First Medical Facility Experience in Cambodia

Most of you who are reading this already know that I have severe osteoarthritis in both of my hips. At the gym there is a Khmer physical therapist, Sanang, who I decided to see about my hips. Last week, after working on me for 5 minutes Sanang said that my issue was too great and that he would have to send me to his master teacher who was then out of the country. This morning (Tuesday) I went to see the master teacher, an Australian named Steve. On the way to Steve’s Sanang asked me if I had my X-Rays with me. I said that they were still in the US and so he pulled over to side of the street and stopped at what looked like a store front pharmacy. He walked up to the counter and had a conversation with an elderly man, then returned to say that I could get X-Rays there. I asked him if it was safe and he assured me that it was. Well, this was an interesting experience. I do not like getting X-Rays. I do not even like taking aspirin. But here I was in the small back room of this Cambodian office trying my best to communicate with an X-Ray Technician who spoke no more English than I speak Khmer. I could tell by the way that he was gesturing that I was to supposed to undress and put on a large print skirt (that is “skirt” not “shirt”). When the Tech returned he gestured for me to lie down on the X-Ray table and then he started pointing to different areas of my body. I could tell that he was wondering what area(s) he was supposed to X-Ray.

Twenty minutes and $10 later I walked out with two X-Rays of my hips and went to Steve’s.

My Cambodian X-Ray Skirt

Steve has been in Cambodia on a faith-based mission for 10 years. He is a gifted Physical Therapist from Brisbane. Steve took my medical history, asked questions about my activities and symptoms, and performed a perfunctory exam; then he reviewed the X-Rays and began speaking in Khmer to Sanang. I could tell by some of the words and intonation that it wasn’t all good news and that there would be no magic bullet solution to fix me, but then Steve showed me the X-Rays and pointed out where there should be cartilage between the ball and cup of my hip joint. He said that on both sides I had no cartilage visible on the X-Rays and then he showed me how the bone on the edge of the cup was bright white because without the cartilage the bone has been absorbing all the pounding that the cartilage is meant to absorb. He worked on me for about 1 ½ hours (largely using this as a teaching time for Sanang) and ended by giving me some exercises to do. Steve recommended that I discontinue running and focus more on cycling and swimming. My days of playing squash are over as confirmed by Steve’s laughter at the idea. Badminton and tennis in moderation are still ok.

I just found an athletic club close to where I live that has two beautiful tennis courts, a nice pool, and badminton courts. So, I may be trying out that athletic club this week. It is called “Good Time”. It is quite a nice club with a restaurant, athletic clothing store, and fancy locker room. It just has kind of an odd name. Earlier this week I passed a school with a banner boasting “Children is smarter”. Ah, the charm of English translation in Phnom Penh. There is something new to smile and laugh about each day.

This morning, I was reflecting more on my hip injury in the context of some of the Scriptures I have read recently. I also was forming a response email to a friend (most of this is a cut and paste from that response). The book "The Shack” came to mind. It is somewhat controversial in the Christian community, but I loved it. One of the things that I took from this book is the difference between “expectations” and “expectancy”. For most of my Christian life I have lived with expectations for God. I have prayed for specific things to be given or taken away. What was missing from that was a deepening of my relationship with Him; instead of earnestly seeking what His will was, I thought only of what I wanted Him to give to me. Even Jesus wanted the cup to be taken from Him, but He prayed that not His will, but His Father’s will be done. As I understand it, the difference between expectations and expectancy  is that in the former I have a preconceived idea of what should be done and in the latter I have a trust in the character of God and that fuels my patience to wait in trust.
 

When I think about the Scripture where the woman with the hemorrhage of 12 years is healed on the spot by God’s power I think certainly God can take away the physical infirmities that I have. But this morning I thought what if I didn’t expect that, didn’t pray for that, but instead prayed only that I would be drawn nearer to God in love and deeper in reverence? Then my healing would perhaps not be in the form of physical change, but in a spiritual transformation that changes the way that I live with the infirmity. What if the woman’s change was not a ceasing of the bleeding, but a Holy transformational change of how she was able to live with the bleeding because of her relationship with God? (I don’t believe that is the case because Scripture said her bleeding immediately ceased.) The other Scripture that came to mind this morning was from Matthew 19 – the wealthy man who by all appearances was a good person, respectful of the law. Yet, he knew that he was missing something in his life and he sought Jesus, but because he had so much in the world it smothered him and kept him from being able to give it all up and follow Jesus; at least in that moment. Maybe God is allowing me to have the physical infirmity that I have as a way of protecting me because if I didn’t have this I wouldn’t be able to be as close to Him.

I have grown in my love for God, but at the same time have also accepted that not everything I want does He want for me. So, rather than have an expectation that He will change something in my life because I have asked for it, I have an expectancy that His character is true and that as I grow and live more deeply in reverence to Him He will always deliver what is best for me even though I may not have seen it or known to ask for it.