FEB-A-5
HIT THE SOUTH COTABATO GROUND RUNNING:
ARRIVAL IN TBOLI LAND OF MINDANAO,
ACCOMPANIED BY HEAVY GUARD CONTINGENT FROM GES TO TECH,
SHORT-HANDED BUT READY TO START ANYWAY
FEB. 2, 2002
And, we are off! Off the PAL 747 and on the ground in Gen San to begin our road trip up to Edwards to start up on the Saturday schedule of cases that have been put together for us even before our arrival. Allen and Alison are left behind in Manila, to get themselves out of the problem of a bureaucratic snag, that had a new group of officials saying that the documents the prior group of officials said was adequate to transport multiple medicines into the Philippines for free treatment of the poor people of Mindanao, was no longer adequate to satisfy the meddlesome officious fellows who had wanted to show just how thorough they could be in doing their job to “obstruct the flow of drugs into the country.” Nice job, Guys! I wish upon you the reward of an operation without the anesthetics being carried in!
We have enough to begin, and we do not need any one else’s permission to commence, since the fellow to give that official clearance is the same one I am instructing in the art of thyroidectomy—and he certainly will not be interfering with this process!
As I had said, the one stop along the way that I was looking forward to at the half way point in our road trip was the fruit stand with the myriad of tropical delights that could constitute all the breakfast I would need. The PAL 747 was full of kids on a national press day outing, so the breakfast served to us seemed ideal for the clientele they were servicing---teeny boppers of the sub-MTV generation---a Chocolate covered marshmallow stuffed cookie, and a salted cheese cracker. So, I am ready to consume a few of those pineapples, fingerling bananas, and the large number of pulpy seed-stuffed tropical fruits whose names I know only from Venezuela, Congo, Taiwan, and other tropical ports where they all have different denominations. But, of course, the crowd will love my demonstration of the fast that I am a true ASEAN Pacific Islander, since I eat the fruit no Westerner could possibly love---“Tastes Like Heaven, Smells Like Hell!”—The durian. Let me at the fruit stand for my delayed breakfast, and I will be ready to operate as soon as the rehearsed “Welcome Ceremony” is completed today!
VIP’S UNDER HEAVY MILITARY
AND NATIONAL POLICE GUARD,
MOVE IN CONVOY FROM GES AIRPORT TO EDWARDS,
STOPPPING FOR BREAKFAST ALONG THE WAY AT A CHIDKEN GRILLE
If ever you wish to feel significant or safe, try a heavily armed escort! Upon arrival in GES airport, there were contingents of people lined up to greet the journalism students who clustered around the airport and held a cheering section for the arrivals—like the wild reception that we got since we were flying with a rock star. So, there were cheerleaders and costumed native cultural greeters with jasmine leis. But our reception did not stop there—and has continued all day further through the week. I am surrounded by a full military escort who not only moves with me, but also sterilizes an “LZ” around me in keeping any intruders under careful watch in the space around the team and me. There is a platoon of camo-clad soldiers who are more than “MP’s” since they carry the full kit. The commander has a pair of grenades strung around his neck with a Mae West holding ten clips of live ammo for his M-16. They are all toting the M-16’s and the fixings for a sustained firefight. But, in addition, one of them has a Mae West with a full rocket propelled grenade launcher beneath it and dozens of grenades strapped to him. They follow or precede us in the vehicle that rides escort, but also deploy around us if we stop, even for a brief moment like getting gasoline.
`In addition to the soldiers—similar to the guard I had last year when we went to the beach enroute to GES for departure, when I had a platoon of heavily armed paratroopers with me as we rode in a jeepney to the beach. This time we have an additional contingent that is recognizable by their brown uniforms, and almost as well armed. These are the National Police, whose job is similar to the army’s but relates to diverting traffic around us or keeping us unobstructed in our movements. There are about six or eight of them that I can identify. Salvi (Dr. Wuenig Dugong) the fellow who is our host, who was the only Tboli physician as well as their only college graduate, is Vice-Mayor as well of this South Cotobato area. When he had told the authorities that there would be a group of Americans, including a Surgery professor and a group of nurses, the authorities said that would be a really prize hostage group, especially since they would have their own money as well as a ransom from a US government. But, when it was pointed out that Salvi thought it was important that we continue the work here, they acknowledged that whatever the Vice-Mayor wanted he could have protection for it, and sent competing security teams to cover us.
When Salvi greeted us, I pointed out the obvious uniformed and heavily armed troops and he nodded and added: “But, you also see that man over there, and those two over there?” You have an additional assignment of plain clothes guards who are around the periphery~” Every ten kilometers there are stake outs on the roads we are scheduled to travel and there is a lot of communication in radio traffic if we have not passed on schedule. The guard has staked out the TECH (Tboli Evangelical Clinics and Hospital) and will be with me at every turn. The guard will be here with us until January 9, and then we move on by light airplane to Malaybalay, where the process is repeated. With another set of security guards.
We drove out of GenSan and went to a place up the road to have breakfast at a chicken grille. As we did so, a quartet of the soldiers spread out around the restaurant, and looked quite official, as the others stripped down from their heavy equipment and looked like casual Philippine kids in their Chicago Bulls tee-shits and casual sandals. When it was time to go, they got back into the BDU’s and off we went, sweeping our perimetry guard with us.
TECH is the Tboli Evangelical Clinic and Hospital, part of a large string of outreach programs built around Vivien Forsberg’s original translation and literacy work. We met Dr. Salvi’s wife Dr. Bing and had lunch—each time with new tropical fruits and wonderful fruit juices. And here were Janet, the surgeon from Bethel and Don the anesthesiologist, and Alfred the very capable nurse anesthetist—so we were ready to roll.
And roll we did. I worked with Janet with Valerie scrubbing and Holly circulating and we did the first large goiter in a male, and then did a younger woman with a large isthmus goiter that involved the whole of the gland. We then did an older woman who had a very large right lobe, and we were able to spare her left lobe. So we already have done a batch of thyroidectomies, and have ten booked for Monday with a couple of parotid tumors, a couple of hysterectomies and a few other miscellaneous cases already looking for us to come up to get treated. So, we will have a full plate here.
The captain of the guard had said, “Do not move out of the compound.” Dr. Salvi said—“But the professor runs—and a long distance at that!”
So we talked with them about how they can cover me and when I will be running. I told them I would let them know—and we will see if they can deploy a vehicle fore and aft and a number of stakeouts along the way. They are especially focused around me in their security efforts, since I seem to be the bandleader and a prominent American who looks like he might be worth the most with the deepest pockets. So, I cannot wait to see how I can run tomorrow, with a contingent of soldiers in combat boots and full camo carrying a whole a full of ammo with their full automatic weapons.