Manchas Misteriosas

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”  ― Mother Teresa

This morning Ellen and I were in the hospice again, and our responsibilities were very similar to those yesterday.  However, I can say that my experiences at the hospice have honestly been some of the most challenging moments in my nursing career.  I have on occasion just had to step out of the room to just take a moment to breathe and collect myself.  The work we do is by no means glamorous; however, I think that providing end of life care is a really important experience for all nurses to have.  Two of the patients can’t communicate at all and have muscles are so contracted that they can barely even move one hand. I will never forget the looks and cries of pain that I have heard, while having no pain medication to give.  We do the best we can with what we have, but I wish that I had more time to just sit with a couple of the patients and keep them company.  I just pray to God that these poor souls won’t suffer much longer.  On the other hand, I have also really enjoyed getting to care for the patients that are more responsive.  Felix (a man with cerebal palsy) loves to joke around with me and has the most contagious smile, Maria makes beautiful crotched doilies, and Manuel loves to sing (however, the other girls warned me that he has been known to throw things and spit).

In the afternoon, we were out in Piura doing home visits with a woman from the parish, Flor.  The first house we went to had two patients that we were going to see, an older woman and her pregnant daughter.  We spent the majority of the time talking with the daughter because she was 40 years old and was having a lot of dietary problems associated with her pregnancy since she had severe GERD and nausea.  We did a lot of teaching with her about the importance of a healthy diet when you’re pregnant and got creative in brainstorming ways that she could improve hers.  Her ultrasound and labs from her obstetrician were normal, but we did teaching about with her about when she should contact her doctor since she is at a great risk with her older age.  When we were walking to the next house, we were stopped on the street by a mother who asked us to look at her daughter.  The girl had white spots all over her skin that were peeling.  She told us that she hadn’t been out in the sun and the manchitas had been progressively getting worse for the past 7 months.  Her doctor had thought that maybe her skin condition was due to the environment but the cream he had given her didn’t seem to help much.  After talking with them for a while we headed to the next house, which was a bit nicer than the ones we have visited previously.  The woman, Isabel, we went to see was extremely kind and happy to see us.  However, because she is very busy and has a lot of stress in her life with her children and sick mother, she has been letting her health go.  We did a lot of teaching with her about her h. pylori chronic gastritis; however, she told us that she didn’t have the money for all the necessary medications.  (This is one of the most frustrating parts often times – I wish I had an endless supply of medications to give out!) We did discuss with her about an appropriate diet and the possibility of using natural remedies to help her gastritis.  Isabel was a very faithful and religious woman, and told us that she had faith that God would take care of her and thanked Him for sending us to see her.  On our way out, we had the privilege of meet her son and a few of his friends, but we saw that they too had the manchitas misteriosas on their foreheads...

A picture with Flor after our home visits.

After an unusually quick mass, I was talking with Erika and she pointed out that Christian had these unusual white spots (manchitas) on his face and arms. A couple of the other kids had them too. They all looked very similar to the ones that we had seen earlier in the day on the kids in town... After dinner we went out for ice cream at the heladeria near the parroquia.  The flavors were very intense and delicious, almost more similar to gelato.  When we got back to the parish, a couple of the young women that work here at the parish and I had an impromptu dance session.  I taught the group Salsa and Bachata and Carina taught me Cumbia & Merengue.  There is talk of there being a fiesta for the Fourth of July, so we’ll be ready to show off our dance moves tomorrow! ;)

Buenas noches,

<3 Lisa