Hunk of Cake

Mary gait training one of her patients

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

Hey friends and followers. Today was another great day at the clinic. Like yesterday, 3 of us went to another clinic across town. Today it was Nate F, Courtney, and myself (Mary). This was a great opportunity to work one on one with a PT and continue to practice our clinical skills. We all saw mostly adult patients today which is a change from the main clinic where we see a lot of kids. We saw some different cases today including some patient's with women's health issues. These include incontinence and pelvic pain. It was the first time for me to work with this type of patient. Nate worked with a patient who was deaf which was challenging due to the language barrier too. He also worked with a patient with laxity and adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. This is odd because these two things are completely opposite. After this patient Nate expressed the need for Dr. Hughes, our musculoskeletal professor who loves the shoulder and is super smart. It was a fun case to think and hear about.

After a long day at the clinic today, we came back to a yummy dinner or steak and french fries which is only the second experience I have had with beef on this trip. Seriously, I miss my Keister beef on the farm but it will have to do for now. Then, I was surprised with a yummy chocolate cake for my birthday coming up soon. It was so thoughtful and wonderful. It has been so great to work with everyone here and build great relationships. God has been so giving and gracious and I am blessed to have such wonderful people around me. We only have 1.5 days left in the clinic so please continue to pray as we continue to help those that need God's love.

Mary

Courtney & Chris with awesome PT Heather

So today Adrienne (a PT student from Arcadia) and I (Becca) were asked to take on what was thought to be a simple wheelchair fitting case. An hour later we had to sadly tell them that the best wheelchair for this beautiful 12 year old patient may not be available until next week. She had to be put on a waiting list, but was at least it was a step closer than when they arrived. Three months ago Jodee, our project director and permanent PT down here, saw this 12 year old girl on the street in a very mis-fitted adult wheelchair and let her know about the PT project and had her come to be fitted for a better one. But once Adrienne & I started interviewing her mother we found out this lovely child’s case was much more involved than we realized. When she was 2 years old she contracted both meningitis and a neuro disorder similar to polio and while in the hospital she had also become very malnourished. It is now 10 years later and she has been left unable to communicate except for crying and small whimpers and has been left very deformed from poor posturing. She only had 1 usable arm that she could scoot her bent legs around on for very short distances. Her other arm we could hardly un-bend and her skin was broken down on the front of her armpit from having it bent so long. She was unable to walk and her mother has been carrying this 12 year old girl on her back. Her mother only had socks and knit booties on her because she couldn’t fit regular shoes onto her deformed feet without pain and couldn’t afford special shoes. Fortunately however we are able to fit her with braces on both her legs that put her in more neutral positioning and were even able to find real shoes to fit over them! So even though she sadly may have to wait a little bit for the best wheelchair for her she at least now has braces to put her feet in better alignment and were able to teach her mother how to hold her hips in more neutral alignment for periods of time during the day in preparation for her wheelchair and taught her mom stretches to help un-contract all the tight muscles in her left arm. This little girl and her mother are in humble need of your prayers. They have both suffered so much in the past 10 years and we pray we can bless them with proper wheelchair soon! Pray also for encouragement, strength, and healing that would lead to a better quality of life for the both!

So much love & gratitude for Nora :-D

Takin' a traditional Peruvian hunk
out of her birthday cake :-)

In other news, tonight we had a lil surprise celebration for Mary since her birthday is this weekend like she mentioned above. What she forgot to mention was that we celebrated the traditional way.....i.e. instead of blowing out candles (which was a flashlight since we didn’t have any) the birthday girl had to take a hunk out of the side of the cake with her mouth, haha. We are so excited to get to celebrate her birthday down here in Peru!

Til tomorrow! Thanks so much for following our blog and being faithful in your prayes for our patients here and wisdom to give them the best treatment we can!

-Becca