So today was a little lower key, but a lot of fun and with a lot of nice opportunities to spend time with our patients. We sent one of our surgical patients, Juana, home early this morning. The other patient from Monday, Magdalena, really could use your prayers. Once in about every five or six patients we operate on for prolapse down here, we will find a patient with trouble emptying her bladder afterwards-- Magdalena was the unfortunate winner of that lottery this time, and we are praying she will not have to go home with a catheter. She looks great otherwise, though, and is in good spirits which is always a plus.
The other two patients from yesterday look fantastic... totally humbling how the lady with the largest/most painful surgery that we did has simply NOT stopped smiling every time she sees us in the hospital. I have had the type of pain she is having (very similar to a C-section) and was certainly a lot less positive about it! You can see the soreness and normal post-op pain on her face if you catch a glimpse of her right before she sees you walk in, but as soon as she sees one of us the smile is plastered back on and she continuously shows her gratitude. Again, humbling. She is the one who has been praying for us with her husband ever since we met the other day. I thought WE were supposed to be here to minister to THEM, right? I seem to always get that wrong...
After rounds we went down to see about 12 patients in the clinic, which was also a really positive experience. Five of the 19 we have seen the last two days were actually return patients of "mine" who I have been seeing regularly for about a year now. What an awesome privilege to be able to establish these relationships and follow up with patients regularly. One young lady, Aracely, would like your prayers for fertility as she struggles with diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Another would like your prayers for us to be able to figure out what is causing her not to have cycles. Both cases were a lot of fun to see with Kelley and Tana today-- I'm not sure which I appreciated more, the chance to walk Kelley through them as good teaching cases or the chance to get great input from Tana about our next steps in management!
We did have one funny, "this-would-soooo-never-happen-in-the-U.S." moment this morning. About the time we had kind of hit a wall in clinic and were getting a little down with our moods/attitudes, we spotted a pair of panties that a patient had managed to leave on the floor under our exam table! Really?! How does one leave the gynecologist's office and not notice that they forgot their panties?! To be clear to all you strict theologians out there, please understand I am NOT implying that the Holy Spirit wears women's undergarments... but it was a strange and spirit-lifting gift at the time to our team;-) As I write this, I realize that was probably one of those "you had to be there" stories, but oh well... hope it made someone chuckle at least!
If y'all see my husband, kids, or in-laws this week, please give them extra hugs and love-- I miss them dearly but am so grateful for their support of this mission and our work here. Could not do it without them at all...
God bless them and you all tonight!
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