Ale La (Go There)

"How do we understand God in this?" This was a question that really struck home with me over the past two weeks, as I was translating for our MMI trip to Puno/Juliaca. How do we understand God in this, when a woman grabs your hand with tears in her eyes and says "Help me," when you have to tell a woman with no insurance that she may have cancer of the spleen, when a mother of two deaf/mute girls tells you that she will sell her organs so that they can have cochlear implants? How do we understand God in this? When a patient comes in with a fungal growth the size of a cabbage on his foot. He says he has been cleaning it with urine and that it's "getting better." The team manages to convince him that he needs to be hospitalized, it is a potential emergency, and that he could contract sepsis. But, when he finally agrees to go to the hospital they tell him that all his paperwork has been transferred to Arequipa, where the health care workers are on ...

Please forgive me. I had to type the title in Spanish. I'm not trying to be a poser or anything, you know that person who goes all "native" and speaks rubbish Spanish all the time. It's just that right now, I only have three months left and I'm trying to say EVERYTHING in Spanish. And, yes, I know those two sentences contradict each other. Irony. Anyways. The type of medicine we did in the jungle was not too different from the medicine we do in other places in Peru. We still saw (what felt like) millions of patients with low back pain, lots of gastritis, and moms who were convinced that their children had parasites. Quick, an excerpt from a real live conversation: Me - "Entonces, su hijo tiene la grippe. Algo mas?" Anxious Momma - "Seguramente tiene bichos tambien." Me (with eyebrows raised)- "Hmmm, bichos. Porque piensas que el tiene bichos?" Anxios Momma- "No come bien, y solo quiere comer carmelos." Me- "Ah...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to practice nursing 50 years ago? You know, back when they calculated IV drop rates using a wrist watch, and back when all the nurses still wore white caps. Come to Peru, and work with me at Goyeneche Hospital and you can experience all of those things for yourself. I remember in nursing school when Dr. Otten used to say things like, "In the olden days we did this..." and we all would roll our eyes. But here, today is a day of old. What is an alaris pump? How does a computerized charting system work? Imagine trying to explain these things to nurses who have never used them. That is what happens every time one of the nurses asks me how nursing is different in the States. Don't even get me started on the patient to nurse ratio (in some places it's one nurse to an entire floor). And yes, I did learn how to calculate drip rates using a wrist watch. But no, I will never wear one of those white caps. Aside from technol...

This week we have a huge team here in Arequipa doing a surgical outreach at hospital Goyeneche where I work. It's weird because I'm working with Americans and Canadians, but sometimes I feel most comfortable siting down and chatting with my Peruvian friends in Spanish. It's very exciting to be a part of this project and see people come in for surgeries that they wouldn't be able to afford unless these surgeons volunteered their time. Here is some snazzy fun for those of you who are linguistically inclined. Can you match the Quechua word with it's English equivalent? There are tons of words in Quechua that start with the "ch" sound. See if you can mix and match them correctly. 1. Chancho                                                  ...

Two physical therapist and a nurse on a home visit, in a field. Feli our Quechua translator, Tajel and Stephanie (PTs) and our patient. He was paralyzed at the age of 14 and is wheelchair bound. We evaluated him under a tin roof while it was raining. Then his aunt brought us hand made cheese and toasted corn. The family farm, chakra (in Quechua) The cute donkey After our home visit we walked through Quinua Pampa a city up at 10,000 ft.

Sometimes I forget that there is more than one way of being self centered. There is the obvious way, the way that most people think of, the person who does whatever they want to do regardless of the consequences to others. Then there is the sneaky way, the way of perfectionism, the person who is so obsessed with getting things right that they forget to actually look at the person in front of them. I slip into this second type of self centeredness all the time. And it's oh so easy , because you think that you are simply trying to be a better person, while in reality you are caught up in a fog bank of thoughts like, "How am I coming across today? What do people really think of me?" "Oh my gosh, My Spanish = THE WORST THING EVER!" "Did anybody see that? I did finally did it right!" The only problem with all of those thoughts is that they are completely about me, instead of about the person in front of me. What does the person in front of m...

I work with an as a volunteer for an organization in Peru called MMI (Medical Ministries International). MMI is a non-denominational Christian organization that is based out of Toronto , Canada and Texas . MMI employees and volunteers travel together to rural areas in various countries around the world and give healthcare, counseling, education, and prayer to people who are in need of basic medical attention. Today was the first day of our clinic in Ica , it was my first clinic since I was in Cuszo last November, and it was my first day in the clinic since I came here last Thursday to work for six months. Can we all take a moment to appreciate that I really wanted things to go super smoothly today? If I had been given my choice I would have been working either in triage or in the Integrated Health area, or any place where I could have felt truly bad ass and confident. Ahhhh. Life. When do we ever get what we want? Where did I end up working today? You ask. Today, I...

"The best laid plans go oft astray." Was that Shakespeare who said that? (He said so many things, it must have been!) All I know, is that every time I go to Mexico , there is always something that goes differently than we had planned. Sometimes things work out, and other times everything slips away into the wind and chaos reigns. Let me back up a little bit. I have a friend who started an organization called One Generation Alliance. OGA is a non-profit organization that exists to support orphanages and orphanage directors in Tijuana . Dave Edmondson (and his lovely wife Shannon and their five children) have invested time, money, and countless thoughts and prayers into exploring the best way to help orphanages succeed in the gigantic task of clothing, sheltering, feeding and providing an emotionally safe place for children in distress. For more information you can visit their website HERE . About two years ago I visited an orphanage called the Hacienda for the fir...