Amputations are common here — civilian men, women, and children run into Myanmar army land mines fairly often, as do soldiers. Our Surgical PA Zu Zae Nar did an excellent job on this amputation. As our PAs graduate and go to work in other areas, it'll get easier to follow up with these patients around Karen State. #surgery #junglemedicine #war (fb)

HayMooPaw’s village lay far from the fighting. No soldiers from either side passed through. No battles were fought nearby. It held no strategic value — just a quiet cluster of homes, where humble farmers tried to grow enough to eat. When the military bombed it, the whole village burned to the ground. Five-year-old HayMooPaw arrived at our mobile surgical unit at 1 a.m. that night, intestines spilling from her belly. Shaking off the lulling embrace of deep sleep, Dr. Augustine quietly shouldered the responsibility for this little life. Sitting at a desk in the triage tent, Dr. Zu — so often the spark of laughter in the room — now wore a face weighted with the same seriousness as she carefully calculated safe doses of anesthesia for the little girl. Preparing HayMooPaw for surgery, the team gently cut away her clothes — little more than shredded, bloody rags. Bits of straw and dirt still clung to her skin, reminders of the pickup truck’s rough ride through the jungle that night. And then, in that still, brief moment between moments, I saw it: This skinny, vulnerable, injured little body carried the soul of one of God’s most beloved. Evil had tried to erase it, but in that place of suffering and pain and helplessness, Jesus was near. What we did for this little girl, we did to Him. - Dr. Mitch (fb)