1. The months
of November and December were positively packed with not just the holiday
spirit, but also a flurry activity and visitors. November 20 -21, 2014, we hosted three AHI (Adventist Health
International) board members from the U.S. for our yearly AHI board meetings –
Dr. Dick Hart, Rod Neal, and Danjuma Daniel.
One of the main agenda items was what to do about what we
refer to as the “Chalala plot.”
More than a decade ago, back when Lusaka Eye Hospital (LEH) was being
built, the founders (i.e. Dr. Boateng Wiafe) had applied for a piece of
property in Lusaka meant to be for staff housing for LEH’s employees. However, by the time the property was
gifted to Lusaka Eye Hospital, the donor funding was no longer available, and
the Chalala plot was left undeveloped.
The area at Chalala has now become a plot of land in prime
real estate. It is a thriving,
developing residential area, with hundreds of surrounding middle- to
upper-class homes. It is such a
valuable piece of real estate that political cadres (aka thugs affiliated with
the current political party who use unethical methods to obtain desirable items
for monetary gain) were trying to get it by any means. Papers were served to us, some fake,
stating that the property did not belong to us. Or that it was going to be taken from us. At one point, some cadres came onto the
property in the middle of the night to put dividing markers on the land, subdividing
it so they could attempt to sell it off.
We immediately notified the police, but the cadres thankfully did not
return. After meetings with the
Ministry of Lands and the Lusaka City Council, the advice was given for us to
develop the land (by at least building a structure to roof level) so that we
could secure the title and maintain ownership. Thus, the task that was given to us last year was to build a
4 bedroom, 3 bath single story home at the corner of the property. Funding was provided by a combination
of AHI, Loma Linda University’s National Auxiliary, Lusaka Adventist Dental
Services, and Lusaka Eye Hospital.
We are happy to say that the house is almost complete.
The big picture vision and dream for that property is to
develop a high-standard, western-style multispecialty medical clinic and eventually
hospital on that land. The initial
funding is to be provided by a recently matured trust from a former Loma Linda
University student who passed away.
But if this becomes a reality, many prayers and donations will be needed
to bring the project to fruition.
More to come in the future regarding the Chalala plot.
2. On November
22, we had the honor of having Michael & Celeste Chen over at our
house. They are a wonderful
missionary couple who has served at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya for the last
year. Michael is an
ophthalmologist and cornea specialist who last year jumped into the world of
international ophthalmology head on, much as I did 3 years ago. The Chens were in Zambia for the COECSA
(College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa) conference
in Livingstone, after which they decided to drop by Lusaka and see us. After a delightful day together, Paul
and I felt like we were meeting up with old friends, rather than with complete
strangers that we had just met earlier that day.
3. Every few
years, Thanksgiving will fall on November 27. This makes Thanksgiving extra special, as that day also
happens to be the birthdays my husband shares with my mom! This year, on November 27, we got to
celebrate both birthdays in a spirit of thanksgiving at the house of our dear
friends, the Minor family.
4. The day
after Thanksgiving, our family went down to Riverside Farm Institute for a
Thanksgiving lunch with other fellow Americans.
It was another feast, another time of
sharing, and a time for Jaycee to play with her little friends. We're so thankful for the newest family in town - welcome to the Busls, especially the littlest addition and bundle of joy, Anderson!
5. From
Riverside Farm Institute, our family proceeded further south to Mukuyu Outreach
to visit our friends, Hein, Melissa, and Inge. As Melissa is expecting a baby girl and was planning to
return to South Africa for the delivery, it was our last opportunity to see
them as a family of three. Despite
the suffocating heat, for which only 2 hours of generator-run air conditioning
was able to relieve, it was, as always, a joy to spend time with this beautiful
family.
6. We had another ophthalmology resident from Loma Linda
University rotate with us in the month of December. He was the first resident to come out from this new senior
class, and this elective was packed with pathology, surgery, and even
corneas. It was great having you
here, David Sierpina!
David helped me with this strabismus case. Great job!
7. During David’s
rotation, a set of 5 corneas arrived from Midwest Eye Bank. The tissues were supposed to arrive
Monday, December 1, 2014, so five cornea transplant patients were scheduled for
Tuesday and Wednesday. Aboard
Emirates Airlines, the 5 precious tissues made their way from the JFK
International Airport in New York to Dubai and ultimately on to Lusaka on
Flight #713. However, on December
1, when our driver arrived at the International Airport in Lusaka to pick up
the package, he was told that although the paperwork had arrived, the box
itself was nowhere to be found!
Imaging the flurry of activity that occurred at that point…trying to
find out exactly where the tissues went, calling the patients to reschedule
them for an unknown time in the future once the tissues were found. But it wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon
that we were given some new information about the whereabouts of the parcel –
the box had gone to Harare, Zimbabwe! Somehow, the box never made its way off the plane
during the flight’s short layover in Lusaka, en route to Lusaka. We were assured that the box would be
put on the Emirates flight from Harare to Lusaka on Tuesday night. So once again the next day, our driver
made the hour-long trek to the airport only to find that the box still had not
arrived! He was told that customs
in Zimbabwe was having a hard time clearing the human tissues, which should
never have entered into Zimbabwe in the first place! Again, I called my patients, assuring them that I would keep
them posted. I assured them that
by God’s grace they would still get their cornea transplants. Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, we
were assured that Zimbabwean customs had managed to clear the parcel, and that
it would arrive in Lusaka Wednesday night. Third time’s a charm, and with much jubilation the driver
(along with David, our visiting resident) returned from the airport with the
goods in hand. My greatest concern
was whether the refrigeration of the tissues was adequate, and it was cause for
rejoicing when a chunk of ice remained intact inside the ice pack of the
Styrofoam box. With a sigh of
relief, I knew the tissues had survived the journey. All the patients had successful cornea transplants on
Thursday, December 4, and Friday, December 5. But, wow, what an emotional journey this was.
 |
| Preop photo - large angle congenital esotropia |
 |
| Postop day 1 - ortho! |
Patient #1 was a 37-year-old female with a history of vernal
keratoconjunctivitis and dense lipid keratopathy of the left eye.
I just saw her on Thursday, and her
graft is looking great.
Patient #2 was a 23-year-old female with history of
keratoconus. I grafted her right
eye 3 years ago. And so she wanted
her left eye done.
The first day
after surgery she looked great.
But her postop week 1 visit had me extremely discouraged. The anterior chamber was shallow, the
graft had 3-4+ stromal edema, sterile infiltrates were at the edge of each
suture, all the sutures were loosening up, and the vision was horrible. I was afraid she was experiencing acute
graft rejection, so I gave her an injection of subtenon’s kenalog, upped the
ante on her topical steroid drops, and asked her to return in a few days. No better. Graft still super swollen. I gave her a second subtenon’s kenalog injection and asked
her to return after 5 days, preparing her for the worst and stating that we
might have to repeat the graft in the very near future. Apparently that weekend at church,
before her next visit, the elders laid hands on her to pray for healing of the
eye. When I saw her again 2 days
before Christmas, her AC was deep and the graft had cleared up remarkably! When I told her and her mother that
miraculously the graft had turned a corner and it was unlikely that she’d need
a re-graft, the mother knelt on the floor of my exam room to praise and thank
God. Because all her sutures had
become significantly loosened from the ordeal, I took her to the operating
theatre that very day, removed most of the old sutures, and placed new sutures
to secure her miracle tissue to her host cornea. At her last postop visit 3 days ago, she was thrilled; her
vision in her left eye that day was better than her right eye! Praise God!
Patient #3 was my typical 18-year-old patient with history
of allergic conjunctivitis, and visually impairing keratoconus.
Patient #4 was the same monocular 16-year-old boy from my
previous blog entry in July who had a glycerol-preserved corneal transplant. He underwent a successful fresh cornea
transplant, and I pray that this will give him the sight necessary to get
around.
Patient #5 was a 56-year-old female with history of measles
keratopathy. Visual acuity of
CF@1/2 meter OS pre-op. She was
thrilled on Postop day #1.
8. Also during
David’s rotation, we held a local eye camp at Lusaka Eye Hospital. This particular eye camp was sponsored
by the English Ministry (EM) of the Loma Linda Korean SDA Church.
When I was back in Loma Linda for
maternity leave, my home church did some major fundraising to raise funds for
eye care. The EM specifically took
up a project to raise money to sponsor 54 patients for cataract surgery, and as
a result 54 patients were granted the gift of sight. My mom helped out a few days as circulating nurse during her
time in Zambia, especially during the eye camp, so it was great to work side by
side with her at LEH.
9. December 10
marked a milestone for our baby boy. Zachariah turned 100 days old.
In the Korean culture, the “Baek il,” or 100 day birthday is
significant, celebrating the survival of an infant during the most crucial
early period when infant mortality rates were sky high in the once underdeveloped
South Korea. Happy Baek il,
Zachariah.
10. Enter,
Mom. On December 21, we made another
airport run to welcome Paul’s mom back to Zambia.
My parents were still here in Zambia at this point, so this
is the first time both sets of parents have spent time in Africa together. It was a blast. What a treat to be able to spend
Christmas and New Year’s together with all the parents. They loved hanging out with both Jaycee
and Zachariah, and it was one big party every day. On December 28, all 7 of us packed ourselves into our trusty
Toyota Hilux to make the ritualized trip down to Livingstone.
Five glorious days of swimming
(Jaycee’s daily mantra and highlight), relaxing, eating at the buffet, and seeing the Falls.
Paul and I even squeezed in another day
of whitewater rafting. The first part of the trip started hiking down the
“Boiling Pot” route to the base of Victoria Falls. The whitewater rafting
experience started under Victoria Falls, then we headed 30 kilometers down the
gorge of the majestic Zambezi River (seeing the Zimbabwean cliffs on our right
and the lofty Zambian river bank on our left). Out of the 25 rapids that we
bravely traversed on our red inflatable raft, a good 75% of them were
categorized as Class 5 rapids. In
other words, very fast-moving water and high chance of overturning or getting
ejected from the raft. Although
our raft never flipped, we had multiple opportunities to get ejected. What a thrilling experience.
It was even nicer that we had the chance to stay at the same hotel as some of our student missionaries from Riverside Farms. Michelle Suekert's family came out to spend the holidays with her, so it was great getting to know them as well.
11. On January
5, we bid a sad farewell to my parents, Jennifer and Edward, who had to return
to Zambia. Their constant support with the kids, especially during the first 4
months of Zachariah’s life, was so amazing. My father is an unbelievably gifted babysitter. And my mom would be the hero who came
to rescue me in the middle of the night when Zach was crying and I needed a few
hours of sleep. They definitely
deserve an award for their hard work as missionary grandparents.
Jaycee had grown especially attached to “Loma Linda grandma
and grandpa” after spending the last 5 months (3 months back in Loma Linda and
2 months here in Zambia) day in and day out with them. Watching her shed crocodile tears as
they left for the airport broke my heart, and I, myself, had to fight back
tears as the vehicle turned out of the parking lot. Now that my parents are back safely in California, Jaycee
has quickly adjusted back to communicating with them via Facetime.
Speaking of Jaycee, she has grown to be an amazing little
toddler. Her vocabulary seems to
double every day, and I’m always amazed at her level of language
acquisition. She is officially
bilingual (English and Korean), although she speaks Korean with an Americanized
accent and occasionally speaks English with a Korean flare. She loves to kiss baby Zachariah, go to church, sing songs,
play the piano, color, and explore the world around her.
Her favorite songs to sing are: "Jesus Loves Me," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "ABCs," "My God Loves Me," "If You're Happy and You Know It," "Sahn Tohki Tohki-ah," and "Gohm seh mah ri." It's amazing that just 3 months ago, the girl couldn't even hold a tune. Now, she's starting to get the concept! =)
One of my parents' biggest accomplishments was fully potty training her by the age of 27 months old.
12. Now it’s
back to the grind, as we prepare for another phase – the phase of many
visitors. We expect a volunteer to
come soon for 3 months. Two more
ophthalmology residents are scheduled to come out in February and April. Two medical students are scheduled to
arrive in February and April. And
one dental student is planning to spend a month with Paul in April as
well. Since in the month of April
we will potentially have an overlap of all 5 volunteers (and our current
guesthouse only has two rooms), we are in the process of renovating two patient
rooms to accommodate the students.
Party on.
