A few first photos

A follow up to my prior blog.  I begin by showcasing one of my favorite WalMart items - the plastic drawers.  I LOVE plastic drawers for organizing everything.  So, naturally, I went to get some when we arrived.  The conversion rate here is about $127 Jamacian dollars is $1 US.  So that equates to this small stack of drawers costing $45.70!!!  














So I decided not to organize my stuff.
Let's move on to the fun stuff.  About once or twice a week, I get to drive the windy jungle road to our surgery center.  I had the privilege of operating with a wonderful corneal specialist from Columbus, OH - Dr. Schumer - who taught me the ins and outs of pterygium surgery in Jamaica.  (For those of you that don't know, pterygia are grows on the cornea caused by UV light - so wear sunglasses!!)

Driving through the sugar cane fields




Small town
I always make a pit stop at my favorite "Rasta man" who sells me the best peanut porridge in the morning.
 View from the clinic
Daily devotions with the patients before surgery
Enjoying my porridge between patients



See one, do one... (and yes, my mayo stand is an end table :) )

After a day in the OR, we went into town to enjoy good old Jamaican cooking - fish in a foil and conch soup.



My parents were in town up until this week, so we acted like tourists and explored the sights a bit.
The girls enjoyed some great Jamaican snacks - fresh sugar cane and raw peanuts (only Lorelle liked them because they were "soft."  The rest of us prefer our peanuts a little crunchy)


Black River tour to see crocodiles





That sums it up for now.  Staying very busy in the clinic and adjusting to life here.  More to come...


Stay tuned!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Healing

Hi All!  Sorry it has been awhile...the girls finished up school for the summer - at the very end of June!  And then we took a trip to visit family in Alaska.  We are now back on the island, ready for a new chapter now that I am doing cataract surgery in addition to everything else.  We are also starting to work on building out a new facility close to home for operating and making glasses, which Jeromee is helping to oversee - or at least he will be once the kids get back in school.  But I wanted to share a cool story with you. I recently saw a sweet old lady after having had cataract surgery.  When she had surgery done, the team that was in gave her a little wooden cross necklace.  She said to me "I don't really like Jesus and I was not happy when they put that cross around my neck.  But now my vision is so good!  It is a miracle!  And now I love Jesus and I always wear my cross!!"  How amazing is that!?!  Makes all the day t...
Read more

The Alter

  This past weekend was the culmination of much preparation here in Jamaica.  My role here is to be a constant ophthalmology presence for challenging cases and to provide laser therapy and surgery, both of which have only been offered when teams from the states come and visit.  Of course, when they come, they also bring all their staff and all their own supplies.  This meant that I had to train staff and somehow find a way to get all the supplies.  I have two wonderful Jamaican ladies who have been learning the material on how to be an OR nurse and have been observing the teams that come down.  Sourcing supplies has been a huge hurdle, but we have managed to find some things on the island and then have others bring in what we need.  So, after months of preparation, a very generous and talented ophthalmologist came down with tons of supplies and 2 nurses to help get us up and running and train me on how to handle the very difficult cataracts that we see...
Read more

The most difficult thing about moving.

Well I figured I should participate in sharing some thoughts about this upcoming adventure.  Please have a bit of grace when reading. I’m not as good as my better half with this whole writing thing. :) Moving overseas has quite a few challenges. From deciding what to pack to attaining a work permit and preparing kids to start school in another country.  Not to mention selling a house, selling/giving away most of our possessions to fit what’s left into a 10x10 storage unit. BTW, Eileen is a master at keeping track of what goes in which pile, and what  heads off to another country or stays.  So just a few things have fallen into place for this move, other stuff we have awaited anxiously to come through. However, we have no room to complain- our house is nearly complete in the selling process, of which has gone more fluidly than we could have ever anticipated(thank you Jesus for your complete answer to prayers). Our possessions are nearly packed up or dispersed thro...
Read more