Monday, January 9, 2012

Set a Record!




Today we saw 40 patients. It was a record for Pavel’s ISL teams.  It could possibly be a record for ISL with the size of our group.  We could of easily of seen more people because we saw 30 people between about 10am and 1230.  There were not near the amount of people that showed up in the afternoon.  We were cranking people through this morning.  It was pretty hectic but our goal was to see as many patients as we possibly could.  We did see some interesting things today.  We saw lice jumping out of little girl’s hair and eggs so matted in their hair.  It was so sad. But at the same time, we were all a little repulsed when we started thinking about it.  The protective anti-lice spray was being sprayed around.  I think it has gotten to a point where it is going to be a miracle if I don’t get it.  Disgusting, but I would rather have lice than get some sort of parasite from the food or water.  I also got to see the prime example of why socialized medicine is not near the ideal care to be provided.  A woman came up today that had a tumor removed from her breast (obviously it was breast cancer) over a year ago and her wound was still oozing and bleeding.  They didn’t do a mastectomy because the cancer was SO bad.  That would never happen in the US, we would give the woman a mastectomy to increase her chances of survival and decrease the chance of a relapse.  That does not happen here.  It’s so bad, too bad you don’t get the care.  That is so sad. 
I think today that I saw a little more need in the community and really felt that we were doing a great thing for these people.  I was talking with a couple other people the past couple days and realized that this trip really wasn’t to perform skills and get better at nursing because a lot of the equipment and theory is not behind the medicine here.  They do what they can, when they can, with what they have.  Instead, this trip was to make a difference in these people’s lives.  Whether it was to give the kids a little doll, put a smile on a child’s face, or simply hand over some ibuprofen.  All of these impacted the lives of people here.  I am coming to the end of this trip and feeling really satisfied with what we have been doing here.  It has been a lot of fun, challenging, and fulfilling. 
We did slightly get to change our itinerary for the week, which is exciting!  Tomorrow we are going clinic from about 10 am until 12pm and then we are having another piñata party for these kids.  That will be our last day of work!  It is bittersweet because I am ready for a little bit of a break but at the same time it is fun to get to play with the kids and help the people.  Wednesday we are going ziplining in the morning.  It is about an hour drive from where we are in a town near San Luis.  It is supposed to be one of the best in Costa Rica.  That should be a lot of fun.  Don’t worry Mom, it doesn’t look like we will be bungee jumping THIS trip…maybe another time ;).  Thursday, we are going to drive to a waterfall and get to swim in the river and hang out for the day!  So we will technically be having two recreation days.
That is all for right now.  Everyone is watching the bachelor and I am trying to wait until I get home on Friday to catch up on all my shows.  Going to go enjoy my warm shower!!!

The pictures are from crossing the boarder at Costa Rica and Nicaragua (first photo) and then the others are from yesterday at clinic!

No comments:

Post a Comment