Richard's Second Eye Surgery!

Dear Friends of BESI / Radio Kahuzi,

Pastor Calvin Lowder picked Rich and Kathy up at their motel at 11:30 am on October 9. The surgeon examined both Richard's eyes at 1 pm and determined that they both had "false cataracts".

She was successful in removing the problem in the right eye and when we finally found them back at the motel around 6:30 pm they were excited to give us their good report. They needed to return the next morning to repeat the procedure on his left eye as the same problem was starting to cloud his vision.

They were hoping their luggage would be there when they returned to their room; however, it did not arrive until very late that evening, so they are still in their travel clothes from Oct 5, but we both agreed that was the least of their worries. At least Kathy will not be taking a blind man back to Congo. God is so good...

Kathy visited with Dr. Thomas and was relieved to find out it would be all OK after a long week of travel and just now knowing how it would turn out.

On Friday Pastor Cal drove them back to Stephens City, a two hour drive, and Cal and the McDonalds prepared to speak Friday night at the Cumberland Conference, and stay overnight at the Downtown Cumberland Ramada then back to Pastor Cal's house for some recovery time over the weekend.

On Monday, Oct 13 they drove back to DC for follow-up...

We praise the Lord we had a great last interview with Dr Thomas!

She said my retinas are perfect! We are sure that is a relative comparison, but we are so thankful we won't need to have them checked, or worked on for a LOONNGGGGG time now that she has checked the two surgeries she has done. She gave me a new prescription for glasses for the change in one eye.

Basically, she laser-cut a cross in each lens sheath so the light could pass through the eye to the retina at the back. It opened in each eye automatically because of the surface tension on this curved sac that holds the lens in place. No problems...

We are back at Cal's, planning to go with them to Grand Rapids tomorrow (Oct 14) to visit with Bill and Mary Bunch family and Wayne Schoonover and his daughter Jill before leaving for Africa. They are all like family having also worked in Africa with Kathy's parents, Fred and Millie Bahler.

Lord willing, Bill, Mary and Wayne will travel with us to Elkart Thursday to see the HCJB team and discuss future plans and equipment needs. Wayne and Bill are members of our BESI Board.

I'll cut and send as I need to write to our team in Bukavu, where the main problem continues to be power outages in the afternoons.

We covet your prayers and good wishes for them.

Praise our LORD as His blessings are new every morning.

Keep Looking Up!
Richard and Kathy McDonald