Week #4 (4 weeks late!)

Hey everybody!  So as you might have guessed, we are definitely not in Belize anymore.  :(  It is nice to be back home but at the same time, our hearts are being pulled back into service.  The last few days in Belize proved to be some of the blessed times that we had and also stretched us tremendously (particularly me)!  The last few days in Eldridgeville, David continued to tweak vehicles and plumbing.  In the evening, he spent time with one of the night watchmen, Marlin.  He is a young man around 18 years old who has many aspirations and wants to pursue art and music.  David was able to share his faith with Marlin and his cousin too- bonus!  Both young men were incredibly eager to hear and asked him loads of questions.  It was an awesome experience for him.  Another good friend that David made over the course of the month was Evert, the campus handyman.  Evert and his wife asked us to dinner for our last night and we dined on a local delicacy- armadillo.  It looks just like chicken but tastes nothing like it!  David liked it. 



Evert and his family

On his last day, David said he felt like the month just flew by and he wished he could have helped with x, y and z.  The staff at the clinic thought he could fix anything and they were sad to see him go.  He helped them a whole lot and if we ever get to go back I know he will be welcomed with open arms. 

Evert, David and Lesli

As for me, the last week was a growing experience, to say the least.  During the first three weeks, the supervising doctor was Dr Sue, a pediatrician who took me under her wing and was very helpful.  She completed her year of service and left at the end of my third week. 

Dr Sue and David

The clinic is actually run by a husband/wife nurse practitioner team that have been in charge for the past 2 1/2 years.  They just happened to be on vacation those first few weeks.  So as Dr Sue left, the chain of command switched and so did the game rules.  Basically, I became the one in charge of my team and as such had to see all of the patients after the students.  No big deal except some of my patients were in their 60's and 70's, which is just a few decades outside of my normal age range. During the last week we also went on our overnight mobile.  Some of the villages are too far out to be able to drive there, hold clinic, and drive back all in one day.  In those situations, we drive out, hold clinic, have community education at night, sleep somewhere, drive to the next closest village, hold clinic then drive back.  It was an exhausting 2 days.  Once again, I was in charge.  The nurse practitioner went along but was very clear-it's the Sarah show unless I couldn't handle it.  So I saw 125 patients in 2 days. The patient population was almost exclusively women and children with anything from ingrown toenail to be removed to skin infections and type 2 diabetes.  One woman had all the typical symptoms of high blood sugar and when I checked she was 540!  (Normal is less than 120).  All I had was 2 different oral medications to give her.  No insulin, no ability to check any lab work.  I couldn't even give her a blood glucose meter to check her sugars.  All I could do was give her 2 months worth of medications and hope she shows up to the clinic in 6 weeks when they get back around to her village.  We saw so many patients, many of whom weren't even sick.  It was kind of frustrating but I suppose if you have 10 kids and don't have a doctor where you live you might take your kids to see one if they are in town whether they are sick that day or not.  One of the more exciting events that occurred during those two days was the birth of a bouncing baby in the back of our mobile vehicle.  We got word that a woman had been laboring for a long time and our driver was going to take her in to the nearest Polyclinic (a rudimentary hospital).  I sent one of the students to ride along but they didn't even leave her house.  Once they got her in the mobile they realized the baby was nearly out.  The medical student delivered the baby, on the cushions we had slept in the night before.   It was quite a story to tell when we got back. 

Mobile Clinic location in San Vicente

My team: L-R= Becca, pharmacy student; Kristin ,PA student, India, UK medical student; Anya, PA student

Our accommodations for the overnight

Seeing patients

Malnourished child: see the light colored hair?  There are no natural blonde children in Belize

Bad impetigo (skin infection)

Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience.  I not only gained knowledge about typical illnesses in developing countries but also got firsthand experience in the day-to-day running of both local and mobile medical clinics.  My Residency program has asked me to give an International Medicine presentation to my fellow residents next week and has also invited me to speak at Grand Rounds, a conference for practicing physicians and attendings.  I'm not sure why I agreed, but at least it's not until February!  If David and I learned one thing after our month abroad it's that we know we are not done with medical missions.  As soon as we got home, we were ready to go out again.  We aren't sure God is calling us back to Belize but we have no doubts that one day we will call another country home.  Until then, we are doing life, work, church, home repair and enjoying our family and friends when we get to see them.
We thank you for coming along to Belize with us.  We hope that you enjoyed your look into medical missions and pray that we have inspired you to make your hometown your mission field.  When you are ready to expand the playing field, let us know.  We'll be headed somewhere before you know it!
In His Service,
David and Sarah Kelley