Dear Blog Aficionados,
Randy has again offered me an opportunity to post on our
blog. One of the many blessings that Tenwek offers to us as a couple is the
time to share deeply our joys and concerns from our daily experiences (limited access to the distractions of TV, the
internet, and our phones help
immensely). He senses perhaps an opportunity for me to understand better, and
to share with you, what Tenwek has come to mean to me.
When I left Tenwek last year in October 2018, I entered into
an incredibly tumultuous year. I retired from my Ob/Gyn practice which had
enriched my life for 33 years. I had anticipated an upheaval of emotions and
had put into place the chance to thank so many people for the joys and
blessings of those years. God presented an idea to me (thru a casual
conversation with a patient’s husband) to develop an outward and visible sign
to those people who shaped those years. Rob Grimes used his Godly hands to
create Women Partners mugs, and also a special set of mugs with a heart logo on
them. I spent the year leading up to retirement handing out those mugs to the
people who had become symbolic of what I loved. Those cups overflow with love
and gratitude to so many patients and peers and co-workers who graced me with
their trust. So many of my patients have become life-long friends and
essentially have become extended family. You know who you are and how you have
enriched my life. My partners, and the new young doctors who have joined our
growing practice, know the depth of my commitment to those relationships. I
learned from them, and was humbled by all of them. I am eternally grateful to God for these
people and years.
And now He has blessed me again with a similar opportunity
at Tenwek. He sent such an obvious sign
when, on my first day of retirement, I was invited to help with the development
of an accredited Ob/Gyn Residency program at Tenwek. PAACS (Pan-African Academy
of Christian Surgeons) is our governing body. My retirement date had been set long before
this opportunity presented itself. Only God could have orchestrated my transition
from retirement directly into an effort to help further the development of the
Ob/Gyn program at Tenwek. It was wonderful to meet up with other Tenwek Ob/Gyn
‘addicts’! Now I have a new cache of co-workers that I have the opportunity to
learn from, be humbled by, blessed by,
and hopefully, to help. What I
didn’t anticipate was the joy of recurrent encounters with former patients here
at Tenwek! This year I was performing
ultrasound studies one morning. One of the many women that came in looked
familiar –I said to her: “Don’t I know you from last year”? She said: “No, you delivered my child in 2015”. Her husband even breached Kenyan etiquette by giving
me a hug when he saw me! (Kenyans do not typically show open expressions of
affection between men and women). She is now in her 4th pregnancy,
and only one of her children is still alive and well---the one born in 2015! She is now 7 months pregnant with twins, has
had 3 previous cesarean sections, currently has a placenta previa, as well as chronic
hypertension (every Ob/Gyn doctor reading that has now undoubtedly broken into
a cold sweat). At present her babies are starting to lag in their growth and
her placenta previa is starting to be problematic. Selfishly, I would love to
participate in the ultimate birth of these babies, but they will benefit from
staying in the womb far more than the 4 days that I have left on this trip. God
will set their delivery date and my role with them. My love and prayers will be with Rehema and
her care-givers whether I am here, or 9,000 miles away in San Antonio.
I now have a new group of peers, co-workers, and
relationships here in Kenya. They will never replace my previous practice
family. I no longer have the freedom of a single spoken language, but have the opportunity to expand
my means of communicating-God is SO big-I pray that His Holy Spirit is
manifested through me by eye contact, a
gentle touch, a smile of encouragement, or shared tears of sadness. I witness depths of compassion deeper than I
have ever seen from the people who have chosen to dedicate their professional
lives to caring for patients here at Tenwek. I participate in prayers in other languages
without knowing, or needing to know, the
meaning of the words themselves. It is
obvious when the corporate “AMEN” comes from all participants at exactly the
same time that the words themselves are unimportant…that what IS important, is
the corporate talking with God on the patient’s behalf. It is a sweet,
repetitive occurrence shared many times throughout the day. The Christian music
and singing that fills the halls during morning shift change throughout the
hospital is also language independent.
I thank each and every one of you who read our missives
about Tenwek, and God’s work here, and in our lives. I write this while looking at birthday cards
from friends and family in America, and from Kenya as well. Words seem to jump
off the page… Joy, Hope, Peace, Love, Faith, Smiles, Laughter, Hugs and
Surprises. May those words also resonate in your lives.
….and from my sister:
“Most of all, may your (birth)day be the beginning of a beautiful
year…the kind you (and ALL OF YOU as well) deserve”.
I pray it is so until I return to Tenwek in September 2020.
Love to you all,
Marilyn
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