whole) drastically changes from being a bunch of white Americans singing songs in English, to a collection of individuals of all nationalities worshiping and praising the same God that sees and knows all in every culture. It’s a great thing to be able to see God work in his Church, no matter where their location may be.

After almost 20 hours of traveling on a plane we have finally arrived! The city looked so large from my plane window and I cannot imagine it being emptied. Driving to our hotel was quite an experience and its not quite like driving in the US-we survived though and I only screamed out loud once! It is amazing the things and the people that they can fit on the moto bikes over here! The city is beautiful though and its people young and old are always smiling. We ate dinner at a local restaurant, took a short walk and last but not least got foot massages! It has been a long day but a great day!