Rock, Paper, Scissors... Chocolate Cake

"Uno, Dos, Tres......Cuatro...errr Vamos Equipo!!"

 “When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” Psalm 94:18-19

                Today was our last full day at the clinic :-( .  We are all so extremely sad to see it come to an end.  It has been an amazing two weeks and we have all learned so much.  The people we have worked with have been amazing and friendships have been formed that will last forever.  It was great working with a group of such strong Christian people who were so willing to help the patients even when they knew nothing about them. 

The first patient I saw this morning was a very sad case.  She came in with a very messed up knee and had a limp when she walked.  When we asked her how long she had knee pain, she told us she had it since she was 6 yrs old.  She then began to tell us a story of how it happened.  When she was 6 years old, she left her very poor home life to go work as a servant at a house.  She had to help provide for her family and this is how she did it.  One day she had to go fill up these new porcelain pots with water and carry them back to the house.  The pots were heavy and she had to carry them with an iron bar across her shoulders.  While going up a set of stairs, she tripped, dropping the porcelain pot.  It had fell to the bottom of the stairs and broke.  The people she was working for beat her with an iron bar so hard it left her knee permanently deformed. That night, she had to sleep on the floor without any clothes.  With tears running down her face, she told us how she remembered everything about that night.  You could tell she had a hard time forgiving the person who had did this to her.  After our treatment with her was finished, we had the pastor come and talk and pray with her.  There wasn’t much that we could do to help her knee since normally in the USA this type of problem would need surgery.  We gave her a small knee brace and she refused a cane because she was embarrassed of her problem.  She wanted her picture taken with the people who had provided therapy for her and she was grateful for what we were able to do.

The very last patient of the day was a very, very interesting case.  The patient was an 8 year old boy who suffered from hydrocephaly (water on the brain).  If you don’t know much about this diagnosis, the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord does not properly drain and fills up around the brain.  When a child is very young, their skull is not formed all the way to allow the brain to grow and develop.  When the brain has grown completely, the skull then fuses together.  Well,  with hydrocephaly, if there is fluid around the brain, it causes the compression on the brain as well as the skull.  Because of the pressure, the skull continues to grow bigger and bigger.

When the mother was 2 months pregnant, the doctors told her that her baby had hydrocephaly.  She did not want to terminate the pregnancy so two days after the baby was born, he had a shunt put in that would allow the fluid to drain off the brain.  Normally, a patient like this would have regular check-ups to make sure there was no fluid built up around the brain.  Patient education is very poor here in Peru and the mother did not know that her son needed to see the doctor regularly.  The little boy has not seen the doctor since he was 2 days old and his shunt either did not work anymore or it did not drain enough fluid.  To give you an idea of how big his head was in relation to his body, we were fitting him for a wheelchair and had to take measurements.  His hips were 9 inches wide, his shoulders 10.5 inches wide, and his head was 26 ¼ inches around.  He was extremely skinny and he was unable to sit because his head was soooo big, his neck muscles were not able to support it.  His symptoms included blindness, cognitive impairments, and inability to sit or stand.  He could repeat some words you would say but was not able to carry on a conversation.  When talking to the mother about his condition, she said she did not want to take her little boy to the doctor because she feared that if he went, he would have to have surgery and thought he would die from it.   It was heartbreaking watching her cry as we told her how important it was to take him to get the shunt looked at.  It’s hard to imagine that there is such little education about these diseases.  I have seen a few cases of hydrocephaly but none were nearly as severe as this case.  At the end of the treatment, Chris, Mary, Gillian (another PT), & I prayed with the mother and little boy.  Please join with us as they desperately need God's wisdom and courage in caring for her son. 

While the Nates & CB were debating how to split the cake, Sam just stole it

                To end our day, the whole group – including translators, students, PT/OT’s, the pastor, and other “check in” people went out for a farewell dinner.  31 people went out and celebrated the success of the past two weeks.  Toasts were made and “paper, rock, scissors” was played over the extra chocolate cake that was left over on peoples plates.  We had such a wonderful time joking and laughing about the great times we have had together.  Nate Blakeley almost died from the very hot, hot sauce but luckily with a little water, he survived J It’s sad knowing we have to leave here tomorrow night for our long trip to Cusco but we have made memories that we will never forget.  The patients we saw and the life styles we have learned about were so different than any in the USA and learning about them will only make us better PT’s in the future.  

God bless,
Courtney  

P.S.-Fun Fact of the Day:  there are over 3,000 types of potatoes grown here in Peru.  You have been enlightened :-)