Author: Charles Dittmeier

I’m back….!!!!

After almost a one-month hiatus, I finally have access to this website again! The technicians at EsoSoft that hosts my website found two plug-ins that had stopped functioning and disabled them so now I think things will work OK.

This is just a quick test that I can post again and a notice that I should be on the air daily from now on. I’m sorry for the silence! I hope you can come back again!

It’s 7:00 AM Sunday morning here in Phnom Penh. I’ll be back later today.

Coming up….

For serious Christians, the upcoming Holy Week may be part of their thinking and planning. Palm Sunday is next Sunday and the beginning of the special and holy for belivers in Jesus. For most Cambodians, however, what is coming up and is on their minds is the Khmer New Year, April 13-15.

Here are some DDP students and a staff member from the Deaf Community Center practicing a traditional dance that uses dried coconut shells to make a clacking sound.

Cryotherapy

Over the past few years, as I have aged I have developed spots or lesions on the skin that the dermatologist said could develop into skin cancer. He recommended removing them with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy). Here are some photos from my last visit to the dermatologist which also give some glimpses of Cambodian medical culture.

I usually try to get to the doctor early in the morning. This doctor starts at 7:30 AM. Because of Covid, he moved his waiting area out on to the sidewalk, and even though Covid is much less a concern now, his patients still wait on the street.
This is inside the real waiting room. Notice the heavy, luxury-wood chairs. They are a sign in every business that you “have arrived,” that you are successful. They certainly don’t contribute anything to comfort. I bet your doctor doesn’t have fine chairs like these! The picture on the wall is the dermatologist with his wife (also a doctor) with the prime minister.
This is the rest of the waiting room. Notice all the wooden chairs and statues and other objects.
This is a cryotherapy gun that shoots liquid nitrogen on to the spot or mark to be removed. The temperature of the nitrogen in the gun is -320ºF!