June 2002 - Annette Culpan

Another intensive month in paradise. It's been a mixed bag of highs and lows, but the scales are favouring the positive. Between long hours, tropical heat and times of frustration, there has been times of magic.

From visiting an illegal immigrant slum in Denpasar, to creating the Trust's website - this will be up late July so keep your eye out - It has been a month of diversity.

My best moment this month was when I visited one of our patients in Denpasar, who we suspected had a tumour in her enlarged stomach. I expected to enter the house and arrange an ultrasound appointment. Instead I walked in to discover a newborn, plump and healthy baby asleep in her grandmother's arms! Our patient had firmly denied even the possibility of a pregnancy as she is without a husband or partner. So instead of organising a specialist appointment for our patient Novi, I found myself taking down an order for baby formula. I found this absolutely hilarious and an enormous relief! I'm not sure if the family understood why my smile was so enormous - the prognosis could have been so much more serious!

My most difficult experience this month was when a patient we had referred on to a specialist centre was not accepted for an appointment as the centre believed they could not help him. I felt incredibly hopeless for this poor boy who has been disabled since birth.

Earlier this month we farewelled volunteer Sue Cowie. My melancholy at her departure however was swiftly reversed as within two days of returning to Auckland she had booked a ticket back to Bali for August! Western-trained physiotherapists with paediatric experience are in very short demand and not only did she give a lot to both patients and local medical staff alike, having Sue was also a marvellous point of leverage for the Trust in Bali.

The current implications for the Trust in Bali are we have no full time medical support on the ground here. The only thing for this situation is patience and a 'wait and see' approach. This is easier said than done given, I am very aware of some Trust patients requiring urgent attention - especially those with open leprosy wounds living in a shared space. I've attempted to transform this negative into a positive and spent the month firmly focused on marketing, fundraising and developing recruitment templates.

With all this time spent on a computer my most recent purchase is a NEW BIGGER AND BETTER Voltage Stabiliser - which is SUPPOSED to stop all the electric shocks I've been getting from my laptop. No joy. As long as there are power surges in Indonesia, I'll remain on the receiving end of electric shocks. A reminder to all in the third world, wear shoes when working with electrical equipment.

Annette

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