Thursday, January 10, 2008

Clinica Carris in Lemoa

Today was a calm day at Clinica Carris. We had 11 patients with a variety of problems. Today Maury helped Gaspar and I and she did very well. She took blood pressures and weighed patients before I talked to them. Gaspar worked in the pharmacy and also restocked the medicines for our clinics. Both of them helped me with K'iche' translation as I needed it. Everyone was motivated to do a good job and the day went very well.

Kemmel and Lisa headed to the City to get their truck that needed repair. Josefina, Manuel, Tomas and Juan also went to the City get some paperwork completed. Before our clinic began we prayed for their safe travel as we prayed for our patients.

We had a few children that needed their ears cleaned so we made it through that ok. One lady who is a diabetic came in to have her sugar checked. When she first came to the clinic her blood sugar was 338. Today it was 156 so she has made progress!

The concerning patient came as we were about to pack up for the day. We saw a truck full of people drive into the clinic. Maury asked me how many patients we were going to have and I told her possibly 1 or possibly 20! Sometimes it is hard to tell how many people actually want a consult and how many people come along for the ride.

There was only one woman that wanted a consult as her husband and her father sat with us and told me what her problem was. The father told me that she had a small growth in her stomach. When I examined her, I found it not to be small but to be very large. It was about the size of a grapefruit possibly larger. She told me that it had been there for a year. I sent her for an ultrasound and asked her to please return to the clinic.

Between patients today I washed the towels and sheets that were used by the dental team. I string a rope up between the building posts and they dry very quickly. The washing machine is in a small room on the side of the clinic. I connect the hose from the washing machine to a water hose that I toss out a window and I connect that to the pila for the water source. When I started to do a second load, I realized the water hose had cracked. So, I did what most people would do..........I looked for the duct tape!! Unfortunately, it did not work so tomorrow I will buy a new water hose.

That was our exciting day and hopefully tomorrow will go just as well...............

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