Ooooooh man

Oh man. Where to even begin. Clinic today was exhausting, hot, long and with a never ending line. With that being said, there were so many things that reminded us of why we are doing what we are doing. Shannon was given a patient that needed a pelvic exam because she has been bleeding for a month. The exam found that she also had a prolapsed uterus, she tested positive for a bladder infection and was diagnosed with diabetes. At which point she began to sob. This woman fled San Pedro with two of four children when a hit was put out on her fourteen year old son, she has no work and cannot find any. The family has no money for food, and has been eating tortillas with cheese and salt, when possible. Dana was able to get her to talk to the pastor, who is going to get her hooked up with support, and we were able to send her home with medications for everything as well as some food. Korey and Josh cared for a family with three malnourished children. While the infant was receiving a nebulizer treatment, Korey asked the eleven year old what he wanted to be when he grew up, to which the boy replied a firefighter. Since our clinic was being hosted in the fire station, Josh and Korey introduced him to the fire chief. The chief told the boy to be at the fire station every Sunday, and they would allow him to ride along in full uniform. Tony had an infant with polydactyly, two extra finger nubs growing off her current fingers. There was a bilingual teenager, a proud bilingual teenager, who learned English before being deported, who had a domino on his pene, the only word he insisted on using in Spanish. If you would like to know what a domino is, ask Sean, or urban dictionary. Disclaimer, not family friendly. Marylynn had an infant with impetigo, a bacterial skin infection that causes sores mainly on the face. There were so many half cured UTIs, the worlds cutest baby, covered in lice, and an infected eyelash folic. We also had a few more cases of chikungunya, a viral infection in this area spread by an infected mosquito. The virus causes high fever, joint pain, swollen joints, swelling and rashes. Many people complain of never feeling the same after having had it. Keri had a patient whose mother complained of her being lazy. We were fresh out of pills for that one. Pam ran out of glasses. The kids swarmed Dave and Anita today, who are just as tireless as Maddy and Morgan.  They are great entertaining the villagers children while the parents are in line for hours. Overall, despite the fact that we had to cut off our clinic, this, at least from my perspective, was the most successful yet. Our triage team, Beth and Dave, did an awesome job filtering out which patients needed what, and provided basic care as well. I am looking forward to another great day tomorrow with this amazing team! Keep being awesome and staying hydrated.