Listening

Sometimes we get so caught up in our daily activities that we forget to listen.  I have really been working on listening....  Yesterday I went on mobile to the village of Crique Sarco.  It is definitely one of the most difficult mobiles that we do.  Not only is the village very remote but there is not a road all the way into the village.  After driving over an hour on very rough road, you have to park by the river and carry all of the supplies and medications for clinic across a footbridge over a river and then about 1/2 mile into the heart of the village where the clinic building is.  This is not an easy 1/2 mile hike but one that is at least ankle-deep (and sometimes much higher) in mud.

Medical students carrying clinic supplies on the hike to the clinic in Crique Sarco

We saw a good number of patients in Crique Sarco including a home visit to see a 8 year old boy who was still healing from a femur fracture.  The day was particularly sunny and hot and so by the time we got everything back across the river in the afternoon, we were ready to go home.  As we started our drive, we passed the house of a premature child.  The baby was born at 32 weeks in Belize City and because there is no real neonatal care, was sent home at 2 days of life to see if she could make it.  We have been stopping by the house every time we are in the village to check on her.

Clinic building in Crique Sarco

As we passed the house I thought that we really did not have to stop.  She was well over 2 months of age now and had been doing ok.  We had jumped in the river to cool ourselves off before starting the drive back and were wet, still hot and really just wanting to get back.  Then I listened and something told me we really needed to stop.  Mr. Rudy humored me and went back to the house.  We were relieved to hear that the infant was thriving, was 12 pounds now and was actually in another village visiting her grandparents.  We were getting ready to get back into the Land Cruiser when a man asked us to see the baby's cousin.  They brought a toddler out of the house and she had a large fluctuant abscess on her left face and neck.  We got down our equipment and were able open it up and drain it.  We were getting her antibiotics as well as Tylenol out of the rooftop carrier when they asked us to also take a look at her older brother.  He too had a fluctuant abscess on his thigh which needed drainage so we did that as well.  We were able to give him a course of antibiotics and talk with the family about bathing and wound care.  It was very clear by this time why we were to stop at this house as they had not sought medical care for these two large infections.