Nahomy Update

This week we have a youth group here from Colorado, as well as some other visitors. I’ve been going with the youth group in the mornings to do VBS at the DESEO schools, and in the afternoons to Ojos de Agua for basketball camp. It’s been a lot of fun, and the kids love it!

Today, we went to the school in Yarushin, which is where we were for the last medical brigade. On the way out of town, a few of us stopped by to see Nahomy! I should probably back up and say that I visited her in the hospital most days while she was there, and after improving a great deal, she was sent home last Monday taking only vitamins and iron. It made my heart happy to see how much better she felt, and also to see how much she warmed up to me! Today when we stopped by to visit, she came out to greet us with a huge grin on her face. She looks great, and her mom and grandmother say she’s like a new little person! She’s not sleeping all day anymore, she’s back to loving school, and she's playing with her brothers and cousins all the time again.

I have been so glad to receive all of the e-mails and messages about prayers for Nahomy, MUR, and for me! Thank you all for the encouragement. I’m so glad to be able to share stories like hers. Obviously your prayers are helping! 

Nahomy

This week was yet another medical brigade success, gracias a Dios, with a group from Burnt Hickory in Atlanta. We went to Yarushin four days in a row, and saw over 850 patients. The Burnt Hickory group was smaller than others, but it was made up of hard workers that worked together extremely well, so even with 850 people seen we had a very smooth, stress-free four days! The two Honduran doctors (and one of them brought his wife who is his nurse) were INCREDIBLE, which assisted in the ease with which we passed the week. They were from other places in the country, and I hope that they both come to work with us again in the future. They both signed on last minute (which is a whole other story in and of itself about how God provides) but they were both so gracious to pick up and drive across Honduras to help us out.

My favorite story from this brigade is about a PRECIOUS 6 year old girl named Nahomy. When she heard that there was a medical brigade in town she told her grandmother “We have to go,” so thankfully they did. The doctor saw her and recognized immediately her pale skin, the white color of her mucous membranes (mouth, eyes), and the fact that her skin doesn’t blanch with pressure, and diagnosed her with anemia. Sweet Nahomy was so sick that she craves iron so badly that she eats dirt. She was embarrassed about that fact, but her hemoglobin level was 5.7 when it should be 12, which means her body was doing what it had to do to stay alive. She went to the hospital in March to receive a blood transfusion for the same thing, but they treated her anemia and not the parasites that are causing it, so here we are months later in the same situation. Dr. Mauricio did not hesitate to tell the family that she would die very soon if she does not get treated, so it needed to happen immediately.

Before blood transfusion

The doctor sent Nahomy to Santa Rosa with orders for lab work, and told them to return with the results. The next afternoon they returned with results that, in the U.S, would have kept you at the hospital. With multiple critical lab values, Jon, Dr. Mauricio, and I drove Nahomy, her mom, and grandmother right back to the hospital. (Did I mention how much Ioved these doctors? Having him at the hospital made everything go MUCH more smoothly.) We stayed to make sure she got admitted, discussed the plan of action with the pediatrician, and Dr. Mauricio—who is an ENT—extracted foreign objects out of two different kids’ noses.

Yesterday I went back to the hospital to check on her, and after only transfusing one unit of blood and a couple of days of antibiotics and parasite treatments, she looks worlds better. Her lab values have all come back to almost normal, and even her temperament has improved. She was a smiley, giggly little girl, whereas before she had been exhausted, scared, and miserable (understandably). I will keep following up with her, but it makes my heart happy to see such a quick, incredible improvement in a life that could possibly have been lost.

After

Also, I would like to point out the slight differences in hippa/hospital policies. I walked into the pediatric ward yesterday, visited the patient and talked to some of the other patients, asked for and was given her chart, and asked all sorts of questions about her care. Scrubs automatically make you so powerful here! Love it. Also, the fact that Dr. Mauricio was willing to treat a couple of patients at a random hospital was incredible to me, but also that the doctors there asked a man that they had never met to treat their patients is yet another factor that stands out. 

Quinciñera!

I feel the need to go back and write about the Quinciñera from last week. Quinciñeras are a celebration of 15^th birthdays, which I bet everyone remembers from 9^th grade Spanish when I’m pretty sure everyone in the U.S. watched the same video about a girl’s Quinciñera party.

This was one of the most interesting cultural experiences I’ve seen yet. Laura (previously mentioned favorite translator and daughter of Phil and Donna, who started MUR) was on the “court,” which is basically like being a bridesmaid. You buy the dress the birthday girl picks, you walk down an isle with an escort, then they do a cotillion-esque dance with everyone watching. I told her she’s in training to take over my job as professional bridesmaid one day. Starting her early!

Maybe my favorite part of the quinciñera was the rehearsal. Now that I have a car here (pause for celebration!!! Car!!!), I’m able to run errands and be more independent/helpful. Therefore, I was happy to drive Laura to the rehearsal. She was NOT excited, but I was SUPER excited, mainly because I was going to watch her learn the dance. (Sounds mean, but that’s what big sisters are for, and I have adopted her as little sister. DON’T WORRY, GRACE, YOU HAVEN’T BEEN REPLACED.) I’m rambling. Blah blah blah, went to VCOM dinner before rehearsal, blah blah blah, talked two of the medical students and one of the translators into coming with us! It helped Laura feel more comfortable, and was definitely a fun cultural experience for them to see. One of them lived in Santa Rosa for a couple of months a while back and speaks much better Spanish than I do, and the other picked up on a LOT of Spanish that week. During the rehearsal, he ended up having many discussions with the Honduran ladies that were planning and setting up, offering advice about which color of tablecloths or decorations should go where. Slightly embarrassing, but extremely hilarious.

David, medical student, discussing the decorations with Rosa and another lady.

For Skarleth’s quince, there was a mass (that we didn’t attend. Had something we had to do at that time), then everyone goes over for the reception where all of the court precedes her in walking down the isle and being presented. Lawson and Jordan Stacy were also on the court, along with other children. Each pair of niños carried an item down the isle that was presented to her when her turn came. There was a pair of high heels (since she’s a woman now), jewelry (same thing), and a doll (the last doll she’ll ever be given). Overall, Laura looked too cute, she did great during the dance, we ate some delicious food, and I got to check another cultural experience off my Honduran bucket list.

 Skarleth, birthday girl, is the one in the purple. The "court" is dancing around her.

Look at cute Laura!

They had dolls sitting on all of the tables... If you know me you know how I feel about dolls (and clowns, for that matter). Every time I turned around Jordan had this doll turned to look at me. Yikes. 

Laura and her escort, Falker.

VCOM

 Last week we had a group of medical students from VCOM (Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine) here to do a brigade in a number of different villages. VCOM seems like a pretty awesome school. They put a big focus on rural medicine, and they have clinics in Honduras, the Dominican, and El Salvador where students can do mission trips or even do part of their rotations. (Some of those details might be wrong). Plus they all seemed to be secret Auburn fans:).. Or maybe I imagined that.

Anyway, this brigade was VERY different for me from our normal brigades, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. Instead of helping “run the show” I was translating, since they have their own, very efficient, jefes (the Spanish seemed more appropriate). We had mainly second year students come down that had just finished their first year of medical school (got corrected for calling them 1^st years about 100 times), and they brought a handful of MDs to be their attendings. We saw less than half of the patients that we do on a daily basis in our normal brigades so that the students were able to do a full assessment, and the attending docs had time to stop and do some teaching. After I got over the slower pace and quit stressing over it, I really enjoyed listening to them teach, and I learned a lot in the process! There were also a few nursing students that came with them. I enjoyed talking to them, and realized that I wouldn’t go back to where they are(as great as that phase was) for any amount of money.

I actually just read and completely edited this paragraph… But I will say that the nursing students and I enjoyed working with the baby docs so early in their process of medical school. It’s really unique that they’re doing clinical work right after their first year, so they have a lot to learn, but they did a really great job! I really did enjoy, though, (and told the nursing students to remember these stories) having to explain how to do a blood pressure, or use an otoscope, or do a blood sugar, for example. They all worked really hard, did a great job, and made me laugh a LOT.

This was my first time to work as an actual official translator. Yikes. I did fine, thanks to God as always, but it was one of the most mentally and physically exhausting weeks I’ve had since I got here. There were more than a few times that I had to ask one of the “real” translators to come help me or for a couple of words, but overall I think it was fine. Maybe the others would tell you otherwise? Ha. The exhaustion might have also been because 3 of the 5 brigade days we were in villages that were 2.5-3 hrs away, so I was leaving the house before 0600 and getting home as usual around 9:30 or 10:00p.m. With that said, if exhaustion because of translating and long bus rides is my biggest problem, then I don’t have anything to complain about. 

Ohhh P.S. Grace, maybe you should be a DO. Seriously. And I PROMISE I'm going to call you. Worst sister award, I know.. But at least you're getting a shout out in the blog?

One of the students, Larry.

OMM: DO stuff in action.

Killing some time with some VCOM students.

The "Off Week"

This has been a really interesting week "off” in between having groups here. There were 3 days that I was awake at 3:30 in the morning, if that’s any indication of how it went. One night I was sick, one day our adventure was beginning, and one night we were traveling home from my first wake. I won’t say much about the night that I was up sick (you’re welcome:) but the other two I will share some stories about.

Thursday morning I left with our wonderful driver Angel, my favorite translator Laura, and the trusty intern Ben. We left bright and early to go to a village called San Manuel, pick up a little patient, and take him to the doctor in Santa Rosa. Our 12 year old friend, Gerson, has some lesions on his face, so we took him to the dermatologist for a visit. The village is 2.5 hours away from Santa Rosa, so we were out and about for 12 hours for about a 7 minute visit with the doctor.. (Everyone knows how that goes). The 12 hours consisted of the drive there and back twice, the wait for the MD, the visit with the MD, a couple of food stops, and of course an early morning flat tire. Ben said I turned into “mama bear” while we were all on the side of the road, which I’m sure is true. (No worries, Mary and Donna, I got this). In the end we got a treatment for Gerson, had some bonding time with Angel, discovered that Laura and Ben have no idea how to change a tire, and got to see some really beautiful Honduran countryside.

Now, for my most recent dose of culture shock. Yesterday, Phil told me there was a man in a village that had died in his sleep and that I needed to pronounce his death. I thought he was joking at first. It was one of my first situations of “I know I’m not a doctor but I’m the closest thing out here.” We got ready and headed out on the 2.5 hour drive on one of the bumpiest make-shift roads I’ve ever seen.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit nervous. We arrived at this dark, warm house and I walked through about 50 grieving friends and family members to get to Eduardo. I didn’t know him personally, but I have heard many stories about what a great, hard-working man he was, and about the stability that he provided for his large family. I knew as soon as I touched his stiff, cold body that he had passed, but making that call was a bit more difficult than I had expected. His family members were watching hopefully over my shoulder as I assessed him. A couple of them were standing so close that they were touching me. No amount of “sensitivity training” could have prepared me for that moment, and I was thankful for Phil and Donna who stood there with me and were able to speak with the family in the way that my (still progressing) Spanish won’t allow. We stayed at the wake until very early hours of the morning visiting with his friends and family, praying and singing, and drinking a lot of coffee. (I was also asked if I could do the embalming process…. I told them no, I haven’t learned that at this point in my career..) Around 2:30 we started the 2.5 hour drive home, which consisted of a LOT of guys pushing a couple of the trucks up a small mountain.

This “off-week” here in Honduras has been such a blessing. God is showing me more and more that He has a purpose for me. I love how busy I have been. I love that He is providing me with new knowledge, that He is providing me with ways to build relationships with people here even though there’s still sort-of a language barrier, and I love that He never lets me forget that I’m not doing this alone. He continues to show me that “His power is made perfect in my weakness,” and that He is the one working, but I am so glad that He is letting me feel useful along the way!

Sweet Angel.. Changing the tire before 0500.

Being unbelievably helpful to Angel, obviously.

The view on the drive to San Manuel.

Ojos de Agua

Today the group from CO/TX is leaving, and I am reminded of how blessed I am to get to stay here! It’s been a great week. Eight of them did a VBS, and the rest of them did a 4-day medical brigade in a village called Ojos de Agua. We saw just under 1000 patients in those four days! Needless to say, it was busy (bless the doctor’s heart!) but it went really well. I’m so glad that my first brigade as the full time medical team member went well.. There was only one time that I said the words “Do not tell Donna about this until it is resolved,” but all is well that ends well, and everyone got their parasite medication regardless.. :)

Short-term mission trips are great. They’re a blast, you experience a different environment and culture, you get to know a group of people that you may not have known as well before, and you get to see more of the way that God works in the process. Now that I’m here long-term, I have really enjoyed seeing missions from the other side. I love dealing with preparations in between groups, getting to know the groups and watch as they experience another culture (sometimes for the first time), and I especially love that I am forming real, lasting relationships with the people here. It’s really interesting to be part of the medical brigades from the perspective of the long-term member. I walked around and made sure everyone had what they needed, and filled in when we got backed up. I got to know a large part of the group pretty well, and did a pretty good mixture of tasks while filling in. I also do a lot of the extra stuff, like breathing treatments, etc. I can’t say enough times how blessed I feel to be here. God is doing so much here, and I am thankful to be allowed to be part of it. 

Angel and Amber using the flippers in the Eyeglasses department.

Jason from CO taking vital signs.

Waiting to be seen by a nurse.

I went to this little girl's house to follow up. She had an abscess drained, so I cleaned it, changed  the dressing, and made sure the family had the items they need and know how to take care of it.

The Big Move

A week and a half ago I officially moved to Honduras, and it has been anything but boring! I am incredibly excited to be here for good and to get to work. I arrived with all of my luggage (eventually) and our first intern for this summer, Ben Brinkerhoff! Obviously, I’m ecstatic to have another Auburn soul down here. I had to do something to catch up with the Harding love! (We’re still way outnumbered).

We have been busily working to prepare for our first medical brigade group which arrives today!  There are 3 lovely ladies visiting from Colorado that have been very helpful to me, and everyone else has been busy with preparing as well. On top of the preparations, though, there have been a few mini-adventures packed into the week.

I’ll start with my least favorite: The tamale incident. (Cue scary music). The women at our church sold tamales to raise funds for the ladies ministry. Not my favorite food to begin with, but I ate them. Worst decision. I will leave out the gory details (you are welcome), but it was a rough night, then day.. Needless to say, I will never touch another tamale.

Just looking at this makes me nauseas again, but this is a tamale!

Probably the biggest adventure for me so far was my first visit to the Honduran Emergency Department. I got a phone call one night around 10:00 from our visiting Coloradoans saying one of our Honduran members was having trouble breathing and was in a great deal of pain, and they felt that I needed to come see her. Richard, Laura and I picked up our friend and headed to the hospital. She and I sat back in the ER for quite a while waiting for her to be treated. Meanwhile, I made friends with some other family members that were back there waiting as well. Privacy isn't a huge concern there, so other waiters and I got to see a LOT happen that you wouldn't have been able to watch at good ole Baptist's ER. I watched them run a code, saw a gunshot wound, and many, many more things. For my medical friends: I watched a rhythm for a while in SVT, which made me miss 5-kidd! My sweet friend ended up having quite a serious reaction to a medication and we ended up staying at the hospital until about 4:30 in the morning. Richard and Laura had great attitudes from the waiting room, my sweet friend got some rest, and I have about 100 stories from the Honduran ER.
((I am such a nurse-nerd, but I was so intrigued by their ER. I called Laura (in the waiting room) to ask things like “Where do they keep the medications,” “What are those buckets of water,” “Why are there no sharps containers,” etc.)) I loved it. That is not sarcastic. Made me miss my night shift friends!

Now all other adventures don’t sound like adventures at all, in comparison! I went with Jon and the ladies from CO to deliver 500 vitamins to a couple of schools, and I went to another school to check back on a little girl who had fallen at upward basketball and hurt her arm. We walked in and were immediately swarmed by kids who were waiting for me to come look at Vanessa’s arm! It was great. Now we have a group coming today and will be busy for the next week with the medical brigade and mission trip madness! I love it, and still can’t believe that I get to live here. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I’m learning everyday, and feel God’s hand in pretty much everything that is happening. Pray for us and for this brigade, and I will update again when they leave!

Celebrating Colorado Connie's birthday at Weekend's Pizza!

With sweet Laura Waldron at Weekend's.