Author: Charles Dittmeier

May Lay Missioner Meeting

Every month lay missioners from many different sending groups and different countries meet in a support group in Phnom Penh.

In the meeting today, Maryknoll Sister Regina Pellicore gave a reflection on the rosary. It was both interesting and substantive because most people just start saying the rosary as children and no one ever explains or discusses how to pray with it.

The lay missioners gathered today came from eight different countries.

Maria Montello worked out an activity, actually making individual rosaries as part of a prayer together. The activity was followed by a dinner prepared by Maria and Kila Reimer.

AMD Testing

This is Dr. Long Chhour, an eye specialist, who has been testing and treating me for Age-related Macular Degeneration in my left eye. AMD in my case causes a fuzziness to appear in my central vision in that eye. The electronic unit is for testing with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). I have been lucky to find Dr. Chhour in Phnom Penh.

These are the OCT test results. The shallow part of the green curve indicates degeneration of the macula. It is a really interesting testing procedure.

Health Update

In the last year I have spent quite a bit of time in the Surgery Department at BNH Hospital in Bangkok. A routine physical exam in May, 2022 discovered cancer on my kidney and I had surgery then. After that I was back in November for a post-op follow up and in going through that they found more spots on the kidney. So I had to come back this week for CT scans to see what they were, but two scans indicated the spots were not cancer but scar tissue from the previous surgery. So all is well. Deo gratias.

The other part of BNH where I spend a lot of time is the fourth floor, the general medical area where I have my physical exams. This is an interior courtyard on the fourth floor. It used to be all grass and landscaping but during the Covid time, they added some small offices and consultation rooms for an allergy unit. They made a good mix of work space and pleasant landscaping.

The architects created very comfortable and aesthetically pleasing connections between the existing interior rooms and the now-more-visible garden area outside.

A Good Idea…

For me, one of the real irritants in air travel is waiting for luggage at the big airports. I don’t mind the waiting so much, but people crowd up right to the edge of the carousel so that others cannot see the bags that are coming. And it’s even worse when they bring the luggage trolleys up to the carousel. Bangkok puts this red-and-blue line around the carousel and asks people to stay behind it, and then everyone can see. Obviously (see the photo) not everyone follows this directive but it sure makes things better.

Street Surprise

This morning at 7:15 AM I was riding my bicycle home from mass with Mother Teresa’s sisters and heard someone calling me. It wasn’t my name because he is deaf but I stopped and it was Samath, our former staff artist who now is on the staff of the National Institute of Special Education. He was off today and was taking a 30 or 40-mile bicycle ride to Kandal Province to see some deaf friends. It was great to see him again! I didn’t know of his bicycle-riding interest.

Another Concert!

Musica Felice is one of the artistic treasures of Cambodia. Ms. Miwako Fujiwara, a most talented professional musician, is also an amazing organizer and she combines those two gifts in producing Musica Felice concerts to benefit deserving NGOs and organizations (such as the Deaf Development Programme). Miwako has three or four concerts a year in the Sofitel Hotel and they are always impressive performances. This photo is from today’s performance with presenting music from Beethoven to Queen.