A dose of Reality

Here it is, a little over 3 weeks since we arrived back in Oklahoma from Uganda, and I am getting a healthy dose of reality.  Let me explain.  Since we sold our home in Duncan and moved to Uganda in February, we have had our heads down serving others, but wondering what our new reality would be when we got home.  Our plan was and continues to be that we will live in our farm house that is on our ranch.  Over the past weeks, we have been based in our farm house, but we have still had our heads down with Jill’s father.  First, we had a week to spend time with Herb, doing things that he liked and going to his favorite restaurants.   Then, we spent 10 days in OKC, helping as he had his surgery and recovery.  He has recovered faster and better than we expected, and now, we have come face to face with our new reality.  WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF, for the available space and it is 100 degrees, all the time, in Oklahoma!

This week, I will be digging back into my work at the clinic, and we will start trying to unpack and sort through some of the boxes that we have stacked in the house and barns.  It is just now that I am wrestling with feeling depressed that our work on the ground in Uganda is on “hold” for now.  The work that we started in Uganda through Due Unto Others and Renewal Health Network continues.  Even this week, our friends, the Gash family, will be helping in a 4 day clinic in Gaba. 

At the end of these 4 days, 100% of the sponsorship locations in the Africa Renewal Ministries program will have been visited by our team.  Joseph and Faith, with other hired and volunteer help, will be performing various outreach and community clinics over the next several months.  Even though all of this medical mission work will continue, and we will be helping to fund raise and bring awareness to the need from the USA, we still will miss being in Uganda, with our hands on the need.  Jill and I are looking forward to going to churches to share about what God is doing in Uganda.  It also looks like we will also be able to share at the World Medical Missions conference in Kentucky in November.  We would trade these engagements for a long day at Mulago, taking one of our starfish to see a medical specialist and trying to avoid the bathrooms.

I think the trick for me will be to spend the next period of time working to deepen my walk, my prayer life and my study time.   Then as I get back into my work routine, I will need to continue to look for “That One Person” that needs to feel God’s love.  I will be continuing to keep up with our special friends in Uganda.  As you know, 4 of the Cardiac Kids will be undergoing operations between now and the end of the year.  We are still raising funds for these procedures to allow them to move forward.  The reality is that we feel that we are where God wants us, for now.  It can seem less fulfilling than loving on kids in Uganda, but God’s will is not for us to understand, it is for us to try to discover, then follow.

The Reality is that we are blessed and we would be wise to Realize it.

Jay

Dependence Day

Do you know what day it is in Uganda?  That’s right, it is July 4^th.  It is not Independence Day there, but it is July 4^th.  After spending almost 5 months in Uganda earlier this year, I have a fresh perspective of how blessed we are to be Americans!  We have more wealth, more comfort, more food, more freedom, more luxury and more health care than anyone in the world.  We have less hunger, less needless death, less loss of utilities, less poverty, less childhood mortality and most of all LESS DEPENDENCE ON GOD than anyone in the world.  All of our comforts and access to the best, makes it where we are able to not be dependent on God.  We are far too self-reliant.  We are independent this day!

While in Uganda, it was interesting to see the Ugandan’s view of Americans.  Many of them think that everyone in the USA is rich.  To be honest, if you compared Americans to most of the people in Uganda, that statement is true.  We also heard some interesting comments like, “All Americans are so kind and caring”, or “Americans are so giving”.  As much as I wish those statements were true across the board, I know that they are not.  I explained to our Ugandan friends, there are many good people in the US, but there are also those that choose to do wrong and actually those that are evil.  Most in Uganda see all Americans as the same, or with similar Christian beliefs.  I know that this is how our country was founded, and I sorely wish that this were still true.

When I look at the US, I see a country divided, oblivious to how blessed we are and how we are on the edge of losing these blessings.  We can argue over healthcare, gay marriage, fast and furious, deficit spending or taxes, but if we could just get back to agreeing on being one nation, under God, I think most of our differences would fade away.  While we were gone, I was “tuned out” of all of these debates for the entire time.  When I returned, the same exact debates and arguments were still raging out of control.  There had been no resolution or common ground found.

For all of my Oklahoma friends, I want you to remember how good it felt to be “One state under the Thunder”.  We had something in common.  We were pulling the rope in the same direction, cheering for our neighbor, and gathering momentum.  Just think about how much momentum we could gather if we all rallied behind a Living God!  What will it take to get America back “Under God”?  What will it take for us to have Dependence Day?   What would it take to get us to be the people that the Ugandans see us as?  The great American philosopher, Brad Allen, said that he thinks there will be another revival in the US, but he is concerned about 2 things:  1.) It may happen outside of our current churches & 2.) It may have to get a lot worse in the US before we turn to Christ.  I too am worried that this may be true.  We are so self-reliant, that I am afraid of what God may have to do or take away to get our collective attention.

I pray that on this Independence Day, we will be more dependent on Him.  I pray also that we will return to Dependence before the blessings of America are gone.  Could we schedule a Dependence Day?  I'll bring the fireworks!

Jay

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! 

You did not realize that it was a new year did you?  It is in the medical world.  On July 1^st, the world of medical education graduates to a new year.  I have been aware of this new year many times over the past 20 years.  Over the past 12 years, though, July 1^st has mainly been my anniversary.  As many of you know, we are on day 7 of Jill’s father Herb’s hospitalization for his laryngectomy.  So we have spent the last week at the OU medical center.  With the 1^st falling on a Sunday, today is really the new year of medicine at the OU medical center.  We are seeing confused young men and women looking to make sense of the maze of charts and cranky nurses.  At the same time, they are trying to study about different illnesses so they can answer the “pimp” questions that will surely be coming from their residents and attendings.  I once read an article titled, “Don’t get sick in July”.  In this article, the author states that July is the worst time to get sick because in July, college students become medical students, medical students become interns, interns become residents and residents become attendings.  Everyone in a new position and learning new things.

 I am standing in “Presby Tower” (formerly Presbyterian hospital) remembering 16 years ago.  I started my internship in Presby Hospital on July 1^st of 1996.  I was on an Internal Medicine rotation and I was supposed to be on call every 4 nights.  But, since I was the “off service” intern (Emergency Medicine intern working with the Internal Medicine team), I got the pleasure of taking call on the very first night, then getting to come back, just 3 nights later, on the 4^th.  That day I was scared to death that the “code pager” was going to go off.  I was on my first day as a doctor, and I was responsible for all code blues in a big OKC hospital.  That night, I could not sleep, worried the pager would sound.  With time and experience, my anxiety about those situations lessened.  God was able to heal people despite my inexperience.

The following July, I became a licensed doctor, and started moonlighting some.  In July of 1998, I became an upper level resident and started to moonlight in Duncan and make schedules for our residency.  By July 1^st of 2000, I was finished with my residency and our family moved to Duncan.  Come to think of it, more life changes have happened, for me, on the Medical New Year than on January 1^st.  It was July 1^st that I became a husband, a medical student, an intern, a resident, a “real” doctor, and it was July 1^st of last year that our family woke up in Uganda, for the first time. God was able to bring Jill and I through all of these changes and bless our family each time.

I read an article this week that says US hospitals and Doctors spend 31 Billion each year on malpractice insurance.  Out of this staggering number, “only” 6 billion end up in the pockets of patients that have a malpractice claim.  The other 25 billion ends up in the pockets of malpractice attorneys and insurance companies.  In addition to this large number, another 650 Billion is spent on tests and studies to try to protect against malpractice suits.  My medical generation, the one before it, and every one since has been trained in an environment of malpractice avoidance.  In my humble opinion, I think that this is the biggest issue facing healthcare in the US.  We still have the greatest medical care in the world, it is just too expensive.  This additional 681 billion spent to avoid exposure to malpractice claims, adds greatly to the expense.

Herb is doing well.  He is recovering and is getting to sip on some water today to see how his swallowing is working. 

He is walking the halls and getting his strength back.  He met a man named Greg yesterday. 

Greg had a laryngectomy in January and he was able to encourage us and give us some pointers.  I think that this encounter was a very productive one.  Herb was introduced to a support group of men and women who live active lives after a laryngectomy.  God is able to bring Herb through this with a positive witness to help others.

Many of you may have seen this already, but our most current mission video, GOD IS ABLE, is up on youtube and we would be delighted if you would take a look at it.

Happy New Year!

Jay

To the Heart of the Matter

This blog will be part two of the information regarding the Cardiac Kids.  I profiled Kenneth andLydia on my blog a few days ago.  Before I move on to introduce you to the other two heart patients, I would like to update you on Lydia.  I just got word from Dr. Martin this morning, and he says that Lydia has stabilized on some new medication.  She has been scheduled for surgery on August 2^nd, as long as she remains stable.  Please pray that, over the next 32 days, she will remain stable and be able to have the procedure done.  Compared to the other Cardiac Kids, this procedure is more simple, but her disease has progressed to more problems.

The third “That One Person” with heart problems is Mercy. 

She is 2 years old and, like Lydia and Kenneth, is from Rushere.  We noticed her in the Rushere clinic that we did 6 weeks ago.  She was very afraid of Mzungus, so it was hard to examine her.  In fact, despite her big heart problem, I could not determine a murmur over the screaming.  We did notice the “clubbing” of her fingers.  This is a problem where the finger tips get thicker in response to chronic low levels of oxygen.  We see it commonly in people with chronic COPD.  She went on the bus to Mbarara with Dr. Abdul and then to Mulago.  She has been found to have Tetralogy of Fallot.  This is a problem where parts of the heart and big vessels entering or exiting the heart are on the wrong side.  This is a surgery that cannot be done in Uganda, except for the fact that a visiting surgeon from the West (UK I think), comes to do surgery.  She has been put on medicine, and awaits the visiting surgeon for her operation in December.  This will be the most complicated and expensive surgery of the 4.  We don’t have an exact amount for that surgery yet, because they are still pricing and getting some of the supplies that they will need for the surgery.  I am estimating that this operation, and care surrounding it, will cost around $10,000 USD.  What a blessing that she will be able to have this done without traveling to another country.  If she had needed to come to the US, her costs and family disruption would have been much greater.

Our fourth Cardiac Kid is Joseph. 

Joseph is a 12 year old boy from Soroti.  We found Joseph on our last trip that we made while in Uganda.  We saw him on a Saturday, and were standing in Oklahoma the following Friday.  He is easy going young man with a big smile.  The interpreter, that I was working with in Soroti, pointed out Joseph to me because he had noticed that Joseph was not growing and seemed to have muscle wasting.  He wanted me to check him over to make sure that he did not have a big illness going on.  Joseph’s heart murmur gave away at least one of his problems.  He was seen at Mulago, and found to have a large PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosis) that is causing some dilated left heart chambers and some pulmonary hypertension.  The PDA allows blood to flow in the wrong direction in his heart. Joseph has been put on medication and scheduled for surgery on August 20^th.  The estimated cost for the operation, hospitalization, medications, and family travel will be $1,500 USD.  He has some dilation of his heart, but this should improve if the problem is corrected.

Please join me in praying for Joseph and Mercy.  They have life saving and life changing surgeries coming up.  We are praying that the healing that they receive will be a display of God’s love to their families and their villages.  We pray that people will be drawn to Jesus from their care.  If you feel called to help with these two awesome kids, please email me at dueunto@gmail.com.  I’d be happy to give you more information about these kids and their families. 

Here is a quick update on my buddy Jamil.  I got an email from Pastor Fred this week that said that Jamil has moved into the boarding school and is progressing well in his classes.  The Due Unto Others supporters have sponsored Jamil through the end of 2012 by paying for his school, room and board and by getting his uniforms, bedding, towels, shoes etc. 

You can see from this picture that Jamil is happy about this new lease on life that he has received after having the large tumor removed from behind his eye.  Thank you to all who have been praying for Jamil and for those who have helped sponsor his surgery and school. 

Jay

You Captured My Heart!

I have been remiss in not telling you about some special friends of mine in Uganda.  I like to call them the “Cardiac Kids”!  The amazing part about these kids is that we identified them all in the last few weeks that we were in Uganda.  Most of their care was coordinated before we left, but a majority of their work up has been accomplished since we have been gone.  Our work in Uganda is not finished!  We are working through our local friends to continue medical clinics and TOP care for our special friends.  Our team was actually in Rakai, on a road trip, for medical clinics this past week.  They will be in Gaba for more clinics next week.  Please keep them in your prayers.  

Now let me tell you about the first two “Cardiac Kids”.

The first of these “That One Persons” is Kenneth.

 He is a 9 year old boy from Rushere.  We saw him in our community clinic that we did there about 5-6 weeks ago.  He had a very loud murmur and was quite small for his age.  He and his mother complained that he could not run and play, like his friends, because he would get too tired.  The team from Riverpoint in Houston arranged for him to go to Mbarara, to get an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) and see the cardiologist.  He subsequently was seen at Mulago by the pediatric cardiologist.  He has a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), or a hole in between the two ventricles.  This allows blood to flow through his heart in an abnormal manner, allowing oxygenated blood to mix with unoxygenated blood.  This requires an increased workload on the heart.  In addition to the VSD, he has a PDA (patent ductus arteriosis).  This is a hole between the left and right atrium.  This too allows blood to mix, when it should not.  He was told in Mbarara that the repair of these two problems, in combination, could not be done in Uganda.  At Mulago, he was told that it can be done and he is scheduled for surgery on August the 20^th.  The heart problems have not cause long term damage to his heart at this point.  He is a good candidate for a full recovery and to catch up with his peers.  The cost of his hospitalization, surgery, travel and family care at the hospital will be right around $6,000 USD.  That is a lot of money, but almost seems ridiculously cheap for open heart surgery that could save a 9 year old boy’s life!  Please pray for Kenneth.  If you feel God leading you to help with his care, please let me know.

The second of the cardiac kids is Lydia. 

Lydia is an 8 year old girl that also comes from Rushere.  She was presented to us by Dr. Abdul in Rushere.  He knew that we had sent Kenneth to Mbarara to see the cardiologist.  In fact, Dr. Abdul had taken time out of his schedule to ride the bus with Kenneth and his family to Mbarara to make sure that everything was taken care of and understood.  Lydia came into the hospital in Rushere because she was short of breath.  She was having some congestive heart failure and had a loud murmur.  Dr. Abdul asked if we could “sponsor” Lydia to send her to see the cardiologist also.  We agreed and she made the trip to Mbarara with Dr. Abdul also.  She was found to have a PDA and some pulmonary hypertension.  She had to go to Mulago by ambulance and be admitted to the hospital to see the pediatric cardiologist.  She needs and emergency surgery to fix the PDA.  This does not have a scheduled date, but we are praying that she will stabilize where she can have this surgery soon.  She must be more stable to survive the surgery.  She has some dilation of her heart, but this would hopefully normalize after correcting the PDA.  Her surgery, hospitalization, medications and family care will cost about $1,500 USD.  Please pray for Lydia to stabilize where she can have the surgery.  If you feel called to help with her expenses, please let me know.

Can you imagine how these kids and their families will feel God’s love if we are able to provide resources to save their lives?  These numbers of dollars seem cheap for heart surgery, to us.  But to these families, that amount of money is not even imaginable.  Simply stated, these kids will die barring a miracle or a successful operation.  I feel blessed to have met them and to have a chance to work on God’s team to make a difference for them.   I will profile the next two cardiac kids in the next couple of days.  You can contact me at dueunto@gmail.com.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support of the Due Unto Others team in Uganda.

Jay

Post surgical Celebration!

We are celebrating the fact that Jill's dad, Herb is doing well this morning.  He is still in the ICU but recovering well. 

He is awake and "communicating" non-verbally.

He seems to be in good spirits and looks good medically.  To celebrate the medical successes so far, we are releasing our next video that is titled "God is Able".  We recorded the video and audio for this in the last couple of days before we left.  Thanks to our friend David for the good video work.


Thank you for your continued prayers for Herb and Jill's family.  Please continue to pray for the team that we have been working with in Uganda.  They are in Rakai doing a medical clinic this week (without us :(    ).  The medical work and the starfish care continues even though we are in Oklahoma!

Jay

Reasons to return

We have been back home in Oklahoma for a little over a week now.  It has been difficult, at times, as we struggle with unpacking and finding where to put things, while our team continues to do medical work in Uganda.  Jay will talk more about this in a blog this week.  Our mission in Uganda is not over.  Our team has 2 more road trips that it is making without us.  Then they will be running clinics in Gaba in early July.  Faith, Joseph, David, and Dr. Martin are helping us by watching after some of our starfish, to make sure that their care is completed. 

When we left Uganda early, we felt comfortable that we should return home to be a support for my parents as my father is scheduled to have an operation, in the morning,  at 7am in OKC.  As Jay has mentioned before, we had gotten accustomed to looking for “That One Person”, each day, while we were in Uganda.  We knew  that being home for my dad was our “that one person” for a few weeks.  We had let our guard down and were not looking for other “one persons” to show God’s love to on a consistent basis.  That being said, I think that God had us to come home early for more than my dad’s illness.

While we were in Uganda, my mom’s sister, Joyce, suffered a severe stroke.  This left her with trouble walking, left sided weakness and trouble with her speech.  Shortly after this happened, her son, who was 6 years older than me, died earlier than expected, from renal cancer.   Joyce had been living in a nursing home and was not making a lot of progress with her physical therapy.   This week, Joyce was admitted to the geriatric psych unit at Duncan Regional to try to regulate her medications some.  On Wednesday, my mom let me know that we could only visit her from 5:30 to 6:30pm, while in this unit.  When we arrived, I had no idea of the rules and regulations of this part of the hospital.  I was informed that all visitors must be 18 years of age, and I not only had our three kids under that age with us, but one of Jayne’s friends as well.  They were gracious and rolled her right outside the unit into a conference room where we could have a family visit.  I was shocked at her physical state.  She just weighed a little over 70 pounds.   We took a few pictures and she was interested to see them. 

 The next morning, I realized that I had to go see my “Auntie Joyce” during  visiting hours.  It was a prompting within my heart by the Holy Spirit.  If not for her, for me.  I do not want to have regrets and I am learning to make choices so I don’t have them.  My Mom and I were headed to a brunch and on the way we received a call from the hospital that we needed to come soon as her vitals were not stable.  Joyce had not been eating and drinking well and seemed to be overwhelmed with all of her medical problems.  She seemed to have given up.  When she was checked into the hospital, her labs were pretty normal except for the fact that she was dehydrated.  Joyce was living in chronic pain and was not interested in having an IV started in the hospital.  We discussed this choice with her in several ways, and she absolutely did not want an IV. 

I asked if I could go in to see her before we had a consultation with the doctor that had called in the family.  This was allowed.  She was very coherent, just very lethargic.  I told her, as tears began to flow, how much I loved her, and that  I would always be her Lucy.  (That was what she called me.)  She has led a very wayward life.  I know she has heard the Gospel, but I had to make sure she had one last opportunity to accept it for herself.  She is the first person I have ever been bold enough to ask this question.  I asked her if I could pray with her.  As I was praying, the doctor arrived in the room.  I finished and told her I’d be back soon.  It was decided, as a family, that she had made her wishes clear and she would have to be “all in” to make the huge strides it would take to have any quality of life.  Since the conclusion was determined by the medical staff and our family that she was not willing to be “all in” we believed we should respect her wishes. 

Mom and I returned to her room.  It was easy to understand her if you asked her a yes or no question.  But, when she tried to speak, it was very difficult to understand her.  She was so weak, and it took every bit of energy she had to try to get the word out.  She began saying a word that began with the letter J.  She was turned away from me facing my mom.  Mom went through all of our names to see who she wanted.  She shook her head no.  Mom asked me to come to that side to see if I could understand her.  She continued to work at what she wanted to say with diligence.  I heard Jees.  I asked her are you saying Jesus?  She shook her head yes.  I asked her if she wanted to be sure that she knew, without a doubt, that she had received Him into her heart personally as her Lord and Savior.  She again shook her head yes.  I held her hands and asked her to pray in her heart as I prayed aloud. 

After we finished this prayer, I told Joyce that I was jealous of all of the family members that she was going to get to see before me.  I told her how while in Uganda, I had so many memories of my Nanny and Papa (her mom and dad) and had felt very close to them.  I told her that she was going to be met by my Papa (her father) and Josh (her grandson who died who had been murdered at the age of 3 by his father, her daughter’s ex-husband.)  I asked her to give Nanny and PaPa a hug from me. 

Later that evening, she peacefully stopped breathing and went home to be with Jesus.  After spending much of her life alone, she passed away holding my mom’s hand, and was greeted by a throng of angels.  It turns out, there was more than one reason for coming home early.

Jill