A Day of Clinic

This last week we had a medical and dental clinic in a poor area just outside the center of Pucallpa. We were there from Sunday to Friday. This blog is just about a day of clinic.

March 6, 2007
Every morning we begin by having worship together before heading to the clinic site. It was supposed to start at 7:00 am, but it didn´t quite happen that way. Jenni and Ansley were gone and had told us guys the night before to start without them. However we just kinda kept sleeping until they got back. Thus began another typical late start to our day. We have been staying at an Adventist church. We´ve paid a lady to cook for us this week and she is awesome. She´s a funny little lady that can cook some good Peruvian food. It only costs us 5 soles a day too (about $1.50). After breakfast we throw on our scrubs and start packing up the equipment in the truck. We have enough supplies to completely fill up the bed of the truck, and then some (yet somehow we never seem to have enough at clinic). Because of the lack of space a few of us have to ride back in the truck bed. I found myself a little corner spot where I could squeeze in. I just had to let my legs dangle outside; my arms were the only thing truely keeping me in. A short drive later and we´re at the clinic site. For some reason this area is a dump yard for wood scraps. As we drive through, we see a bunch of kids playing amongst all the wood and mud. Not exactly the safest or cleanest of playgrounds, but it works for them. We pull up to a small house and start filling it with our supplies. Somehow we maneuver our way through the crowd of people and each department begins setting up their section. Once everybody gets what they need we begin seeing patients. One of my first patients was a little kid with a loose tooth. Probably the easiest case this week. After him things got much more difficult. People came in with teeth to rotten to grab, mouths to small to reach in, and to much fear to hold still. Other problems surrounded us as well: the floor is crooked (thus wobbly chairs), kids try to peek in from various holes (some even climb up a ladder and look down from up above), and the house isn´t exactly rainproof either. We make do with what we have and help those we can. After seeing about 20 patients in dental we take about 45 minutes for lunch. Two of the afternoon cases in dental were especially difficult; and they came in at the same time. My patient was a larger lady with a bad upper molar. Anthony had a little boy that was about nine years old. The boy didn´t really have hard teeth to pull, but he was to afraid to let Anthony work. It took him a long time to just do the anesthesia. My lady wasn´t scared, or at least she didn´t show it. Her tooth just really did not want to come out. I went through the three steps: numb up the mouth with anesthesia, clear away the gums with the elevator, and then pull with the forceps. I was pulling with all I could while staying in control at the same time. Slowly getting it to wiggle more and more, but still not much. I did this for a long time, until my back became sore from standing over her. After Anthony got his screaming kid out he came over and gave me a break (I always dump my problems on him). He took over for about 10 minutes and then had her tilt her head back so he could pull out and away from her bottom teeth. He gave it his all and the rest of the tooth broke free, sending Anthony´s hand flying back. It was finally over and we could send her on her way. However she was asking me something that I couldn´t understand. I had Anthony translate. She wanted us to perform liposuction on her. We didn´t do it though. Throughout our time working on about 40 dental patients each day, the others are doing medical. Doctor Richard sees about 150 people each day. Today was no exception to that number. Each patient first gets checked at triage (blood pressure, temperature, etc...), then a consult with the doctor, and finally get medicine from pharmacy. Two specific individuals also stood out in medical today. They both need surgery that we can´t perform. A 4 year old girl with a birth defect in which she lacks an anus. A fistula developed and causes infections all the time. It´s a fairly simple procedure that in the United States is fixed at birth. For those without money here in Peru, it may never be fixed. The other patient is a lady with a tumor on her uterus. It is life threatening yet she doesn´t have the money to get it removed. Sadly our project doesn´t have the money to help either. We did however have one surgery tonight. It was a circumcision on a 12 year old. It was night time and we didn´t have electricity so it was performed under flashlights (that´s actually how surgeries usually are for us). As I stood there holding the flashlight I in no way envied that boy or the pain he´s gonna have for the next few days. Afterwards there is a childrens program followed by an adult meeting. Unfortunately I haven´t gotten to go to many this clinic, including tonights. I took some time to go into center and call home, but like all the others I was tired and ready for bed. We need the rest we get so we can wake up and help more patients. Never for a second regretting or not wanting to be here.

*The following morning we got a donation from Karen´s church that provided the money for both surgeries.

*Surgeries during this clinic included: 3 circumcisions, 2 hernia repairs, and tumor removals (from a lip, wrist, and a leg)

Church out at "The Land"

Since arriving at "The Land" we have become more and more involved in the little church here. It has between 20 to 30 people in it. I remember one sabbath morning I walked in and was immediately asked to play the piano. Someone had let the secret out. They have a rinky-dink, out-of-tune piano that looks and plays like it should be in one of the small hidden rooms in my church. Since they asked me to play, I´ve spent all my Saturdays sitting at the piano. It´s been a fun, and yet a little stressful, experience because it´s quite a bit different than what I´m used to. I go in for sabbath school and just go straight to the piano. I have no clue what they want me to play until they say it from the pulpit. Thankfully I am starting to understand numbers in Spanish pretty well so I can at least find the hymn they want to sing. It´s pretty much assumed that we sing all verses every time. That clears up some confusion. The hymns they have are different than those in English. We either don´t have the song at all in our hymnal, or the notes are slightly different to make the words fit correctly. Either way, I´m not used to any of the songs. But we begin anyways and the fun starts. I play an intro and usually they know when to come in, but on occassion I have to play a couple of intros before they start. Once a few people begin singing the others join in. The people don´t know how to read music, and they don´t have music to read anyways. So throughout the years they have kind of passed on the melodies and made their own variations and tempos. So as I´m trying to figure out the right notes to play I am listening to the loud lady in the back that is singing entirely off key and changing speeds randomly to adapt to how they sing the song. Quarter notes become whole notes and C´s become D´s. Finally the song ends and the voices kind of trickle away. After a few hymns, we might have, what seems to me, a spontaneous special music. Someone will hand me a piece of music and ask me to accompany them. A new Peruvian guy, Adan, has come back to Peru from the states. He brought random sheet music with him. So they put the music in front of me and we begin making a joyful noise. I poke out the random notes that I sight read, often hitting a few wrong ones along the way. But the truth is, it doesn´t make that much difference because the piano is so far out of tune anyways. Usually by the third verse I´ve got the song down just as it comes to a close. Afterwards we have our lesson, which has been on Ecclesiastes this quarter. I never know when I´m gonna play next so I just stay at the bench and pretend to listen even though I don´t understand much of what´s being said. Finally Sabbath School ends with another hymn. It begins all over again with church. In the States that would be the end of it. Not here though. There are still two more programs on sabbath. A program led by youth and then one to close out the sabbath. Let´s just say by sundown I´m more than ready to leave the piano.

As much of a pain as it may be for me, I do have fun with it and the people love it. I was recently talking with a couple of the church memebers, Jose and Oswaldo. They were incredibly appreciative of me playing the piano. They said that nobody else in the church knows how to play the piano. It´s just been sitting their for a long time. Now that I´m playing they are able to learn songs in the hymnal that they had never known before. Even though the music is far from CD worthy, the people here love to sing. Occassionaly as I work during the week I pass by where Oswaldo sells his sugar cane juice on the side of the road. He will be sitting there with a hymnal in hand; singing in different keys at random tempos, yet the whole time doing it to praise God.