A Blessed Thanksgiving and Beyond

It is now Saturday evening.  We have made it to the end of the project and begun our excursion to Machu Picchu. We left Lima this morning on a plane to Cusco, and took two taxis from there to get to the train station.  Then we rode the Vistadome train through the Sacred Valley to the village at the base of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary.  It was a great travel day with many awe-inspiring views along the way.  We also saw llamas, alpacas, pigs, and all sorts of other creatures along the route. We can't wait to spend Sunday exploring one of the world's wonders.

Friday's clinic experience topped it all off. But we would like to blog about Friday later.  We haven't had time to write that one up.  You will have to wait a little longer to hear about it...

Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) we traveled 2+ hours to the north, rural area of Lima. After getting to the correct district, we realized that the bus driver (who had been 30 minutes late), didn’t actually know where the clinic was. Jodee tried calling the clinic contact but there was not enough service to get through. After stopping to ask people on the side of the road two times, we finally made it to the clinic (2 hours late). We ended up leaving the clinic late as well so although it was a long day, many hearts were touched. Here are a few of the stories from Thursday…

Ryan: “Ricky was my favorite patient of the day. He was 11yo and had Muscular Dystrophy. His brother passed away 3 months ago from the same disease at the age of 17, but Ricky was using his brother’s wheelchair. The wheelchair did not fit him and it wasn’t supportive enough at all. We didn’t have any kids wheelchairs left, so we used a standard adult wheelchair and made a lot of modifications. It took 2+ hours and 6+ people to raise the foot rest and cut a new foam cushion to lift him up. it wasn’t perfect, it was way better than the one he had before. He kept giving me high fives and didn’t whine once the entire time.”

Derek: “Most patients here have either low tone or very high tone. Lozia, a 7yo girl, came in and she was scared to death that we were going to give her a shot for the pain in her arm. Christin gave her a ball to play with and calm her down and I was able to get some pony stickers for her. We fit her with a wrist brace for her pain while lifting things. When we asked her to walk, she had a hip hike and knee hyperextension. There was exactly one AFO left that fit her and she was able to walk (not perfectly but much better). We also gave her new shoes and she left very excited.”

Rich: “I have been in and out between patients so while I don’t necessarily have a favorite. Our supply decreases everyday so we have been doing a lot more modifications to braces and wheelchairs. With the less options, we have to be more creative with what we have.”

Steph and Amanda: “Our favorite patient was a little girl with cerebral palsy. We fitted her with AFOs and then she wouldn’t stop running around after Pat. It was also really great to work with Rich and see how to modify all of the orthotics. We both feel a lot more confident in our knowledge of orthotics, which is a blessing in itself.

Kalee: “We had a lot of diagnoses that we don’t get to see as much in the US. I was working with Jodee and our first little girl had hydrocephaly. Jodee had seen her last year and while her head had gone down, it was still very large. The shunt that the doctors had put in has not worked liked it should. We fitted her for a wheelchair and her mother was very thankful that she wouldn’t have to carry her around anymore. Our second patient was a little girl and at first glance, you couldn’t really tell anything was wrong with her except for a slight limp. After taking her tights and 3 layers of socks off (all the people/children wear multiple layers all the time), we saw she was wearing an AFO on her right foot. It was obvious that her foot was deformed but we didn’t realize how badly until we took off the brace. Her sister said that she was born with a deformity and then fractured her leg and they didn’t have the money/resources to fix it properly. It was heartbreaking to see her leg/foot completely turned around but we were able to give her kids crutches so she didn’t have to put weight on her leg. Her timid smile was precious and we hope that she will travel to Arequipa to have free surgery where Jodee works.”

We arrived back to our ”home” at the Retiro at about 8pm where the nuns had prepared a marvelous Thanksgiving meal for us.  It was so nice to sit down together and share our Thanks after such a great day of service.