Trip 11, July 2012
Little did I realize last November that I would be going back to San Lorenzo to work with Dr. Jane Weaver so soon. In the interim I have had to deal with an orthopedic injury involving my right knee and I was not certain I would be able to return to San Lorenzo. On the last day as we were flying home I squatted to demonstrate something to Steve Weaver, Jane’s brother, who was travelling with me. In the process of the squat something popped in my right knee and I had some pain and then some swelling of the knee. Once I returned home my wife, Phyllis, and I packed quickly and headed to our daughter’s in Greenville, SC, for Thanksgiving and then we travelled on to Florida for the winter. I did not have the opportunity to have the knee checked until we were in Florida. Then I saw an orthopedist who diagnosed a badly torn meniscus in the right knee necessitating arthroscopy surgery to trim out the fragments. This surgery was followed by some complications of more swelling, bleeding into the space behind the knee and into the muscles of the calf. Part of the evaluation included an ultrasound of the leg with the initial diagnosis being a deep vein thrombosis. This put me in the hospital and on anticoagulation therapy which even before I had reached a therapeutic dose precipitated blood in the urine and more bleeding in the leg. I was sent to a vascular surgeon to have a filter put in the vena cava to prevent pulmonary embolism and at this time a second ultrasound revealed the vein to be wide open with no clot. What was felt to be a clot in the vein was actually the blood clotted outside the vein compressing it closed and appearing like an intravascular clot. Needless to say, I was greatly relieved and thanked God for His healing hand upon me. With a lot of physical therapy I was able to regain function of the knee and now am walking fairly well. This came just in time to go help Dr. Weaver as she has a couple patients with complex gynecological problems that need surgery soon. I am now able to go and help care for several patients needing surgery and am so thankful to God for healing me and inviting me to walk with Him to Ecuador once again.
I leave for Quito on Wednesday, July 18. Jane will meet me there and after an overnight stay in Quito we will then head to San Lorenzo. Then for the next three days Jane and I will examine the patients she has set up for consideration for surgery. I know we have one patient with cervical cancer and another with a fistula from the bladder to the vagina resulting from a prolonged labor 3 years ago. I feel so blessed to have God wrap His hands around my hands and guide me in these difficult surgeries. I remember the many times in my previous trips to work with Jane that we witnessed miraculous healing that caused our chins to drop and our songs of praise go up to heaven. It seemed that God took us to the edge of our abilities and then He took over and brought on healing. These God moments were total WOW moments to us. Thinking about the previous trips causes me to focus on thanking God for all the incredible things He has done in my life, during these mission trips, and even in creating the absolutely beautiful world in which we all live. I keep thinking as we drive through the Andes Mountains that God must have had a lot of fun carving out these incredible structures and covering them with so much tropical vegetation. The scenes are stunning and I can do nothing but drink in the beauty of the moment and thank God for that.
As Jane and I work the next couple weeks and do what we can to help these hurting people, we will lean on God for all the support and wisdom. Jane has a nice clinic but still a lot of the available resources, such as lab, x-ray, blood bank, consultation with various specialists, are not available. Yet, is in these situations that we have the privilege of seeing God step in and fill in all the gaps as He takes our hands and guides us through each surgery all the while protecting the patient and covering that patient with His healing power. This is why I find these trips so exciting and enjoyable. I get to see God do things that I would not ordinarily see. I get to participate in His healing power. I get to feel Him holding my hands and guiding me. I get to hear His whisper in my ear telling me to just lean on Him and let Him empower me to accomplish the work He has called me to do. Jane and I have the privilege of being God’s mouth, eyes, ears, hands and feet and we get to work in total service to Him. For that I am thankful beyond words.
Join us as we go through the next several days. Uphold us in prayer and become partners with us. And, while you are at it, give all the thanks to God for He and only He deserves all the praise.
Medical Missions 
Marvin, Your comments are so good. Praise the Lord for using you
and Jane the way He is. We support you in prayer. Dorothy
God is so amazing!