I was seeing patients in the clinic yesterday and noticed a lady on the line with a piece of green and white striped cloth tied around the lower half of her face. She sat with her head bent down a bit as if this would help to hide the reason for which she came to the clinic. As it happened I was the one who got to see Maria. After entering the exam room she began to untie the green and white striped cloth. As she brought the cloth down I could see only slightly soiled gauze. After she removed it I was impressed with the size of this growth extending out from her chin and neck. She could only open her mouth part way because of the tumor making a complete exam inside her mouth difficult.

Maria first noticed the start of this tumor only 4 months ago. Wow. She had been seen at another hospital several times but they reportedly had some problems with their equipment and had rescheduled the visit repeatedly. Thus, she traveled several hours to see if anyone here could help her. Surgery is out of the question due to the size and extent of the tumor. I discussed her case with Dr. Bill McCoy and we decided that although we couldn't confirm a diagnosis quickly, we would do a biopsy and tried some chemotherapy. We are hoping this is a Burkitt's Lymphoma as these generally respond well to chemo.

Pray with me for Maria. We explained that we are not sure the medicine will help. I am sure she is scared. But God is BIG!

The Hagen Cultural Show

The Hagen Cultural Show is probably as close as you can get to what we in the States would call a fair. The Cultural Show is a 2 day affair where people from all the surrounding provinces come and show off their traditional dress and dance. They are judged as they parade through the Rugby Oval (stadium) in front of the grand stand and at the conclusion of the event a prize is awarded. The Hagen Cultural Show took place this past Saturday the 15th. We decided to go because I wanted some new pictures of the cultural dress and I wanted to look at the artifacts that I was pretty sure would be there. We had a Land Cruiser load of people who wanted to go so we got together and headed out to the festivities. We had with us Dr.'s Becky Wallace and Stephanie Doenges along with Dr Tom and Lois Staton our family and a PNG friend Johnathon.

We all had a good time. We saw some painting each others faces and finishing their preparations. In fact, some were doing face painting on non-participants!!! So our Dr.'s Becky and Steph joined in the fun and got their faces painted! Becky had a blue butterfly and Steph a Hibiscus flower.

It was a beautiful warm sunny day great for taking pictures. PNG is a truly beautiful place with majestic mountains, gorgeous clouds and on clear nights brilliant stars! The people of PNG are just as colorful as the country and on this day the colors were dazzling!