Jordan Yarbrough is a missionary from the US, an excellent Nurse Practitioner, and a dear friend to everyone in Cavango and Jordan came to manage the hospital this past week, giving this old man the opportunity to “click-off” for several days.  I am so grateful for Jordan and the many that make this work possible and manageable, including many of you, who, unseen, like most of our body’s “hidden” vital organs, give this body called, “Cavango,” the ability to extend literally thousands of lives in the name of our Creator/Father/Master.  Paul addresses this nicely in his preserved first letter to the early Corinthian church.

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Blood is one of those essential, “hidden” parts of our body that make human life possible.  Delfina (photos) is 23 years old and arrived to Cavango conscious, walking and speaking… with a hemoglobin that measured one, while normal is greater than twelve.  As I explained to her and to our team, using 500ml transfusion blood bags for illustration, malaria had destroyed the equivalent of eleven of Delfina’s normal quantity of twelve bags of blood.  How she was able to make it to Cavango, or live at all, is beyond remarkable.  Delfina received multiple transfusions of donated blood over several days and returned home recovered and well.

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Our intestines are another part of our body we rarely think of as essential to life.   Manuel is twelve years old and arrived with vomiting and a distended abdomen for several days and our intern physician, Dr Adelaide, accurately diagnosed an intestinal obstruction that needed corrected with life-saving surgery via our faithful colleagues at CEML (after life-saving transport by our faithful, “hidden”, colleagues with MAF).  It appears that the culprit was an inflamed appendix, which swelled and caused the otherwise-life-ending intestinal obstruction.  We will most certainly discover, with time, that this “hidden” part of our intestines performs a necessary function, one which we are yet to understand…

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Emilia is 52 years old and arrived with severe shortness of breath and marked swelling in her extremities, prohibiting her from even walking.  She received aggressive therapy, with mainly diuretics, which stimulate the kidneys to cause increased urine output, which puts the body in an induced state of dehydration to decrease blood volume which lessens the force needed by the pump (heart) to move blood through the “hidden” circulatory system.  This decreased work needed by a weakened heart muscle, can extend the life of this vital (hidden, silent and rarely thought-of) organ for years, without which, of course, the body wouldn’t survive even for a few moments.  After several days of therapy, Emilia had lost over 15lb of fluid and was walking and sleeping without difficulty.  Her life will be extended, because of the wonder of some “simple” medications, which save thousands of lives daily all over the world, developed over many years by people whose (hidden) accomplishments none of us will ever know or acknowledge.

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Domingos is 65 years old and arrived after not being able to urinate for several days.  His kidneys were inflamed because of his naturally-enlarging-with-age prostate gland causing obstruction in his renal system and prohibiting urine output.  The kidneys are also “hidden” and, if they don’t function regularly and precisely to filter our blood of waste, life ends.  We were able to place a simple tube (catheter) through Domingos’ urethra to alleviate the obstruction and allow the urine produced by his kidneys to exit his bladder/body.  We will see if the damage to his kidneys is permanent, but without the “simple” catheter and placement, Domingos’ body would have soon stopped living.

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Henriques is a very polite and grateful 42 year old and arrived after watching his abdomen grow severely and painlessly for several months.  We drained almost eight liters of clear fluid from his abdomen, outside of his intestines.  His liver was small on ultrasound and showed signs of fibrosis (hardening/scarring).  His hepatitis B test was positive.  Rarely thought of as a sexually transmitted disease, Henriques likely picked up this disease years ago and it only recently began destroying his liver.  Our liver is also a “hidden” organ we rarely think of, but it performs many functions, too many to list, necessary for survival of the body, as a whole. Henriques will not survive this destruction of his liver, but we will do all we can to extend his life as long as possible.

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Matilda is a chipper 48 year old woman whose smile lights our day every morning when she greets us on rounds.  She had been unable to walk for several weeks because of severe back pain, radiating to both legs.  A primary nerve exiting her spinal column had become squeezed by inflammation from TB and we began anti-inflammatory medication along with TB medication and, within a week, Matilda was sitting up and managing a few steps away from her bed.  Our nerves serve us without our thought or consideration and when they are inflamed, they make their “discontentment” known in what we label as “pain”. 

We often consider this sign of pain as negative and unpleasant, but we still have many active leprosy patients receiving year-long treatment in Cavango, to kill the microbial cause, who have permanently lost the ability to feel pain and their bodies have great difficulty surviving without this warning “signal” that something isn’t right, received by way of our nerves transmitting the message to our brains which makes us aware.  Our “hidden” nerves are, of course, vital to our survival.

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Beautiful, young, always pleasant, eight year-old Alegria arrived with complete paralysis of both his arms and legs, which had progressed over three weeks.  He also had difficulty breathing in certain positions.  We advised Alegria’s mother and grandmother that we were familiar with Alegria’s illness (a great encouragement to them) and that we see several children and adults every year with the same. We told them that the illness occurs all over the world and has a name, “Guillain Barré”.  It is a “neuropathy” where the nerves serving the extremities (and sometimes more) become inflamed to the point of losing function. 

This illness occurs because our “hidden” immune system, which we cannot survive without, overreacts to an intruder (usually a prior infection) and causes this inflammation.  Alegria was at risk of suffocation if the (hidden) muscles involved with his breathing became involved and paralyzed.  We observed and supported Alegria’s breathing over two weeks and helped position him so that his obviously weak breathing muscles could work to their maximum.  After a few days, these muscles worsened no more and we were able to reassure Alegria and his family that the paralysis would not kill him. His family was instructed on rehab exercises and his positioning and nutrition and, a few days ago, smiling Alegria returned home to, hopefully, make a typically complete recovery over several months.

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Almost daily, we “welcome” to Cavango patients who arrive in various levels of coma, or “unconsciousness”.  Consciousness is, of course, a function of our “hidden” brain activity and the difference between our “brain, our “mind”, our “soul”, and our “spirit”  is much studied and little understood.  We have so many admitted in Cavango (currently three) in this state of unconsciousness, most commonly from cerebral malaria, in young and older alike.

Neuroplasticity is a fascinating and debated field of science/medicine and more “experts” are acknowledging our brain’s ability to be altered by what we are exposed to and how we choose to respond.  Jesus’ main message, of course, acknowledges the same and calls us to “change our mind”, to “repent”, to “turn” to Him. Testimony after testimony, beginning with many who encountered Jesus in person, and so many since, would testify to this beautiful reality. 

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A golfer, artist or carpenter cannot understand all that is involved with his/her brain, nerves, muscles, etc but he/she can improve his/her skill with focused practice and repetition, not necessarily more “understanding” of all that is involved.  The difficulty is that we can always understand some of ourselves and our circumstances, but there is so much of what we encounter and how we respond that we are unable to understand.  We are called repeatedly by Jesus, and others who communicate as from God, to not prioritize understanding but to, rather, focus on following and surrendering to Him. 

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Leonardo is 43 years old and arrived to Cavango unable to swallow his own saliva and had begun having difficulty breathing the previous day.  The right side of his head and face was swollen grotesquely and the swelling had spread to involve his throat.  He had been dealing with severe pain, which began in a tooth (another body part we rarely think of, until we experience loss or pain), for several weeks. Leonardo endured an urgent incision in his neck to relieve the swelling that was constricting his airway which, without the help he received in Cavango, would have killed him.  Over a couple weeks, Leonardo endured several additional surgeries to incise the skin over various abscesses, all of which contained thick pus.  Over two weeks, he slowly improved to the point of being able to swallow food and will be soon ready to return home well.

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In recent history, we have learned that most of what we thought we knew of our bodies was superficial, at best.  We learned that muscle wasn’t “muscle” and liver wasn’t liver, etc., but, rather, each is a profound, intricate and incredibly complex network of innumerable parts (cells), all necessary for the function of the whole.  We learned that if even a small number of these cells, which begin as functionally normal “members” of the body, “go rogue” (cancer) and perform in a manner differently (and independently) from that for which they are designed, are capable of causing great destruction that can harm or kill the whole body, of which they are, otherwise, small, “insignificant”, yet instrumental parts.

We have learned that “pus” and “blood” are not just “liquids” in the same way that a river is not just water, a beach is not just “sand” and stars are not just “lights” in the night sky.  Our Father compared us to grains of sand on the beach and stars in the night sky and we also might similarly be compared to cells in a living body.

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The comparisons make our insignificance clear. And, yet, Jesus used another comparison citing the hairs on one’s head when communicating to us that we are created, known, and cherished.

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Life and this world are beyond our understanding.  As is our understanding that there is a Father-God who created us, cherishes us and desires to partner with us in our own maturation and that of others.

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My sense of “wow” and wonder, even after many years of life, continues to grow.  I marvel at the creation around me, in all its simplicity and complexity; I marvel at the discoveries of man that promote well-being; I marvel at the trees and flowers in front of my house, my ability to move my finger and that I have the ability to freely manipulate matter-less information in order to freely make choices that will affect the choices I make tomorrow.

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I also marvel at the freedom mankind has been granted to “go rogue” and distort and destroy what is beautiful and good.  As you know, I write about both the beautiful and the ugly, as they apply to our work in Cavango, in these ever-brevity-challenged posts…

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This all leaves me in a continual state of awe and wonder, providing a foundation for living in an ongoing state of awe-struck adoration of the Alpha and Omega of it all, Who is incomprehensibly beyond my understanding and Who, also, largely remains humbly “hidden”…

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I am a cell, a hair, a grain of sand and, yet, per Jesus, He knows me, delights in me, walks with me, and desires the same after my brief earthly life.  I am able to live each blissful and every painful moment with gratitude and appreciation for just this, and I am able to trust in His purpose, wisdom and care for every other “cell”, and how the “whole” is all tied purposely together.  Trusting Him... is more than enough…