The second week of the mission picked up after a much needed weekend of rest and relaxation. There was an ample supply of cute old patients steadily flowing into our clinic throughout the day.
This beautiful lil' old lady came to the clinic for a general check up and eye examination. Her poor vision had severely limited her mobility over the past several years but she could not afford to have her eyes examined and fitted for new glasses; that's exactly what she received today. I did not witness the moments but the team members could not stop re-telling how brightly her eyes shined and how sweetly she smiled as she tried on a new pair of glasses.
Another interesting fact about her is that she'd never had her photograph taken before. When a team member gave her this photograph she held on to it like a treasure, stating that she "will pass this on to [her] grandchildren so they can remember [her]."
We have a great team of healthcare providers this year. The team meshed together seamlessly. We had a great time working with each other and learning from one another.
We discussed interesting cases together as we tried to come up with the most sound and economically feasible plan of care for our patients. One example is the patient above, who presented at the clinic with symptoms of gradual descending muscle weakness that spread from her neck to her R and then L upper extremities, and then to bilateral lower extremities over the course of 2 years. The weakness became diffused and continued to worsen over the past 2 years. In addition, she also exhibited mild resting tremor, cogwheel rigidity, stoop posture, and flat affect. CT scan of her brain and spine showed no discernible lesions. MRI was not available in the province of Cao Bang. After much discussion we decided to start her on a trial course of Sinemet since she has many symptoms of Parkinson Disease.
We encountered many cases that would require intervention from a specialist. In such cases we can only ask the patient to come back next year, hoping that our friend will join the mission next year and lend a helping hand to these patients...
There were also cases where we were blessed with the opportunities to share our faith with the patients.
One of the encounters that left an impact on me is the case of this beautiful nine-year-old girl who was born with developmental delay. She was brought to the clinic by her father with complaints that "she is strange" and "she is slow and does not understand anything." It was only 10:30AM but I could already smell the stench of alcohol on his breath. I patiently explained to the father what developmental delay is and the extra attention and nurture the girl would need. But he was rather fixed on explaining to me how she is a trouble maker and a burden to the family. As I proceeded to examine her, I noticed some necrotic tissue on her left index and middle finger. Also her left middle finger appeared shorter than the right one. The father explained that she somehow got her hand in a food grinder just several days ago. I inquired if her injury had been evaluated by a healthcare provider and got a blank stare in response. We obtained an X-ray and confirmed that she had an amputation of part of the distal phalange of the left middle finger and fracture of the distal phalange of the left index finger. I counseled the father that she needed to be evaluated by our orthopedic surgeon (who was operating at Cao Bang Hospital) and he hesitated until I reassured him that all expenses would be covered by the mission.
We were concerned that the father may not bring her back for evaluation so we insisted that they stay at the clinic and come back to our hotel with us for our orthopedic surgeon to do further evaluation. My heart is heavy for her situation and for her father who does not seem to understand the attention and patience it takes to care for a special child such as her. It highlights the kindness and compassion that the team members poured out to her throughout the day.
There will be plenty of photos of many cute little children we met throughout all the clinic days.
Physicians & Medical Assistants Team photo at the end of clinic day
