Back on the Front Lines

Today I put on my women's health hat and went back to GYN clinic.  Last month I went back to work in our clinic here in Kipkaren, but I had asked my women's health team for an extra month before putting me back on the schedule.  Earlier this year I connected with an incredible team of doctors and nurses who are on the front-lines of fighting cervical cancer here in Kenya.  I've been training under a team of Kenyan, Canadian and American doctors. 

As a way of saying thanks for the training, and also getting on the front lines myself, I've volunteered to rotate through some of their satellite clinics a few times a month. Two of the clinics they rotate through are just 20 and 40 minutes drive from my home.  So this morning I was at the Turbo clinic seeing patients. 

It was my first time in four months re-entering the women's health world.  And I was reminded that this is what I really, really, really want to start doing at our clinic in Chebaiywa.  Please pray with me that God opens the doors for us to get the equipment we need to launch this program.  The exciting thing is that we will not only be screening for cervical cancer, but doing interventions and procedures in simple office visits that can stop it in it's tracks!

The team was excited to have me back.  The nurses asked if I had any pictures of my baby.  I showed them a recent one of my sweet little guy.  The nurse squealed and said with a big smile "Oh look, he's fat just like his mom!"  Um, thanks?......

Anyway! It's exciting to be back on the front lines again.  I've talked with one of the American GYN docs about going into the big Eldoret hospital for some further training in basic surgical procedures used in GYN care.  She was very welcoming.  I'm excited to see what this next year will hold as I continue to train and provide a greater spectrum of services in the more rural areas of Western Kenya.