Leaving a footprint…

Yesterday was the Lord’s Day, or so they like to call it at Church. I usually attend a Mandarin service with my parents, then the English service with my significant other, Vanessa. Yesterday was a little special. At 7 a.m., i headed to the harbour instead and headed off to the little island of Batam, Indonesia.

We attended the service which was conducted in Bahasa Indonesia.

The medical side seemed overstaffed. We had an ophthalmologist, an ER physician, a internist trainee (about to enter an ENT training program) and 2 4th year medical students. So Vanessa and I headed over to the dental side. I learnt quickly how to prepare the LA kit for the dentist to do nerve blocks prior to extraction. Toward the end, i realised i got to do one myself. I requested to, and when a relatively easy one came, i was given the go ahead. I clamped the mandibular molar tightly with the forceps, and started moving it up and down, left and right. Then in a circular fashion. “With more force, upwards” whispered Dr. J, the dentist i worked with. We had fantastic conversations.

I thought for a moment. “What am i a medical student doing this for?” But that thought quickly dissipated when “Pop” came the molar. I almost hit the maxillary incisors with the forceps. It was an alright feeling. I knew for one i made a difference to the patient’s life, but i also knew, that’s why i am not in dentistry. It’s too bland for me. It was tough work though. We had a average of 15 extractions and 5 fillings at each of 2 locations we stopped at. It was an interesting first-time experience at medical mission work.

Batam Mission Trip

Come 15 Jan, i’ll be heading up to Cambodia for more. This time, there is only medical work. I’ll be clerking patients with the help of a translator and confirming my diagnoses and management plan with the doctors. I am so looking forward to that.

A man leaves all kinds of footprints when he walks through life.
Some you can see … others are invisible, like the prints he
leaves across other people’s lives.

— Margaret Lee Runbeck