MissionDocs.org

Dear Family and Friends,
We are now into our 10th week in Koza. Wow time has
flown. Our first few weeks we went without the most
electricity. Now that the rainy season is over it is
less common. Only two times this past week.
Fortunately we did not have any operations at those
times. The Petzel headlamp company would probably
enjoy my pictures of operating with their tekka
headlamp. We also have our next student missionary
here now, Krissa. She will be here in Koza for 9
months. She has finished college and is waiting to
get into medical school. We enjoy having students
here with us.
We have been so blessed financially recently. We
have had a variety of donations come in to my father
and to AHI (Adventist Health International). The
money not earmarked for a specific purpose, we have
begun using for necessities to run the hospital. We
have used it to purchase medications, x-ray film and
reagents, and plan on using some for laboratory
reagents and more medications. Also a sizeable
donation has been made by Sunbelt and we hope to be
able to use this to help get a handheld ultrasound
machine. This would be very useful for diagnostic
purposes and also for obstetrics. It would also bring
income and referrals into the hospital. We are trying
to use the monies for items that are necessary and
also bring revenue into the hospital. So we are very
thankful for all those who have been moved to help the
Koza Hospital and the people treated here.
We have also been blessed by our sister hospital in
Bere, Chad. They were aware of the difficulty here
and have given a significant quantity of medications
to our hospital that were very much needed. We thank
the physician and staff of the hospital who were so
generous. We hope in the near future to be in a
position to help other sister institutions (Bere and
others) when needs arise.
So as you can see we have definitely felt the Lord
leading in various ways recently. We still have not
been able to pay salaries yet but as we see Gods
leading we are continually encouraged and uplifted
that we are still in His hands.
I also want to thank all of you who have been
responding to our emails. When we travel to Mokolo we
download all the emails present and take them back to
Koza and read them. These are our favorite times, to
hear from all our friends and family. We are still
praying that we get our ham radio permit soon so that
we can email from home. It has been about 6 months
now and no word yet. I’m sure in His timing it will
come through. The same thing applies to our container
of personal items and donated medical equipment. I
have heard it is to arrive in the port city of Douala
around Nov. 8th. Please pray that we are able to get
it cleared through customs quickly and without large
fees to pay. I know that other containers are
arriving with donated equipment and there have been
large in-country fees. Please pray that this does not
happen with our container and that we get it soon
after it arrives so as to use the equipment in it.
We have recently finished a book as a family called
“The Purpose Driven Life” by (Rick) Warren. It has
truly been a blessing to us and would recommend it to
all of you. If any of you have inspirational books or
ones that are uplifting we would be happy to have the
name or read them. Sarah and Audrey read for leisure
and go through books rapidly. I hope in the near
future to be doing ham radio things for my leisure
wind-down activity. We continue to be fairly busy in
the hospital with about 40-45 patients on average.
We look forward to having my parents (Greg’s) here in
a few weeks. We wish our other family members could
come also. Please continue to pray for Audrey’s
mother. She has finished radiation and continues with
chemotherapy for a couple more months. She is doing
better now that radiation has finished. We enjoy
getting calls from her and my family periodically
(cell phones are wonderful, especially out here,
started working the day before we arrived).
Please pray for Audrey. She has been sick on and off
for the past month. She has had periodic fevers and
dizziness. She has finally started medication but is
not better yet. It makes life more difficult to be
sick.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and support.
It is very meaningful to us. At times we feel very
alone. Even though we know God is with us it is very
nice to have our family and friends in contact. Keep
close to God, this is the most important thing you can
do in life. Sincerely, the Shanks

#14 Cameroon 10-09-05
Dear family and friends,
We are now entering our second month here in Koza.
It seems like we just came and yet seems like we have
been here a long time.  French is coming slowly.  We
have not taken much time to continue learning and
learning on the job seems to go very slow.  But now
that the hospital is getting busier its hard to study
anything not related to patient problems when your
tired.  God is blessing the hospital and we are
averaging more than 40 patients now.  This is more
than doubled the amount when we arrived.  And since
God is blessing the devil is working harder.  We have
had some more children die from malaria and other
diseases superimposed on malnutrition.  Many are
brought in late having either tried “traditional
treatments” without success or having been at a local
dispensary a few days without getting better.  There
are a few that send patients to the hospital in a
timely fashion and others that wait to long.
We were blessed by a visit from James and Sarah Appel
from Bere Adventist Hospital in Chad.  If you did a
web search on Bere Hospital you will find their
website and stories.  They were in the capital of Chad
and had a chance to visit us.  It was so nice to see
friends come into our gate.  We had a great and short
weekend.  Of course, just half an hour after they
arrived we had to do a surgery, and emergent cesarean
section delivery of a child.  They helped with the
delivery.  It was great working with them.  They also
brought us some equipment from their hospital that
they knew we needed.  What a blessing.  Speaking of
donations, I want to thank all of you who have sent
money to my father for the hospital.  Our last student
missionary arrived about 2 weeks ago and she brought
all of it into the country for us and exchanged it in
Yaounde.  We were able to use it to buy medications in
Yaounde (much cheaper rate) and also X-ray film and
developing chemicals.  We thank you so much for your
generosity.  God is blessing us through YOU!   We also
received medical supplies my parents sent us.  We now
have sufficient number of sutures for a number of
months of surgeries.  We will also be blessed in that
we have another student missionary coming in one week
and my parents are going to visit in November.  We are
enjoying the company and look forward to more.  We
just wish for our visitors it was easier to get here.
Also want to thank those hospitals and individuals who
donated medical equipment for the hospital before we
left, that is in our container.  It was suppose to
arrive in Douala already.  We pray it clears customs
in a timely manner and without fees so that we can get
it up to us as soon as possible.
The weather here is real nice right now.  It is still
the rainy season.  It rains every few days and things
are all still green.  It is very beautiful.  The rains
will probably end by the end of October.  Then in
December and January it is suppose to get cool (cold
to the people here).  Even possible wear a jacket?!?!
It’s usually between 78-85 degrees inside and likely
the same outside.  Then in March through June it gets
up to 140 degrees we have heard from a peace corps
worker from the US.  That sounds rather miserable.  I
hope this is incorrect.  But we are enjoying the
occasional rain and the green while it lasts.
Well thank you all for your prayers and generosity.
We pray that we get the ham radio permit soon so that
we can communicate more directly with you all.  Until
then please to continue to pray for the permit to come
through.  Thank you, The Shanks in Cameroon.
Dear family and friends,
We are now entering our second month here in Koza.
It seems like we just came and yet seems like we have
been here a long time.  French is coming slowly.  We
have not taken much time to continue learning and
learning on the job seems to go very slow.  But now
that the hospital is getting busier its hard to study
anything not related to patient problems when your
tired.  God is blessing the hospital and we are
averaging more than 40 patients now.  This is more
than doubled the amount when we arrived.  And since
God is blessing the devil is working harder.  We have
had some more children die from malaria and other
diseases superimposed on malnutrition.  Many are
brought in late having either tried “traditional
treatments” without success or having been at a local
dispensary a few days without getting better.  There
are a few that send patients to the hospital in a
timely fashion and others that wait to long.
We were blessed by a visit from James and Sarah Appel
from Bere Adventist Hospital in Chad.  If you did a
web search on Bere Hospital you will find their
website and stories.  They were in the capital of Chad
and had a chance to visit us.  It was so nice to see
friends come into our gate.  We had a great and short
weekend.  Of course, just half an hour after they
arrived we had to do a surgery, and emergent cesarean
section delivery of a child.  They helped with the
delivery.  It was great working with them.  They also
brought us some equipment from their hospital that
they knew we needed.  What a blessing.  Speaking of
donations, I want to thank all of you who have sent
money to my father for the hospital.  Our last student
missionary arrived about 2 weeks ago and she brought
all of it into the country for us and exchanged it in
Yaounde.  We were able to use it to buy medications in
Yaounde (much cheaper rate) and also X-ray film and
developing chemicals.  We thank you so much for your
generosity.  God is blessing us through YOU!   We also
received medical supplies my parents sent us.  We now
have sufficient number of sutures for a number of
months of surgeries.  We will also be blessed in that
we have another student missionary coming in one week
and my parents are going to visit in November.  We are
enjoying the company and look forward to more.  We
just wish for our visitors it was easier to get here.
Also want to thank those hospitals and individuals who
donated medical equipment for the hospital before we
left, that is in our container.  It was suppose to
arrive in Douala already.  We pray it clears customs
in a timely manner and without fees so that we can get
it up to us as soon as possible.
The weather here is real nice right now.  It is still
the rainy season.  It rains every few days and things
are all still green.  It is very beautiful.  The rains
will probably end by the end of October.  Then in
December and January it is suppose to get cool (cold
to the people here).  Even possible wear a jacket?!?!
It’s usually between 78-85 degrees inside and likely
the same outside.  Then in March through June it gets
up to 140 degrees we have heard from a peace corps
worker from the US.  That sounds rather miserable.  I
hope this is incorrect.  But we are enjoying the
occasional rain and the green while it lasts.
Well thank you all for your prayers and generosity.
We pray that we get the ham radio permit soon so that
we can communicate more directly with you all.  Until
then please to continue to pray for the permit to come
through.  Thank you, The Shanks in Cameroon.

Cameroon #13 09-28-2005
“Where’s the mother of this 7 day old infant?” I said
as I entered the room.  This is a continuation of the
story of last time.  “She said she went to the river
to wash.”  Three hours later she was still nowhere to
be found.  Only the child was on the bed without
anything but the hospital sheet around him, now laying
in his own vomit.  The nurse cleaned him up at my
request and it was decided at that point that the
child had been abandoned.  His intestines still
haven’t started working yet so we cannot start working
on formula yet.  So we started new things with the
child since we cannot start an IV.  We placed a
subcutaneous catheter and are infusing it.  This
gradually will replace the fluid lost/ dehydration.
This raised a few eyebrows but is working.
(A few days later)  The child started to move his
bowels and everything appeared to be starting to work.
We purchased a bottle and used some of the donated
formula for the child.  I was starting to get hopeful
that the child would actually make it.  The following
day we entered to see him and he was distended and
breathing terribly.  His incision had opened more with
the distention.  He looked terrible.  So the ethical
question was: do we start an IV again and give him
antibiotics for the very small chance that this would
help, or make him comfortable for the inevitable?
After much discussion we made him comfortable.  Audrey
held him for more than an hour.  And he was comforted
some.  We had to continue with work and the child died
a few hours later.

Ohh, the smell was awful.  Before me sat a 50 year old
man with a tumor on the side of his face the size of a
basketball but not as pretty.  He had had a small
lesion under his chin ever since he was 15 but in the
last two years it had grown to this.  Unfortunately
people were covering their faces when he was near or
leaving the room.  He had wrapped a shirt around it to
cover the sight and to catch the drainage of pus.  I
was amazed in many ways.  How could he live like this
these past two years?  I felt sadness, suspecting how
he must be scorned.  Intrigue on what should I do with
him.  Dream of a pathologist once again!   Fortunately
my own nose doesn’t work real well and I was glad for
that at this time. (Later you may see pictures on the
website in about a month when I can get them back to
the US.  www.missiondocs.org) We continue to go well
beyond anything we have been trained for.  At times we
wish for the more straightforward US pathology and
excellent diagnostic techniques, at others we are
happy to be learning still more, entirely different,
medicine.  In the mean time I think that Burkett’s
Lymphoma is most likely or a salivary cancer.  Either
is difficult to do anything with here.  He however
doesn’t want to go back to the village.  He says if he
goes back that the people will all be talking about
how even the doctors have no hope for him.  He has
chosen to stay here and wait for me to try to find a
solution.  I will continue to try to find a
pathologist to be able to send a biopsy to.  I will
also try to send a picture to my ENT colleagues in the
US to see if they have any ideas.  I guess the good
thing about seeing all we see here is that it teaches
us to depend more on God.  Only He can lead us in the
things we have never seen before.  We are constantly
praying for His guiding and wisdom.  God is blessing
this hospital.  We started with about 15 inpatients
when we came and currently have more than 50.  Today,
Sunday, is our busiest day.  We admitted about 10
people and saw another 6 in clinic today.  God is
blessing!!  Please continue to pray for wisdom and
patience for us as we continue to work for HIM.  We
miss you all.  Also whenever any of you want to come
to Cameroon and visit you are welcome.  We do have
some extra room in the house for visitors and would
love to have more visitors.  God bless you also as you
serve Him in the US!
In His Grasp, Shanks