Hey Mark,
Just a quick update. We handed out another 140 glasses today. My job is to check for Glaucoma with an angle test, something they call PRRL, precheck for nearsightedness, distance acuity and dilate the eyes. I work with Debbie Dushane on this. Jamie and Dave obviously do the eye exams. Emily and Mary distribute glasses. When Debbie and I finish the prechecks we help Emily and Mary. This is an extremely hard working team. No one feels like they have to be controlling which makes for a great working atmosphere. We have seen the miracle of sight given to many people. Unfortunately the people, because of disease and a lack of nutrition, have terrible eyes. There are so many cases of Cataracts and Glaucoma that it is gutwrenching. Some of the cutest kids are coming through here. One girl around 7 had glaucoma so bad that she suffered from nerve damage. she could only see about 6 inches in front of her face. Her script was a -9.0. She could see then but unfortunately you have to take the glaucoma medicine every day to keep the pressure off of the eye or have surgery. We could only give her a couple months of medicine. Without the medicine or surgery she will probably be blind before she is a teenager. Bummer!!
I was doing a distance acquity check and scratched my eye with a piece of paper. The doctors gave me an eyewash with antibiotics. They told me to apply it every hour for four hours, then once before I went to bed and when I woke up. We had finished all of the prechecks so I stuck the bottle for dilating eyes in my pocket. I was distributing glasses when it came time to put the antibiotics in my eye. I wasn't paying attention, because we are working hard, and I grabbed the bottle for dilating eyes. I put that in my eye and it felt like it was on fire. I just thought that my eye must be very sensitive from the scratch. I still thought that I had put the antibiotic in my eye. Well everything started getting cloudy and fuzzy in that eye. I went to Jamie and told him that eye was really bothering me. He looked at my eyes and started laughing telling me that I dilated my eye. I felt pretty silly.
It is really neat around here because you can hear them playing drums in the evening and it kind of feels like you are in Africa. Last night a local witch doctor had a meeting next door. The drums and singing was very loud. That was unbelievably awesome.
Last night on the way back to the compound there was a fire on the hill above our compound. We found out this morning that it was a house fire and a baby died. Maybe that is why the local witch doctor was doing his thing last night.
I have been many countries suffering from sever political unrest. This place is great but I will not develop a sense of false security. I do not share this with the team because I don't want to prematurely alarm them or take away from the experience. I am telling you this so that you know that I am watching over them like a hawk, especially the women. If Mary tells you that she feels very safe then I am doing my job right. I would not hesitate to cause severe harm to anybody that would be a physical threat to this team. I know that this may not reduce any worrying that you may do, but I want you to know that I am committed to this teams safety and to the success of this mission.
Just a quick update. We handed out another 140 glasses today. My job is to check for Glaucoma with an angle test, something they call PRRL, precheck for nearsightedness, distance acuity and dilate the eyes. I work with Debbie Dushane on this. Jamie and Dave obviously do the eye exams. Emily and Mary distribute glasses. When Debbie and I finish the prechecks we help Emily and Mary. This is an extremely hard working team. No one feels like they have to be controlling which makes for a great working atmosphere. We have seen the miracle of sight given to many people. Unfortunately the people, because of disease and a lack of nutrition, have terrible eyes. There are so many cases of Cataracts and Glaucoma that it is gutwrenching. Some of the cutest kids are coming through here. One girl around 7 had glaucoma so bad that she suffered from nerve damage. she could only see about 6 inches in front of her face. Her script was a -9.0. She could see then but unfortunately you have to take the glaucoma medicine every day to keep the pressure off of the eye or have surgery. We could only give her a couple months of medicine. Without the medicine or surgery she will probably be blind before she is a teenager. Bummer!!
I was doing a distance acquity check and scratched my eye with a piece of paper. The doctors gave me an eyewash with antibiotics. They told me to apply it every hour for four hours, then once before I went to bed and when I woke up. We had finished all of the prechecks so I stuck the bottle for dilating eyes in my pocket. I was distributing glasses when it came time to put the antibiotics in my eye. I wasn't paying attention, because we are working hard, and I grabbed the bottle for dilating eyes. I put that in my eye and it felt like it was on fire. I just thought that my eye must be very sensitive from the scratch. I still thought that I had put the antibiotic in my eye. Well everything started getting cloudy and fuzzy in that eye. I went to Jamie and told him that eye was really bothering me. He looked at my eyes and started laughing telling me that I dilated my eye. I felt pretty silly.
It is really neat around here because you can hear them playing drums in the evening and it kind of feels like you are in Africa. Last night a local witch doctor had a meeting next door. The drums and singing was very loud. That was unbelievably awesome.
Last night on the way back to the compound there was a fire on the hill above our compound. We found out this morning that it was a house fire and a baby died. Maybe that is why the local witch doctor was doing his thing last night.
I have been many countries suffering from sever political unrest. This place is great but I will not develop a sense of false security. I do not share this with the team because I don't want to prematurely alarm them or take away from the experience. I am telling you this so that you know that I am watching over them like a hawk, especially the women. If Mary tells you that she feels very safe then I am doing my job right. I would not hesitate to cause severe harm to anybody that would be a physical threat to this team. I know that this may not reduce any worrying that you may do, but I want you to know that I am committed to this teams safety and to the success of this mission.
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