A Little Girl with Puffy Eyes
Saturday, March 29, 2008
(Chase's dictation taken by Jenny)
Late one afternoon after clinic was closed Doctora Nelson came to me to tell me about a patient of hers who she had scheduled to follow up with the next day. The patient was a little girl, 8 years old, with bilateral periorbital adema (eye swelling) for the past 2 months. Doctora Nelson had checked her kidney function and found it to be normal. She said, "I found her liver enzymes were elevated, but checked a liver ultrasound and it was normal. She's had no other lab abnormalities." The patient had traveled to Shell from the jungle, and her mother did not want to return to the jungle until an answer was found. Doctora Nelson was not going to be in clinic the next day, but her husband Doctor Nelson would be. She said that I didn't need to feel I had to figure this out - I could call Dr. Nelson and we could try to formulate a plan together the next day.
I tried to read on patients as much as possible but I had not researched any articles for this patient when I went to bed that night. I couldn't sleep, and felt that God was telling me to get up and read. So, I read for about three hours that night on periorbital adema. The differential diagnosis is not particularly large - it includes kidney disease, leishimaniasis (a parasite similar to malaria commonly seen in the jungle of Ecuador), juvenile dermatomyositis, and a few other things. I read through approximately 10 Up to Date articles and looked at pictures until I was too tired to continue.
The next day the little girl with puffy eyes came to see me. I asked her about any other symptoms. She'd had problems with constipation, abdominal swelling, proximal muscle weakness (shoulders and thighs), little white spots on her chest and back, and the swelling around her eyes presented first with purple discoloration on her eyelids. The purple had been slowly fading as the swelling persisted in both eyes. It was this last symptom reminded me of a picture I'd seen the night before. I pulled the picture up on the hospital computer and had the patient's mother look at it - she said that was exactly how her daughter's eyes had looked. I ordered some confirmatory labs (LDH and CK), both of which came back extremely high. These labs confirmed there was a muscle breakdown disease and we started the patient on a steroid - prednisone - to reduce her body's autoimmune attack on her muscles.
Praise God for using me to help figure out what was going on with this little girl by waking me up in the middle of the night and prompting me to go and read! I know that I'm smart to have made it this far in medicine, and I know that I had to use some good ol' fashioned elbow grease and do the reading, but it was clearly a Divine urging that led me to the right answer. It has been amazing to see God work in this and other cases during my time in Shell.
Thebault, MD
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 8:35 AM 0 comments
We Flew! It was INCREDIBLE!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taken from HCJB Global's website - to read more, go to http://www.hcjb.org/about_us/history/operation_auca.html
Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian, all in their late 20s and early 30s, were intent on making the first peaceful contact with the then-violent tribe that was infamous for spearing outsiders and their own in an unending cycle of revenge killings.
Saint and McCully discovered a Waodani settlement from the air in late September 1955. Later Saint found a settlement that was only a 15-minute flight from their station. They told Elliot and Fleming about their findings, and the four planned their evangelistic strategy which they called “Operation Auca.”They would keep the project secret from everyone but their wives (to avoid being joined by adventurers and the press) with the chance that someone not dedicated to the mission would start shooting at the first sign of real or imagined danger, and destroy the project.
On Oct. 6, 1955, Saint and McCully made their first of 13 “gift-drops” in Waodani territory. With Saint circling his MAF plane in a tight spiral, McCully used a rope to lower an aluminum kettle as a gift to the ground. It contained 20 brightly colored buttons and rock salt.
The two men would fly over the village nearly every Thursday and used gifts as a means of making contact and establishing a friendly relationship. Soon the Waodani began responding to the gift-drops, tying return gifts onto the rope such as a headband of woven parrot feathers. Once the Indians sent up a live parrot.
After three months of air-to-ground contact during which they made far more progress than they had hoped, the missionaries decided that it was time for one-on-one contact. They feared that they could not keep their activities secret much longer, and that delay risked a hostile encounter between the Waodani and some third party.
They decided that the expedition needed a fifth man, so they brought in Youderian who was accustomed to living with the Shuar and had learned acute survival skills.
On Dec. 3, 1955, Saint found a sandbar which he named “Palm Beach” to serve as a temporary landing strip for his yellow Piper aircraft.
The first landing was made on Palm Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 1956. It took five flights to ferry in their supplies and all five missionaries. For three days the missionaries waited for the Waodani to appear. Finally, on Friday, Jan. 6, the first contact was made as three members of the tribe stepped out of the jungle and onto the beach, including an Indian they nicknamed, “George.”
Film footage shows the missionaries and Waodani interacting peacefully. But tribal members became suspicious of the outsiders. “George” lied to the tribe, telling them that the five missionaries were cannibals and they were the ones who had in fact eaten Dayuma, a woman who fled the tribe years earlier when she was a girl, fearful of the constant killings.
“George” lied to deflect attention from the fact that he and one of the young women, “Delilah,” were off in the woods on their own and they weren’t supposed to be. “George” wanted “Delilah” as another wife, but the tribe had already said no.
Three years later when Dayuma returned to the tribe and told them that the five foreigners were not cannibals, the tribe realized that George had lied to them, and they killed him.
At about 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, five of the powerful Waodani warriors speared the five missionaries to death and ransacked the plane on the beach. Although the missionaries had guns and could have defended themselves, they agreed together not to use them against the Indians, even if attacked.
Receiving no radio contact from the missionaries, on Monday Johnny Keenan, Saint’s colleague at MAF, flew over Palm Beach and spotted the damaged plane and several bodies in the river. Two days later a ground party arrived at Palm Beach and found the missionaries’ dead bodies. A memorial service was held in Quito for the five martyrs the following Sunday. Saint was 32, Elliot, 28, Fleming, 27, McCully, 28, and Youderian, 31.
Although the five met a tragic death, their efforts would lead to introduction of the gospel to this once-violent tribe three years later. All five of the Waodani killers became believers, and many of the tribal members now follow Christ. The touching story would also inspire thousands to commit their lives to full-time missionary service, helping spread the gospel to unreached people groups around the world.
Several documentary films have been made throughout the years, including “Through Gates of Splendor” and “Beyond the Gates,” produced by Bearing Fruit Communications. A dramatic motion picture, “End of the Spear,” filmed by Every Tribe Entertainment, will be released in theaters Friday, Jan. 20. A book with the same title was recently authored by Steve Saint, son of pilot Nate Saint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The place where we are staying, Shell Ecuador, is the place from which the 5 missionaries flew into the jungle. The airstrip is within walking distance from our house! Yesterday we boarded a tiny plane and headed into Waodani territory! Waodani, by the way, is pronounced more like "Wah-oo-rani." It was about a half hour flight, and when we landed we were greeted by about 15 members of the tribe. When the doors to the plane opened, immediately there were arms reaching for my baby girls! I looked to Rick, our pilot, and he said that the woman reaching for Evie was Mincaye's wife - holy smokes! Mincaye was one of the 5 men that speared the missionaries, and is now a leader of the Waodani people. He is the main character in the movie "The End of the Spear." If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
So we climb out of the plane and are surrounded by Waodani. I was so giddy I thought I would faint! Mincaye's son was translating for us as only the young folks speak Spanish - the elders only speak Wao ("Wah-ooh"). His wife carried Evie while a young girl picked up Anna! Both girls were quite sober, but they handled the whole thing very well. They led us through the jungle to their homes where we talked for a little while. Here's a picture with Mincaye and his wife!
Isn't that AMAZING? Seriously, when we were walking through the jungle Chase and I just kept looking at each other with silly smiles, shaking our heads! And when we got back into the plane I was speechless. Here are some more pictures of our adventure.Here we're following the Waodani into the jungle, trying to keep up with them as they carry our children away!
The girls enjoyed playing with Anna's fine blond hair. The hands in the mouth are evidence that she was a bit nervous, but she did wonderfully!
We also landed in Dayuma's village and had a picture taken with her. We bought a necklace that she'd made and we'll wear it, remembering to pray for them all!
What an end to our Ecuadorian adventure. The thought of leaving will make me cry - we're really not ready to leave. It seems like our gifts and training are a great match for this area of the world - now we wait and see what God thinks! We're very open to returning to this amazing country.
Please visit the gallery labeled "Ecuador" for more pictures!
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 5:40 AM 2 comments
Ricky & Elisabeth - an Ecuadorian Wedding
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The rings
The bridesmaids' shoes
The bride and her father at the front of the church, before she was given away.
They threw confetti and blew bubbles INSIDE!
Beautiful.
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 5:45 AM 2 comments
Home Stretch!
Monday, March 24, 2008
It's crazy to think that we're in our final week. Where in the world has the time gone? We've had such fun here, even though we've worked hard and have been quite busy. Here's a run-down on our last few days...
Thursday Chase was on call and got about 3 hours of sleep that night. Friday afternoon we got a call from Gerry and Elizabeth inviting us to join them for a swim in the river! Chase "caffeined up" and we took off. It was AWESOME! It was a bit of a hike from the main road, which was an adventure on the way back when we were racing a thunderstorm and Anna decided she didn't want to walk, but it was beautiful too. And the river! So cool!
Saturday I got up early to shoot Gerry's family and then head to the wedding. Wow! I'm not sure how much detail to go into there, but let's just say that the phrase "quite an experience" doesn't cut it! First of all, I was told that the wedding would start at 10am and I should get there early to get some shots of the bride beforehand. I arrived about 9:15 and was the first one there. I managed to sneak into the church to get some shots of the set-up, and by 10am was STILL one of about 5 people at the church! Oh my. People started arriving at 10:15, and I think the bride got there around 10:30am. Needless to say, I didn't get any shots of the ladies getting ready or anything like that. They all arrived separately and dressed.
The ceremony began, and I was only one of a swarm of folks with cameras. It was nuts! I usually try to sneak around and be "stealth" during a wedding, and I was pretty much the only one doing that. Even people from the pews were coming up ON STAGE and taking pictures! I couldn't believe it! I struggled to get shots that didn't have another camera in them. Seriously, I think I counted 3-4 video cameras wandering around the stage, and at least 2 other people taking pictures that were not part of our team. It was a circus. So here I'm thinking "why did they need my help? They've got lots of people taking pictures!" The ceremony ends, the couple is announced, and then the MC guy tells everyone to stay seated while the professional takes some pictures. The entire church looks at me, and I about fainted. For a hurried few minutes I tried to direct the wedding parties and both families IN SPANISH so that we could take some group pictures in front of EVERYONE! My Spanish fell apart, the bridesmaids were ticked because I kept calling them "Senoras" instead of "Senoritas" and I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh and do a dance while the whole world was staring at me or crawl in an English-speaking hole and rot. So I laughed :)
We then RUSHED off to a nearby park with the bridal party where I was told we'd have 20 minutes to do all of the pictures! Holy smokes, seriously? It's no big deal when the wedding starts almost an hour late, but now we're in a rush to get to lunch on time? This made no sense to me, but we hustled. Again the SENORITAS were ticked at me and my Spanish was all mixed up, but it was a smaller crowd so I managed. It's one thing to say "move closer" or "turn towards me" but it's quite another to pose a bride and groom in a variety of poses with simple directional terms. This reminds me - most of the photography in Ecuador is done in a formal style, so the whole "act natural" thing was pretty much lost on them. They WANT something different, but didn't really know what to do. Well, at least this was my perception. Maybe they just couldn't understand what I was saying!!
So after a mad crazy rushed session we headed to the reception. They passed out champagne and a cookie, and I'd already eaten the cookie before I realized it was part of the toast. Whoops. I hung around there until dinner was served, and then bailed. Eugenia was doing a great job and didn't really need my help anyway :) I'm uploading about 500 images to a gallery and will let you know when they're finished so you can see them.
Chase and I had agreed that if the weather was nice we'd go to the waterfall that afternoon, and the sky was blue - not common in rainy Ecuador! At 2pm we piled into Klaudia's truck (I took her picture this afternoon - I'll post it soon! I'm so full of promises) and went to the "Pailon del Diablo" or "The Devil's Punchbowl." It was incredible! It was a 1km hike down, which meant a 1km hike straight up again carrying the girls. EXHAUSTING, but so worth it. Here's where I promise pictures...
Shamefully we didn't go to church on Easter Sunday. They do a 5am service and Evie informed me she planned to still be sleeping at 5am, and by the service at 7pm we were ready for bed again. But we took time to remember our Savior, and tried to explain things to Anna. At the end of the day Anna randomly said, "Jesus is alive, Mommy." I couldn't help but smile :) We were also invited to have lunch with our great new friends, Klaudia and Eckehart - missionaries from Germany. We will miss them when we go.
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 6:03 PM 1 comments
All is well!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Just a quite note to assure you that no news is good news. We've been insanely busy, but we're having a great time. Chase has seen some neat cases in the hospital - he came home from lunch yesterday and told me to grab the camera so Evie and I took off while Anna was napping and snapped a few shots of a girl with a rare muscle disease. You FHC folks will likely see those pictures next month! Chase is on call again today and made it home in time to eat two empanadas before heading out with another page. The hospital is a quick walk, which is convenient for days such as this.
I've been doing a shoot a day, which is far more than I'm used to working. I have little time to process the pictures, and VERY little hard drive space! It's madness, but we're making it work. Here's proof:
It has been such fun getting to know the families here. I haven't gotten to spend a whole lot of time with Ecuadorians (but Chase has!) but I'm learning a lot from folks that have been here for years. They've got such stories! And they have amazing hearts for the people and God's work here. It's cool to see so many families come together to serve here.
Oh, and a fun story! Chase and I had dinner in town when we first got here, and we met Joselo. He owns the store and is a really nice guy. We were in town again yesterday and the kids were eating ice cream from Joselo's store. I took some pictures of Anna covered in red popsicle, and Joselo brought out his grandson and asked if I'd take pictures of him too! I haven't posted those yet, but I'll add one here when they're finished. Photography has been my biggest asset here, and the greatest way to connect with people! Joselo and I even talked business a bit and I asked him what he'd think of me opening a studio. How fun would that be? I'm really looking forward to photographing the wedding on Saturday.
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 6:22 PM 2 comments
Busy Weekend!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Alright, personal stuff first...
Evie's fever seems to be gone, which is great. We had Anna's ankle X-rayed this morning and it seems to be okay too! She's running around pretty well again, but is sad that I will no longer let her wear those platform flip flops (the main reason she turned her ankle in the first place).
Chase's weekend of call has been crazy, but not horrible. We'll see if it deserves another dictation! He was able to get away this afternoon so we could have lunch with Arthur and Frances. We did a shoot after lunch, so you can even put faces with names:
Anyways, we had lunch with Arthur and Frances and got to hear about their past 5 years here in Ecuador. Their term is up this summer and they'll be heading back to the States. Frances jumped on me when she heard that I was not only a teacher, but had my MA TESOL degree! She told me about their plans to make Shell a place where Ecuadorian missionaries are trained and sent out. As the Ecuadorian families come, their kids will need schools, and there will be an increase in need for ESL teachers. I go back and forth whether or not I'd want to teach if we end up on the field, but I guess it would be silly not to if there's a need. We'll see what happens!
Frances also said that they had a lot of tarantulas in their house when they first arrived. I know, I'm off on the issue of bugs again. I have seriously been LOOKING for tarantulas and haven't seen one yet! She also said they saw a boa in their back yard, and there was a monkey family living in their trees. Makes my big roach story seem pretty lame :)
Oh, and good news! My techie problems seem to have been solved. Kieth is the computer wiz around here, and after his family's photo shoot yesterday he helped me with my uploading issues. Here's his family:
I hadn't done a lot of family shoots before coming here, but man am I getting caught up! And I still have about 5 to go. They are all whirlwind sessions because Anna is dancing around and ends up in half of the pictures, and Evie is either crawling around in the grass or sitting in the stroller making all kinds of noises to let me know she'd rather be crawling around in the grass. Today I had a bit more back-up because Chase was there - here's what Chase and Evie were up to while Anna and I were on the job. They were both trying to catch a nap in the hammock. The picture looks hazy and 70s or something - it was shot through a screen door. There's no sneaking up on this sleeping baby!
And then there was Anna crawling around the "Auca Hut" where we were shooting - she thinks she's a monkey.
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 7:00 PM 1 comments
New Challenges
Saturday, March 15, 2008
If it's not one thing, it's another - ever feel like that?
Yesterday Evie started to feel warm, and by the afternoon she had a fever. She slept a lot yesterday and is in bed again already. She's needing extra attention... and then Anna turned her ankle while playing last night! She's on the couch now with an ice pack watching Cinderella. She can't walk, although it doesn't seem to bother her unless she puts weight on it. AND Chase is on call today and tomorrow! I think we ladies will be laying low the next few days. If Anna is still hurting we'll take her in to get the ankle checked out this afternoon. She went down in a blaze of glory though! There are lots of kids here - all a little older - and she's having a ball trying to keep up with them.
I'm also having technical difficulties! I've been trying repeatedly to upload more photos but am running into a lot of errors. I'm not sure what the deal is - could be the computer, the internet connection, SmugMug, anything! - but it's a bummer. The only images I can put here are those that have already been uploaded to galleries. I will keep trying!
I did pictures for Rick and Sharon yesterday and the girls had fun playing with the plane! Sharon teaches the preschool class for the MKs, and Rick flies into the jungle all the time planting churches and bringing supplies. If all goes as planned we'll spend Easter Sunday in the jungle with him! We're pretty excited. Here they are...
It just started downpouring again, so our photo shoot for today might be canceled AGAIN! We're learning flexibility on a whole new level.
On a more serious note though, please lift Anna up. She's been saying things like "I don't like this house," "I don't like my room," "I want my bed," etc. It's come up the last couple of days, and I'm wondering if she's afraid in her room at night. I spent a couple of hours sleeping by her because she was whimpering on and off. We've also had more discipline problems since we've been here. It could just be adjustment issues, but there could be more going on, if you know what I mean. We are more intentional now in how we pray for her. Thank you!
Our time here is half over, which is always hard to believe. A month is an odd amount of time - you need to settle in a bit if you're going to take advantage of your time, but you're still thinking about things to do back home. It's also easy to think to yourself "Well, I only have to put up with this for a little while longer..." rather than dying to self a bit more. We're dying as best we can though :)
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 6:12 AM 0 comments
Missionaries gone wild!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
I mentioned the Hoedown that happened here last weekend - well, some folks here took this picture and emailed it back home, and it made its way back to me! I'm rarely in pictures, so I was excited, and I love the look on Chase's face! Here's how we shake it...
Anna had a hard time keeping up with the line dancing, but she did try out a few of her own moves. She was either twirling in her favorite skirt or holding tight to Chase's leg :)
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 12:34 PM 2 comments
Ins and Outs
Slowly but surely we're getting life figured out down here. Yesterday was the first time I really thought to myself "I could do this." Of course, today I had a cold shower again and yet another photo shoot was rained out, so I'm reminded not to get too over-confident in my ability to master things quite yet! But we are certainly making progress: we have an idea of where to go to eat that's safe, I've located ingredients for some basic meals, we've figured out where to get produce that looks eatable, and the Spanish is coming along nicely. I was even able to spend some time the last two days with Ecuadorians! This is a big feat when you live among a bunch of North Americans.
And my first photo lessons with Eugenia went well! She came with her sister Yadira when we did some family pictures so she could watch and learn a little. I'll post some of those pictures soon. We all sat and chatted for a while after the shoot, and Eugenia came back yesterday morning to talk shop a bit more. It's one thing to converse in Spanish, and it's quite another to explain how aperatures and shutter speeds work! But we had a great time and I'm glad to have made a new friend here. The wedding is definitely on for next weekend! Eugenia is going to pick me up Friday night so we can get some practice shots in during the rehearsal, and then the wedding ceremony will be Saturday morning. Truthfully, Eugenia's got a great eye and probably won't need my help, but how could I pass this up? I'm excited to see all the behind-the-scene happenings of an Ecuadorian wedding.
The longer I sit here, the more I have to say! I've had the chance to talk with several of the missionary families here, many of whom are with MAF and fly back and forth from the jungle. It's been great to hear of their experiences and what life is like down here. My struggles with being a mom on the field are pretty common, which is comforting. They also verified my observation that it's hard to interact with Ecuadorians when you live among a bunch of gringos! They went on to say that the folks in Shell are used to US families coming in going, and are hesitant to open their hearts to you because they assume you'll only be here a few years. Makes sense, but it's sad too. A few years sounds like a LONG time to me, but it isn't long to someone who was born and will die in this little town! I'm not sure how I feel about spending the rest of my life in one place out on the field, but as Wendy M says, "I'm thoughtful about that today." :
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 11:14 AM 3 comments
YUK
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Okay, so I just had that mega disturbing experience where you see a big jungle spider and smash it with a flip flop only to watch it burst into a gazillion tiny jungle spiders! But the fact that I was even willing to get close enough to smash it shows I'm making progress.
I attempted a spaghetti today for lunch (their biggest meal) and it kinda looked like spaghetti... While cooking I've been making this list in my head of things I'd definitely want to bring along with me if we returned to Shell:
- can opener
- vegetable peeler
- strainer (the flat one that fits over pans)
- a good knife
I think these things alone would make my life oodles easier right now. And then there's the list of things I'd love to have, but really just reveal the fact that I'm a spoiled Westerner:
- my dishwasher
- my garbage disposal
- consistent electricity (the power goes out every day)
- the Orkin Man
I'll keep adding to these lists as the days progress!
On a not-so-shallow note, Chase was on call last night and is still up at the hospital! He's got to be pooped. He was telling me a story yesterday about a British woman that came in and said "A monkey bit me." But Chase mimicking her accent and facial expression was pretty funny. So note to self - don't play with the monkeys! Chase took us for a tour of the hospital on Sunday afternoon and I was impressed with the facility. It's not very big, as you an see from the pictures earlier, but they're pretty well equipped. I'm not sure that pictures would really mean much to anyone, so just imagine an older-looking hospital in South America and you've pretty much got it :)
Anna had fun at the preschool today, and Evie enjoyed the attention she received from the other kiddos. Anna's really going to love school! She was especially excited because she was allowed to use scissors, which I had not yet been brave enough to give her. You can see her joy!
Seeing all of the hustle and bustle makes me realize how much effort goes into simply surviving and thriving down here. I really haven't seen missions from a long-term perspective before, let alone a family one. When we've gone on week-long medical or construction trips, that's all we did! And it felt much more "productive." In my eyes, I had something to show for my time there. These past few days have been completely different, and I can feel the inward struggle. Chase is getting lots of interaction with the Ecuadorian folks and is doing great work for the community, but I don't often feel the same way. I'm seeing the reality of long-term work, the not-so-glamorous ins and outs of daily living. I'm thankful because this is what I asked for, but it's also a challenge to my adventure-seeking self!
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 12:16 PM 3 comments
Labels: Ecuador
Cute MKs
On a side note, I found out that few Ecuadorian families here have pictures in their homes. Cameras are expensive, and there aren't even places to get film developed! I guess even the printing in Quito is schnasty. It got me thinking about the possibilities down here of offering photo classes and making prints available to everyone... It would be a neat ministry, don't you think?
I'm giving my first photo tutorial this afternoon, which will be fun. A friend of the Hardins' is taking pictures at her cousin's wedding and would like some pointers. I might even help her shoot the wedding, which would be awesome! It would be so cool to see a wedding down here. I'll know more after our mini lesson today!
In the meantime, check out these sweet faces...
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 4:56 AM 1 comments
Labels: portraits
Chase's First Call (dictation taken by Jenny)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
My first patient in the ER was a 68 year-old woman with altered mental status. Her daughter reported a history of heart failure, liver failure, and kidney failure. Her EKG showed atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response. The nursing staff thought she'd had a stroke, and my first thought was "Great, does she need to go two hours away to get a CT scan of her head?" But we ordered labs, and it turned out she had pretty bad liver failure and kidney failure as well. There are three medicines that are thought to help in "hepatorenal syndrome" but we didn't have any of them! So, we admitted her to our "ICU" and started gentle fluids in hopes that her kidneys would respond to hydration. Sadly, they never did throughout my call, and at the end of my shift Dr. Hardin discussed with the family making her DNR. Probably couldn't have done anything in the USA anyway, but it's sad when optimal medical therapy wasn't available to even try.
My next admission came as a hand-off from a fellow resident from her morning clinic. All residents except the resident on call have Friday afternoons off. This 36 year-old man lives in the mountains in the city of Riobamba (I think?) and had a history of cough for three years. He had been told three years ago that he had TB but was only treated for 15 days and was then told that he only had pneumonia and was sent home. However, he's had cough with lots of sputum for the last three years. His chest X-ray showed a large bulla in his upper left lung field and the lower left lung field was filled with infiltrate with a small cavitation. His right lung field was hyper expanded, suggesting COPD. Apparently his community is at 10,000 feet in the Andes and the women use a smokey burning wood to keep the house warm when they cook so many people there get COPD at a young age. Despite the fact that he'd lost 50 pounds over the past 3 years, he looked surprisingly good. We're testing him for TB now with daily sputum cultures for 3 days.
My third admission occurred while I had 4 patients waiting in the ER. It was a Hospital Vozandes Del Oriente nurse in labor. I hurried to the delivery room as Dr. Hardin had checked her and her cervix was complete. In her first delivery she had needed vacuum assistance, and this one was no different. I had never done a delivery with vacuum, but Dr. Hardin was there to help. Unlike in the US, we kept using suction after three lost seals, rather than going to C-section, and the baby was fine. She had a small second degree laceration which I was left to repair. No problem. The fourth admission was her baby, who fortunately had an APGAR of 9,9 and did very well.
The fifth admission was a surgical consult in the ER for a 5-year-old who had gasoline burns from her waist down. She had been treated in a community hospital 3 days earlier by debridement and bandaging and sent home. On presentation in our ER she had too much pain to remove the bandages, so surgery was consulted to do it under anesthesia. She had eaten not long before arrival so she was admitted with plans to take her to the OR the next day.
Just another day at Hospital Vozandes Del Oriente!
Thebault, MD
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 1:36 PM 4 comments
One Week Down!
We've been here a week today - wow! We've been sick half of it, so it has definitely gone by fast so far, but I think we're getting the hang of things. We've had most of those "firsts" by now, and it's hard to imagine anything more that could shock us. Famous last words! Here's a summary of the last few days...
- BUGS. Don't know for sure how many Evie has eaten. Anna likes to look for roaches (most outside on the porch, thank goodness.
- BUG BITES. My calf started cramping after I was bitten by something on the back of my ankle. Looks like it's nothing serious, and maybe not even related. I can count at least three different types of bites on my lower legs right now. The girls seem to be doing okay though.
- FOOD. I think the most challenging part of living in a new place is the food, no matter where you travel. The bar raises quite a bit when you actually have to PREPARE the food too - and do it for an entire family, including a baby just getting off baby food (which is not really available here anyway) and a picky 2-year-old! We were thankful to find Nutella :) We will survive!
- GROCERY SHOPPING. This is Anna's favorite thing. The stores are really tiny (think any Latin American place you've ever been) and everything is wrapped in shiny foil-like packaging. It all looks like candy! She's Miss Grabby Grabberton and goes nuts... and of course finds all of the candy too, even though it's candy we've never seen before. We went to the butcher yesterday, and it was classic - whole plucked chickens sitting in a pile on the counter, and bags of hooves (I think?) right next to them. Oh my. I was excited that you can pay a little more to have them de-bone the chicken for you!
- CLEANING, and CLEANING, and CLEANING... The ants continue to bombard our door, even when I wash the floor on my knees. It's no use. I see them carrying off crumbs and have no idea where they are finding them! Then again, I have no idea where Anna could be stashing goodies either.
- HOSPITAL WORK. Chase delivered his first Ecuadorian baby! He was on call for the first time last night and was up almost the whole time. He's still sleeping now, and it's 3:30pm here (same as Michigan, by the way). He's getting to do procedures that most family docs in the US would rarely if ever do, and he's enjoying that. He also feels like his residency program has provided him with excellent training, which we are thankful for!
Oh, Chase is up! A few words from him...
Last night was my first "turno". Turns out I have the Ecuadorian "espalda mala" which translated means "bad back" and which means "black cloud" while on call. We had 5 admissions throughout the day and enough ER visits to keep me from sleeping more than 2.5 hours. Felt like the same schedule as in Waco. The difference is that we cover medicine, pediatrics, and OB, as well as surgical evaluation. I'm basically an ER doc, but then we don't just admit them - we take care of them too. It's madness... but it's FUN!
- PHONE CALLS HOME. I got to talk to my mom yesterday! Our phone was broken and it always takes a long time to get through, but it was nice to finally hear from home. This isn't really the phone I used... :)
Here's a shot of the ladies this morning doubled up in the stroller.
- NEW FRIENDS. We've met several of the missionary families here, and will meet many more tonight as Dr. Mike is giving everyone line dancing lessons! Should be a great time. Anna loves playing with all of the children here. It's great to have them just outside your door!
- NEW FEARS. The other night I heard a noise outside our bedroom window and was reminded that I AM in a foreign country and could be in danger. We feel safe most of the time, so it's easy to forget. This is a trial period for us, after all... could we do this? Is God calling us to this? And what if God is calling us to a place that is REALLY hostile? I started to cry when I thought about my girls. I don't know if I'm ready, but I want to be. Jesus is my pearl. He's GOT to be.
Please continue to pray for us! We have so much to learn. Sometimes I feel cooped up in this house, in another country but stuck doing the same mundane things I did at home in the US. I need a clear perspective and an open heart.
Please check out the gallery! I'm adding pictures all the time!
And PLEASE leave a comment once in a while! It will let me know that people are reading :)
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 12:15 PM 2 comments
God?
Friday, March 7, 2008
God? Is that you watching over Mike and Karol's house?
Nope, just Jenny goofing around with her speedlite at 5am in the morning! My friend Sarah (www.fleetingmomentsphotography) takes some really cool pictures at night, and for whatever reason I am up early this morning so I thought I'd try to catch some stars. Not many stars (lots of clouds because it rains constantly!) but I did find a cat and a crazy North American in her jammies!
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 2:56 AM 2 comments
Now for an update! Jenny gets jungle fever
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Literally. Why has the photog not been out in the hunt for a good shot? I've been sicker than a dog! I'm pretty much over a horrible 48-hour jungle bug. At this point I feel okay but am trying to recover from dehydration. Thankfully our friends here helped with the girls so I could rest.
So we're back in action! Evie has a big bruise on her forehead from wiping out on these tile floors. Whew. Anna has a sunburn... but Chase is doing okay so far. They're doing EVERYTHING in Spanish - not just treating the patients, but rounding and charting and discussing the medicine... It's been a big challenge but he's already learning a lot.
I don't know why I'm surprised, but life is life. No matter where you go. I find myself doing pretty much the same things I do at home, except it's a whole lot harder because I don't have a car and don't know where to find things. And, of course, cooking with foreign ingredients is a challenge! Cereal is expensive because it's imported, so we're doing a lot of bread and cheese, and FRUIT! Yay!
I think the thing I'm struggling with most, aside from puking the last few days, is the BUGS. I have to sweep several times a day or we can sit and literally watch a stream of ants come in the front door. Evie chased after one and grabbed it - it was in her mouth in an instant! Luckly the house ants don't usually bite. We lucked out there. But we've killed a nasty caterpillar, several spiders, and there's currently a huge cricket-looking thing that neither Chase and I can get the courage to attack so it's on our bedroom wall. Keeping Evie out of trouble is always on my mind.
Photog wise, there are about 9 families that I'm going to shoot while here. That's a TON of work- for me, but it will be fun. I'm not used to working with the girls around, but there is plenty here to distract them! I'll probably start those next week when I'm fully recovered.
Chase is on call Friday night, so I'm not sure how much adventure-seeking we'll get to do this weekend. Shell is not very big, so we can at least wander around the village. There's a new park in the center with a large replica of Nate Saint's yellow plane! Anna loves it.
What else... It will take great effort to hang out with Ecuadorian women, but I'm going for it. Now that we've more or less figured out how to eat, we can learn how to share Jesus! :)
CHECK OUT THE GALLERY! acapturedlife.smugmug.com
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 1:25 PM 2 comments
Labels: personal
We're in Ecuador!
I've already spent hours trying to get a few pictures edited, but am having a lot of trouble (foreign country, foreign computer, you name it!) Here are a few from today.
Here are the girls playing on the swing set. It's located in the middle of the missionary compound. It's a beautiful day and they were enjoying the sunshine!
Inserting pictures in the blog is a real hassle from here. I think I'll give updates this way and then direct you to the gallery to see more images. To find the Ecuador gallery,
- go to www.acapturedlife.com
- click on "client proofs"
- click on the gallery called "Ecuador"
Posted byJennifer Thebault at 12:51 PM 2 comments
Labels: personal