No surgeries will be done on Friday. Doctors and nurses will check all the patients that remain in the hospital. Some will be dismissed to go home although others may need to stay another day or two, depending on how well they are healing.
Some days have been very busy day with many patients. We never know how many will come in, although from phone calls they say they will come. Our doctors and nurses have been very good to adjust to the full or lighter load of patients.
On Monday, they finished surgeries about 4 pm with only six patients for the day. The medical group decided to go to dinner where they could get "western" food. It is amazing to me that people who really like Chinese food would be hungry for ordinary food from home after just being in China for a week. I asked what they served there and was told Belgium waffles, macaroni & cheese, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, onion rings and pasta. Needless to say, Ron and I went back to the hospital and enjoyed the good Chinese food.
The hospital has tried very hard to provide food that would be pleasing to everyone. They did not make the dishes spicy. There are some Chinese dishes, but they have also had BBQ chicken, rolls, French fries, watermelon, egg custard tarts, etc. There’s always rice and a soup of some kind. We have enjoyed the meals so much that we have not lost any weight this trip.
The bravery of these young people amazes me. I was never that brave and even though I feel more at ease in China each time I come, I still could not do what they do. They don't speak Chinese but explore the cities and sites. The doctors and nurses get off their shifts and take taxis and go everywhere - to get massages, to restaurants, shopping, or to ride bikes around a lake, etc. One nurse left her purse in a taxi and although the police recovered her purse (which seems almost unbelievable to me), her credit card and money were gone. At least she got her passport back. That would really be a problem if she did not have it. You can't travel anywhere without it. I don't know what she would have done in that event.
A couple of nurses were at a restaurant one night when a family fight started and glasses and dishes were thrown and before they could stop it, the plate glass window had also been broken. They said it was very exciting.
After the group went to get “western food,” one nurse said part of the team went to a bar but since she didn’t drink, she went off with two 16 year-old translators. She said they stuck their heads in a dance club to see what was going on. She saw scantily-dressed girls on stage dancing and many of the clientele dancing on the floor. They did not stay but went roller skating instead.
I've heard several talk about their massages and how they don't know exactly what they were asking for. Dr. Bailey's daughter said she was told to sit down and then lie back on the legs of the person doing the treatment. The person leaned back and literally threw her up in the air. She said she didn't know what was going on but it all felt good. After a stressful day, many of them took advantage of this service which costs about $16 U.S. They all seemed to like the treatments - no one had a painful back massage like Ron got one time.
One of the volunteers, a very pretty 24-year old, is from Spain. She is Polish by birth but lives in Spain. She may have found us on the internet because she first wrote and asked about working in an orphanage. She made the decision to come help with the medical mission and everyone loves her. She plans to stay in China a few months and travel around. She doesn't speak any Chinese. She is very religious and plans to find the church service in Beijing on Sunday.
Our translators (both young men and women) have been excellent. Most of them are college students who heard about the mission and wanted to come to practice their English. Some are local, but others have come a long distance and paid their own way to volunteer for this mission. The very good ones have stayed and helped; those with poor English dropped out after a day or two. Some of the translators ask a lot of questions about us personally and about our work in China. They want to know when the next mission will be because they want to help.
We continue to be very impressed with the people of China that get involved with us. Anyone from the team that wanted to go was invited to dinner one night at a Chinese doctor’s home. He works at another hospital. He is a neurosurgeon. Their son and some friends serve as translators for us. They have a very nice apartment in a gated complex and live on the sixth floor. There was no elevator so we walked the stairs. It was easy, but I could not help but think what it would be like to bring groceries up that many flights. They have a deck on top of the building where they grille and entertain. It was very lovely. The food was absolutely wonderful and the hospitality was beyond compare. After dinner, they took us to a nearby park surrounding a lake. It was very beautiful.
Dr. John Bailey and his family will leave tonight for Beijing to spend a few days. They have two grandchildren with them that will be freshmen at Abilene Christian University so they have to return a few days early for them to enroll in school. Their family has gone on many medical missions so they know what to do. They have been very useful to the mission.
The other team members, as well as Ron and I, will travel back to Changsha Friday afternoon. The hospital will provide transportation. Ron and I will fly from there to Hangzhou, which is supposed to be one of the prettiest places in China. It is south of Shanghai. Luke, our director of the orphanage in Rongshui, will meet us there with a driver and take us to Huzhou, a small city about two hours’ drive from Hangzhou.
Ron will consider the possibility of an orphanage in Huzhou. There are existing buildings that have been used as a home for the elderly. Some elderly men continue to live there, but there are many buildings vacant. Luke believes it can be easily converted into an orphanage. Ron will see what he can work out with the government and how much remodeling will need to be done. I hope I can write in another segment of the blog that this trip was successful and we will have our seventh orphanage ready to open in the near future.
We will be there a few days and then travel to Beijing this weekend. After some meetings early in the week, we will go to Shanghai and depart for the U.S about August 23.
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