Start of the journey

I am currently sat in Birmingham airport awaiting the first of my three flights that will take me to Papua New Guinea for my medical elective. It has been a frantic build up, with some last minute visa issues. The Lord has been very kind and that is all resolved now. Now I can eagerly await the start of this adventure.

One week in...

Thank the Lord I and my stuff made it to Kompiam District Hospital safely! It's been an exciting, in-at-the-deep-end start both medically and culturally. In one week I've seen a brachial plexus injury, cerebral malaria, a potential case of neuro syphilis, lots of TB affecting anywhere and everywhere in the body, pressure ulcers due to limb paralysis, a spinal fracture, new cancer diagnoses, malnourished babies and a heap of other things. Most of these things are totally new to me - at least seeing them face to face is. I've had my first taste of being the doctor on call too, which has been something of a steep learning curve. This place keeps you on your toes! Culturally, there's loads I could talk about, but for now I'll just mention 'mumu'. There were four members of the team here celebrating their retirement at the weekend just gone. To commemorate this occasion, a PNG traditional mumu was performed. This involves beating a pig to death and cooking them with plantain and sweet potato in a big hole in the ground. It wasn't a nice process to overhear... but the food at the end was tasty.

Half-way through

Time in PNG is flying by - I can't believe I'm already into the second half of my time here!

There are so many things I could talk about since my last update, but to save you having to read an essay here are just a few experiences and reflections.

Last week I had the privilege of traveling by aeroplane to a small village that can only be accessed on foot or by air. For this, we partner with Mission Aviation Fellowship, who provide air support to enable various mission initiatives throughout PNG to function (they serve in other countries too!). Apart from fulfilling a childhood dream to fly in the cockpit of a plane, this patrol was a great opportunity to experience life in such a remote location and to grow in my clinical judgment, with next to no diagnostic tests available.

Featuring on the on-call rota has been a very welcomed opportunity to prepare me well for life as an FY1 doctor.

Getting to know the team better has been a joy. It is a privilege to work with a group of Christians that live lives so obviously shaped by their faith.

Creativity goes a long way here. Today we were trying to make a safe homemade replacement for barium contrast. Results are pictured. Sadly it didn't work!

I have seen a lot more death then I am used to from UK hospitals. The reasons for it are complex, but patients tend to present much later here, meaning sadly for a number of them there is not an awful lot we can do. People's very public mourning here has helped me see more clearly how unhelpfully taboo death is often seen as at home.

The final stages...

And just like that it's all over! On arrival 7 weeks in PNG sounded like a fairly sizeable amount of time - longer than I'd ever done outside the UK before. But now on the other side of the trip, I can't quite believe it's already finished.

What a blessing this experience has been! I've learned loads and also had a fantastic time doing so.

Since my last update work in the hospital has continued to be exciting and unpredictable. One of the best things about working in a fairly small and very supportive team has been getting to try new things with close supervision - I am grateful for the chance to have drained some abscesses, debrided some wounds, done way more suturing than I have done previously, as well as assisting in some remarkable operations. Perhaps most notably was removing a 15 kg (yes 15 kg!) pus-filled kidney secondary to likely abdominal TB - one of those 'I'll almost certainly never see this again' moments.

I have also been on another health patrol to the bush, this time to a place called Malumanda. We spent 3 days there seeing a variety of patients. Amid a number of other opportunities, I got the chance to perform my first ultrasound-guided knee aspiration - we were able to drain about 70 mLs of fluid. Their knee looked much less swollen for it! We reckon the fluid was probably associated with previous trauma and possible ligament rupture, but in the bush it's hard to get confirmation of these things! We were able to bring a mother late on in a high-risk pregnancy back to Kompiam District Hospital with us for supervised delivery as well as child who was a very perplexing case. Whilst there we screened a documentary on HIV as part of an ongoing patrol educational initiative. Patrols are also a great time for rubbing shoulders closely with the ways local people live (eating in cookhouses, washing in the river etc).

Outside the medicine joining in with footy, volleyball, basketball, river trips and so on has been great fun. I am sad my time leading the teenage lads' Bible study has come to an end, but thank the Lord for another doctor arriving just as I was leaving who will take over from me.

For me now it's back to the UK for my sister's wedding, some camping and getting involved with a Christian camp before starting as an FY1 in late July.

Thank you so much for your prayer support. Some concluding prayer requests:

1) Thank the Lord for a great trip!

2) Pray for the ongoing work at Kompiam - healthcare, Bible studies, evangelistic opportunities etc

3) Pray for the team there to keep serving Lord wholeheartedly and sacrificially (some of them pictured below - team cannula practice session)

4) Thank God I've got to the end of the trip and am left wanting more - and pray for wisdom for what I do with that feeling in the future!