2/27/09

 I’m now not only a surgeon but a dentist. So maybe not quite a
dentist or a surgeon but I have pulled 6 teeth, okay so maybe four
were baby teeth. I think of it this way though, if baby teeth are
teeth than kids aren’t humans. My new experiences as a dentist became
possible because a medical missionary team has just been here from
Oregon.

This team was headed by Dr. Erling Oksenholt, the man who originally
got Fletcher Justin and me interested in Gimbie and played a huge part
in us coming here. Our house was transformed the day before he came
into a cafeteria to feed the 13 ferrangies and many other visitors who
would join our every meal. It was nuts! Each of the 10 days they were
here I was absolutely exhausted when my head finally hit the pillow.

The team included a dentist, two doctors, an eye specialist, a
physical therapist, a nurse, a journalist, and others who acted as
medical assistants. Most days this team would head out to one of the
clinics to receive and care for huge crowds of people that had come to
see the “ferrangie” doctors. The biggest hit was always the eye
specialist Dr. Harris. Many people have a lot of trouble with there
eyes here due to both the sunlight and the dust.

I switched off with Fletch going to these clinics. One day I worked
with Dr. Raj Bamon. I started out being his assistant and helping him.
 After a couple of hours though, the translator was talking to me and
not the doctor and I was diagnosing problems, prescribing medicines
and ordering lab tests. While I was doing this Dr. Raj was usually
busy taking pictures out the window or reading. It was great! At the
other clinic I went to I assisted the dentist Dr. Ray Lunt. After I
watched a couple of patients get their teeth pulled. A little boy came
in and Dr. Lunt informed me that this was my patient! Oh boy, I though
to myself, it just has to be a kid who will probably cry and I am
supposed to pull not one but four of his teeth. That just sounds
great. It ended up going well though, well at least all four teeth did
eventually come out and the poor kid didn’t cry to hard  as I was
yanking viciously at his teeth. I saw one other patient that day also,
this second one I received a little professional assistance but I did
eventually get two of his teeth also.

Life is almost back to normal now. One of the best things is that the
group left all of their extra food. I can’t tell tell how good it is
to have cheese, Heinz ketchup and cold cereal. Wow! It’s a taste of
home I tell ya. But I was jerked back to reality when one of the first
patients I saw back at the OPD was a 10 year old girl who had been
raped, and was coming to get medical attention. Well only two more
weeks of this, and that is another thing that doesn’t quite seem like
reality.