day 231: i know what a burning eye smells like, but besides that, I LOVE PERU!

Hello Friends!!

I am bubbling and brimming with JOY and EXUBERANCE! Today was such an amazing day, I can't help but feel absolutely gleeful!

Yesterday, I went to my health post to chat with a nurse there who mentioned that there would be a campaign today against cataracts. I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, and she seemed confused since my host mom was going to be an integral part of all this. I assumed, as I do for most things here, that my host mom would inform me about all of this just moments before the actual event.

I was right.

So this morning, I roll out of bed later than usual, since I had nothing planned for today except working on my work plan for my Monday class. I walk outside to see if breakfast is ready and lo and behold! There's my host mom, scrambling to finish washing laundry, put on her shoes, apply makeup, and get her kids up- all at the same time, of course.

"Suzi!" she calls, "Hoy, ¿qué haces? (What're you doing today?)"
"Yo? pues, no tengo nada, ¿por qué? (Me? nothing, why?)"
"¿Puedes apoyarme en el centro de salud? (Can you help me at the health post?)"
"Por supuesto! ¿Cuando me necesitas? (Of course! when do you need me?)"
"Ahorita! (Now!)"

So with that bit of exchange, I grab an apple and devour it as I get ready.

The health post is roughly 5 minutes away from my house, and I get there not really knowing what to expect. The first thing I run into is a mob of old people and their family members. All of them are there to get a consultation for their eye problems (determining whether or not they have cataracts or something else). I dance through them, ducking and dodging, and walk into the clinic where my host mom is running back in forth in her usual business like manner. She sees me, beckons me over, and then tell me to basically just stand there until she figures out what to do with me.

It's kind of boring, but I do as I'm told.

Finally, a doctor's assistant (actually named Suzi... It got kind of confusing because of course the doctors are calling her, not me, but I kept answering them anyway) puts me in charge of dolling out medicine to patients who needed it, as well as acting as an escort for patients to take them to the waiting room after the consult. At first, I'm not sure what to do but eventually, I get into the rhythm of it all. An hour and a half later, all the patients have been seen. I'm down to one pill remaining and there's no one around... what to do, what to do?

There are some nurses sitting at a desk that I've been making eye contact with the entire time, wondering if there's anything I can do to help them. So, I just saunter over and have a seat. The two ladies are cutting up gauze and folding them into thirds. Rather than ask if I can help or join, I just grab some gauze, watch what they're doing and follow suite. Eventually, one lady asks me if I work there. I tell her no, that I'm a volunteer and we get into discussing what I'm doing, who I am, etc. (the usual). I start asking them about the health post, what they do, etc. (striking conversation) and we soon become quick friends.

How do I know we're friends?

Because one of the nurses has a bad leg and she had to get a shot for it. She told me she didn't need any help getting to the room and such, but I went in with her anyway and stayed with her as she took off her pants, got the shot, talked to her about the pain and such, and then helped her walk back to the desk.

Yea, so we're buddies. I don't really remember her name. Whatever.

Anyway, I'm now wrapping the gauze pads into packages, still helping the two nurses, when one of the doctors at the hospital starts chatting with me and tells me of americans he's known- one of whom stayed at his place just a few years ago while she was studying (she was from New York). I tell him a bit more about myself (I feel like I talk about myself a lot. I've gotten pretty good at it), and then he looks at me and goes...

"¿Quieres ver? (You want to see?)"

UHHHH HELLZ YEA.

He gives me a smile, walks over to where they have been operating on the patients with cataracts, and calls one of the nurses. Then he beckons me over and points to some scrubs in a room and tells me to change. I put on some orange scrubs, don covers for my hair and feet, and grab a mask for my face before I enter the room.

It is blazing hot in here. The humidity from people and the heat from both people and the environment are stifling. I don't care, however, because there are two people lying down with their eyes being forced open by a metal prong. The doctor is super amazing. He watches me come in and immediately starts chatting, joking around, asking me questions, and just being awesome. The entire time he's doing this, I'm standing behind him, watching him poke and prod and cut and inject and scrape this elderly woman's eye.

It's freakin epic.

In the beginning, he uses this hot wire thing. I don't know what it's for, but I can smell it burning the eye. It's not a bad smell, just fairly unpleasant because I know where it's coming from. Next thing I know, he's got needles and things in both (super steady) hands and POP out comes a lens! It looks like a flattened, round crystal rock thing and I really want to touch it, just because, but I don't because even I'm well aware how weird that would be. He puts in an artificial one of these things (clear and smaller, as opposed to the big, orangish rough thing he pulled out), squirts in some antibiotics, cleans it all out and tapes some gauze over the eye.

Each operation takes maybe 30 minutes or so, although it felt like less time. He's super efficient, his assistants are super efficient, and overall, I'm super happy and elated to be there. The doctor has a camera and asks me to shoot a bunch of photos, which I do. Patient confidentiality is sort of nonexistent here, and no one cares that I'm taking pictures of everyone and everything. The local newspaper photographers had been there before me, as well as a guy with a video camera for the local news. Again, no one asks if it's okay or signs any papers, they just start filming and questioning and it's all totally fine.

Eventually, the room gets way too damn hot and I have to leave. I change out of my scrubs, put on my street clothes, and wait outside where a lady is pacing anxiously. I give her a smile and she asks me how her father is doing. He had arrived in a wheelchair and I had spent a few minutes trying to comfort him (just talking to him, holding his arm and such). She explains that he had suffered from a stroke and she was worried because she knew he would be afraid. I spend a few minutes chatting with her, assuring her that the man inside really was a wonderful doctor and that he would be out soon. Soon enough, she's called inside to help him back into his wheelchair and he comes out with a big smile on his face.

This actually happens a few times while I'm waiting for my host mom to finish walking with the teniente alcalde (like, the vice-mayor?) around the health post, giving their speeches to waiting family members and patients. When we're just about to leave, I can see another lady is freaking out by the door. Her mother (grandmother?) suffers from Alzheimer's and has a difficult time when she's in another room, let alone outside the room where her grand/mother is now isolated, staring into a white light, and getting surgery done on her eye. Again, I listen to her talk and do my best to help calm her down.

Sometimes I think families freak out more than patients, even though it's the patient going through the ordeal. It's really interesting.

After a bit, the lady is called inside and walks out with an older lady. The lady is in tears- it seems the older lady was quite confused through the entire ordeal and didn't quite understand what was going on. However, the operation was a success. I imagine how difficult these next few days are going to be for the lady, not only taking care of her grand/mother, but adding this task of making sure she doesn't mess with her eye. Surprisingly, the older lady sees me and I give her a big, congratulatory smile. She walks over and gives me a hug, thanking me for being with her grand/daughter through it all. I'm surprised that she knew this but I return the hug.

I finally leave to get lunch and afterwards, return to the hospital to see if there's anything else I can do to help. The surgeries are still going on and people who have been there since 8 that morning are still waiting (it's now around 4pm). Peruvian patience is definitely something I hope to learn. I have nothing to do since all the patients know my face by now and don't really care what I'm doing, so I start chatting with this older gentleman who had been asking me questions that only a doctor would know. When I explain to him that I'm not a doctor, he is genuinely shocked and says it's because I look like someone who knows what I'm talking about.

Self Esteem BOOST.

We get to talking about my site, where he's from, and various things that I just must see while I'm in Peru. It was a lovely chat, but I'm eventually whisked away to help a lady put on her surgery gown, then I get side tracked on how to keep this door open, etc. Eventually, I lose sight of this man and I get bored. I walk over to my host mom, let her know I'm leaving, and I go home to watch some Wall-E.

My host mom comes home and asks me about that man I had been chatting with. I tell her that yes, we had been talking and she looks at me and goes, "he was searching for you! He went to go buy you some ice cream and when he came back, I had to tell him that you left!" Apparently, I lost track of him because he wanted to go get me a treat and when he returned, he ran around the hospital with a half melted popsicle to give to the "nice little chinita, the one with japanese eyes"

I don't really care about the asian remarks anymore (7 months here, you get used to it), but I thought it was so sweet of this man to not only get me a treat, but also try so hard to find me to give it to! I felt like such a jerk, having left without saying goodbye, especially because I know he lives in another region of my province and I'll probably never see him again :c

But today was such a glorious day! I just felt so pumped and happy afterwards, that I was giddy. Not giddy enough to do more work, mind, but giddy enough to draw up some plans for a secondary activity that I might try to do here with my health post (to eradicate cataracts in my site. It's going to be hard work and I'll need a lot of support, but the doctor I was chatting with seems to believe that a year or 2 of house checks and such might make this totally possible. I'm not going to say no until I try it! It's too bad the doc is from Piura, so I'll have to check around La Libertad for another doc to offer me some advice on this)

I also, as I mentioned, watched Wall- E. I'm hoping to get a projector, sound system, and the auditorium so I can show it to some kids as an intro to my health/nutrition/environment charlas. We'll see about those.

Anyway, that's a really long post. I wish I had taken some pictures to intersperse the words in it, but ah well. I shall repost again when the next awesome/awful thing happens!

Until next time,
Love and Peace
<3