An Amazing Weekend

Well look at this, two posts within days of each other! However, this was such a great weekend, I just had to get back on the blog. Saturday was such a great day with the medical campaign. So last year around this time, a big group of doctors, NPs, PAs, dentists and med students from Idaho came through for a campaign. Well, this was the same group as last year. They had about 20 practitioners in all but had about 50 other students/helpers with them. I had been told to be there around 8:30am to help translate. Of course, I should have known that in Peruvian time, this really meant 9:30am. So, I made a second trip back to the municipality building at 9:30am. At this point, they were set up in their stations -- Dentistry on one side of the room and Medicine on the other. My job was to help a undergrad kid who didn't speak Spanish to go through the lines and "triage" the patients. There was a huge line of elderly patients and then a second huge line of non-elderly patients. The dental patients were on the other side of the building in their own line. What we did was go through and get the name, age and ailment of the patients. We would hand them their paper with either GM (General Medicine), Ortho (Orthopedist), or GYN (gynecology) on it. Then this guy would help them through to the next available practitioner. Bricia was with me and she went to go translate for a doctor. I spent most of the day helping to translate.

We got some good photocopies of stretches and therapy exercises we could do with our disabilities patients from the occupational therapist who was there. The majority of the patients seen (unfortunately not all were seen due to time) were the elderly with joint and back pain due to arthritis. The people here spend their lives walking up and down mountainsides with sacks of produce/agriculture on their backs that weigh a ton. The women carry the babies on their backs for the first few years. So it is no wonder they all have back, knee, shoulder, foot, etc pain. They all also have constant headaches due to dehydration and the arthritis. The people here just do not drink enough water throughout the day. Because they believe that cold water is really bad for your health, they will drink tea but that is really it. Only a few cups a day.

Anyway, at one point I had to run out and when I came back, I saw a man named Santiago in the line. I had gotten to know Santiago last year while I was here. Santiago is probably in his late sixties. He has venostasis really badly in his right leg. Well, for those non-medical people reading my blog, a basic description is that blood will travel down his leg to his ankle, but it cannot travel back up his leg well. So he started getting an ulcer on his ankle due to this issue about 4 years ago. Over the past four years, more and more tissue has become ulcerous and his whole bottom half of his leg is just an open sore that looks like Freddy Krueger's face. I was happy to see him in line because the doctor that had been treating him for this at the Posta was Dr. Arnaldo. He left to pursue a specialty degree last year. So Santiago has been having his dressings changed regularly, but no one at the Posta really had been following him anymore.

Santiago asked me to go into see the doctor with him once it was his turn since I knew his history. We got really lucky in that the Nurse Practitioner who was free at the time had worked in vascular surgery for two years. He knew exactly what was wrong and was very positive about actually healing Santiago over time. We drew quite a crowd around Santiago's leg as the NP was cleaning the wound. Most people could not believe that he had been living with that for four years. They all saw it and immediately said, "he is going to lose his leg". When I said he had been doing okay for the past four years, they were all in disbelief.

The NP cleaned the wound, showed me how to do all the things that would be necessary for continuing the cleaning and treatment. He stressed the importance of elevation of the leg, using a compression stocking (which the NP actually took off his own and gave to Santiago), and taking some antibiotics. So now I am in charge of Santiago's care. The group loaded me up with gauze and antibiotic ointment. I am meeting Santiago every day in the Posta to clean and debride the wound and redress it. Good practice for nursing school!!

Anyway, Santiago was so thankful to everyone and I really believe that we will be able to heal this horrible wound of his as long as he is good about elevating it and coming in for the new dressing changes and cleanings.

Overall, the campaign was quite a success but I couldn't help to think of the ways they could have been more organized and increased the success. Since they come every year, I talked to the guy who is the head coordinator about the possibility of starting up charts for the patients with their information and a picture so it is easier for continuity of care. We exchanged information so that we can get back in touch for next year's campaign. Awamaki can do some more organizing on the local end before they get here. It was just really cool to help out and think about being able to be the practitioner on campaigns like this in the future!

After the campaign, I had some lunch with the family and then went in search of some friends. Kaitlyn and I had a lovely dinner of pizza at Puka Rumi and then watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I am such a sucker for Disney movies.

This morning, I met up with Kaitlyn and we went to Jess's to do our P90x since we couldn't yesterday. After an invigorating morning of Kenpo Karate, I headed home to shower and chill with the family. At 2:30, I met up with Kaitlyn, Will, Jessica and Blair to go to the Chicheria in Yanahaura called Descanso. Now, chicha is the local beer made with corn here. I have had some really horrible chicha but also some decent chicha. I have to say, the chicha at Descanso was pretty darn delicious. It was by far the best chicha I have ever had. The greatest thing about chicherias is the size of the glass that they serve the chicha in. It is enormous!! I have pictures I will post. Descanso is in a gorgeous location with a great view of the valley from the roof. We had a fun time playing the "frog game". You try to toss these metal coins into this bronze frog's mouth. Then we just stood up on the roof enjoying the beautiful afternoon sunshine and the views.

I am now caught up in this. We are sick of the Core exercise video on Mondays for P90x so we are hiking tomorrow morning instead. After that, it is to the Posta with me. I teach on Tuesday night. We are going to the Rumira school on Wednesday morning to clean out a big room so we can start the after school program for disabled people in the surrounding communities. Tuesday is also the birthday of Laya and going away party for Kristi. So we will be at the bar, of course. I don't think I have anything planned for Thursday and Friday other than working in the Posta.