medical team week 1

this week has gone by oh so fast and before i knew it i was waving goodbye to the medical team and the translators as left to go home. one week done, three to go :) this week was such a great experience for me in that i had the opportunity to be a part of this team and assist in whatever was needed. when i got here saturday night i was put to work putting spanish labels on medicines and sunday we sorted through hundreds of meds and slpit them up between 4 days. monday was the farthest away with it being 30 miles away up the mountain and it taking us 2 hours to get there. the views and mountains were worth every minute, and we were so high up in the mountains we were in the clouds!on the way up though we kind of found out mid-way through that the cooler with all our lunch in it was missing the top and the food. sad day :( we went back to try to find it but no such luck. hopefully we blessed someone with the food :) we were given some bananas and people started finding snacks here and there in their bags to we didn't go hungry. we saw around 300 people that day. tuesday we drove 45 minutes up into the mountains and here we saw around 200+ people. at this village we were able to play with the kids and they loved playing with the soccer ball and jump ropes. we had a little girl referred to la esperanza to get a skin biopsy, someone else had an enlarged thyroid so they were referred, and a young boy was referred for seizures. sad thing is they probly won't go.

wednesday was a "free day" even though it was still full packed. in the morning we went to the bank and to some shops for the team, had lunch at a friend of the teams, and that afternoon i went sightseeing with some people. had a run-in with a drunk, but it wouldn't be a mission trip without it. no worries, i had protection. thursday we went to a small village about 20 minutes away and saw close to 400 people. we had to turn people away by lunch time because we already had way too many people. this was our busiest day this week. i was in the pharmacy most of the time and this village about wiped us out clean. all the kids tylenol, adult vitamins, adult cough, and adult antibiotics were gone that day. that night we had a special dinner set up by ms. lavearn and the translators. it was an authentic hondurian dinner and i have to saw it was really good! after we had hondurian dancers come and sance some traditional dances. boys in jeans, button up shirts, and cowboy hats and girls in long, bright, colorful dresses. it was alot of fun seeing as how they pulled us in to dance as well :)

yesterday was the last day and this town was about an hour away and it's the community that ms. lavearn (my host) has adopted in a sense. we saw around 250 people. as soon as we got off the bus there were kids who just gathered around you and were giving you hugs and smiles. it was so cute! then they all lined up and carried all the boxes and bags for the pharmacy. no other village had done that yet so it was a sight to see. i stopped by at the dentist and saw one guy have 2 back teeth removed, and due to the condition of the teeth the dentist had to use a hammer and chisel as well. we had to take the kids out for that, but the amazing part about it though was that afterwards he thanked everyone sincerely. that was one thing that never ceased to amaze me: at home we squirm and jerk when we get out teeth pulled or cleaned; here, they didn't even make a move. they just laid there and took it all in. one woman had 13 teeth removed and she was the same: thankful.

all in all we had 2 doctors, 1 RN, and a surgical dentist who all saw patients and i know after each day they were completely worn out, especially after the day we saw close to 400 people. we all shared stories and experiences of the week last night and during and after the tears were flowing as we started to say our goodbyes. i'm so very thankful to have met each and every one of these people and i definately hope to do this again!