Wednesday, February 08, 2006

1/25/2006

This is the sixth part in my Guatemalan series. Click here for parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Note: I spent this day in the company of the ER doc, Kerbey and his interpreter / significant other, Martha, while they saw patients on the medical side. It was a bit of a change from being in dental - less hectic and more cerebral, and slightly more frustrating since we could only offer limited primary care. Kerbey holding one of his more affectionate young patients. Pretty heartbreaking, that family we just saw. I'm in the small shack-turned-examining room with Kerbey and Martha. The family's tiny 18-month-old presented with failure to thrive, a hernia, and very likely a ventricular septal defect (I was proud to have guessed the correct diagnosis due to the baby's underdevelopment and almost blueish color, owing mostly to the book I've been reading; though admittedly it was a lucky guess) with possible mental retardation (his growth plates still remained widely separated) - oh, and a dysplastic hip. Kerbey didn't give him more than five years, since there's practically no way for this family to get him the surgeries he requires. They can barely get him the nutrition he requires. It's upsetting to think how this baby's life would have taken a much different course in a more wealthy nation. Anabela, pictured with Peggy above. Martha is considering sponsoring one of the children in this village, Anabela, who is exceptionally bright, confident and good-natured, not to mention curious and helpful. She is 11 and in the 3rd grade, but obviously should be accelerated. She is bored with curriculum far beneath her level ("and what color is this?" they are trying to teach her) and so has been held back; how wonderful it would be if Martha could make that kind of change in her life. Left to right: Peggy, Anabela, Martha, Erin, Kerbey, me. Steve having a gobble-off with a turkey; the old Mayan farmer behind me was laughing harder than anyone. Next time:

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

haunting poverty, beautiful faces, unemployment and proud craftmanship, trash strewn streets and breathtaking volcanoes. a few of these pics could be in national geographic

2/11/2006 06:33:00 PM  

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