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Showing posts from June, 2005

Skin Cancer pathology results

Good news today, I do not have skin cancer after all. Dr. Mihm, the skin cancer specialist spent Saturday with Dr Bachetta and they examined the biopsy. It turns out to be a minor skin condition that affects 1 person in a 100. The surgeon wants to remove a slightly larger area of skin and that should be it dealt with.

Friends moving on

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Today in church we had three families leave. They are moving on to other parts of the world with their jobs. It was a time to reflect and for them to share how their lives had changed over the two years they had been with us. It was amazing actually. Jeff and Maria are moving onto Switzerland. Jeff shared how he had really come to a serious commitment to Christ. He had done an Alpha course last year and it really spurred him onto to reading his Bible daily and taking his faith seriously. They are looking for an Anglican church in Zurich now. Jeff and Maria Christine is moving back to London. She said how she had initially come simply for social contract with English speakers. Now she is leaving with a real sense of commitment and has made contact with a Christian group in her new job and wants to do an Alpha course pretty soon. It was all very encouraging. What have we learnt through this? Being a friend is the most important thing in sharing you faith. Being natural and all

International Exams

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This evening was the St. Andrew's College Asuncion prize giving for international exams. Our school is the only one in Paraguay that offers international GCSE and AS level exams from the Cambridge University International Exam Board. So it was quite an occasion for the students who were obtaining their certificates. Christine Winterbun, the Charge d' Affairs from the British Embassy, was the guest of honour. It was her last official engagement for the embassy which is now sold. There will be no more British diplomats here after she leaves next Monday. The highlight of the night were two ex-students who returned from studying in the UK and USA. I taught computer Studies to Guillermo in 2001. He's now a majoring in Computer Animation at a university in Florida. They said how much they valued the international education they got in St. Andrew's and how helpful it was to them in their studies. It was nice to hear students appreciate what we do. St. Andrew's ex-s

Last offical embassy event in Asuncion

On Monday evening we went to the last official embassy event in AsunciĆ³n.  The British government announced last year the embassy would close to save money.  It was in the Ambassador's residence that has a big for sale sign outside and furniture borrowed for the evening.  The house is normally empty as the ambassador moved on in April and all the furniture is gone.  It was an opportunity to meet the Honorary Consul and our new Diplomatic representatives from Buenos Aires, who now have charge over AsunciĆ³n. It was actually a very nice evening, the food was excellent.  It's a shame the embassy will no longer be here to pay for the occasional buffet dinner. 

Pathology results

I got the pathology results yesterday and they are not sure what the results mean! They recommended that an expert pathologist, Dr. Martin Mihm from the USA, who is visiting Paraguay on June 25th, has a look at it. Not sure if that is good news or not.

Skin cancer surgery

4:58 pm I'm sitting in the waiting room of Dr Bachetta, the plastic surgeon who removed my skin cancer last Friday. It was a straightforward procedure, a quick local anathestic and 15 minutes on the table and that was it. He will have biopsy results I think. To see a consultant here is pretty easy. You just need to ring up their private clinic and make an appointment. All you need to have is the money to afford treatment - $150 to have skin cancer removed. Our school has health insurance which covers general hospital visits, but your average Paraguayan struggles to find the money to see the doctor or buy medicines. Often people are begging in the streets because their child needs medicine. The daughter of members of our church recently had twins 12 weeks premature, they needed a week of neonatal intensive care - at £2000 a day! Hearing figures like that make you thankful for the National Health Service we have in Northern Ireland. 6:14 pm Dr said it is healing well, but no patholog