Vietnam- My Tho Trip 

About two months ago we had a medical clinic in the Province of Kompong Chhnang. During that clinic a patient with a large mass on his head showed up asking for help. Well, the kind of help this gentleman needed was about 20 centimeters long with a sharp end and an educated arm attached. He needed surgery to cut the mass off.

You see five years ago he was climbing a tree and missed a step and fell on to the ground. A stick stuck him in the head and left a small splinter in his head that he was unaware of. Two years later a small growth appeared on the top of his head. The growth never stopped growing. He eventually decided that he would go to the hospital and have it looked at. The local doctor told him it would cost fifty dollars to remove it. Our patient at the time only had thirty dollars. The hospital took thirty dollars of the mass off which was most of it, not all of it. A few years later it was back in terrible fashion. It was as round as a coke can and almost 3 centimeters tall. He had worn a baseball cap everyday for three years to conceal his secret.

A doctor, Dr.Monahan (Miracle #1) took special interest in him and decided to see what he could do. When Dr.Monahan returned to the United States he put the word out to his colleagues to see specifically how this patient, Chiem Voeun needed help. It turned out that another medical mission, Healing the Children (Miracle #2) would be in Vietnam in the town of My Tho just seven hours from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The hospital in My Tho had a visiting team of plastic surgeons from the United States who were very experienced with such a procedure(Miracle #3)They had agreed to do the surgery for free!(Miracle #4) The director of the My Tho Hospital, Dr. Vi Nguyen had agreed to allow this patient to come for the procedure.(Miracle #5)

A month and a half had past and we were getting ready to leave for Vietnam when we found out that our patient’s passport had not been completed. In addition, our Cambodian/Vietnamese interpreter also was without a passport. But there was no time we had to be in Vietnam the next morning ready to go. We rented a taxi and headed to the border.

Just before we reached the border we pulled off in to a small market and enquired about travel across the border. We were informed that with a small fee our two people without passports could cross without hassle, they were right. With our pockets a little lighter all four of us managed to cross the border and hail a taxi without incident. (Miracle#6)

We arrived in My Tho three hours later and proceeded to check into the hotel. PROBLEM!!! The only people who can check into hotel rooms, motel rooms, guest houses, and mud puddles in Vietnam are ones with passports. So, we headed to the hospital in search of solutions to our problem.

Upon arriving to the side entrance of the hospital the security guard nicely stopped us and enquired about our visit. After all of our explanations he refused to let us in. So, I pulled the white piece of paper out of my pocket and showed him all of the important people we were to meet. At that exact time an older lady who was exiting the hospital and looked important took interest in our dilemma. (Miracle #7) She saw the names on the white paper and a minute later was on the phone to someone in the hospital. When she hung up she simply said, “Two of you, follow me.”

My-self and the patient were escorted to the second floor of the hospital. As we walked through two doors and proceeded down the hallway and gentleman in blue scrubs was walking towards us. As we were about to pass each other the nice lady who was escorting us stopped and said Dr.Gertler (the doctor we were scheduled to meet the next day: Miracle #8) these people are here to see you.

We were received with open arms to the hospital, his surgery was scheduled a day earlier than planned and we were planning on sleeping on the hospital floor but the director said, “No, you are V.I.P., we have beds for you up stairs and give them what they want to eat tonight for free.” (Miracle #9)

The next morning the surgery was performed by Dr.Wustrack and Dr.Dundas from Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Chiem Voeun checked into his hospital room and was told to stay put for two nights. During that time he made friends with the two Vietnamese patients that were in motor cycle accidents. By the time he left he was calling them brother and their parents mom. One night we had my- self (American) with our group (Cambodian) sharing and listening to stories from the other patients staying in the same room (Vietnamese). We had three translations going at one time. It was an incredible time of sharing and making new relations. At one point I just sat back and remembered the history these three countries had and how special this trip had become to me. I remember thinking, “How will this experience affect the people in this room and the relations with their neighboring Cambodia in the future?”(Miracle #10)

We left four days after the day we arrived to the hospital. Chiem Voeun was smiling, though he had a small headache. Dr.Chhaya (Cambodian doctor), Pastor Chhaeng Ka (Cambodian/Vietnamese Interpreter) and my self (Medical Coordinator) left the hospital and returned home to Phnom Penh, Cambodia eight hours later without incident.