Una loco dia en Peru

Un loco dia en Peru

We all woke up with a bad attitude today.  Five days into Otuzco, and three out of four of us were ready to go home.  We have had water on and off all weekend, and the food that tasted so good when we first came now all tastes the same (rice, potatoes, meat and some vegetables).   We have found out that the only ATM in town is out of order—for two months---but there is someone coming from Chile on Monday to fix it.  Right, like we believe that!!  Which Monday?  In February?  Otuzco is a long way from Chile, and do we really think someone is going to come here just to fix the ATM?    Our money is running low.  The worst part of being here, however, is feeling stupid all of the time because one can’t understand and communicate well.

So off the kids went to school (less than willing), and Mike and I to the hospital.  Did I mention that I have a great case of impetigo right on the end of my nose?  At the beginning of the day, I was thinking I should totally get out of work for who knows how many days.  I started myself on antibiotics on Saturday, so I am probably not contagious, so I didn’t say anything.

The hospital was a happening place today.  My little yellow baby from last week was not there, and, Whew!—I found out she had gone home versus the other way  of leaving the hospital.  Doctora Kony was there today, which translated into a lot more that we got to do.  Doctora Kony is the Vive Peru contact here in Otuzco, and she is super friendly and nice.  Minutes after finding her on the medical/surgical floor found me debriding a burn with a scapel held in forceps.  She showed me how, including giving local anesthetic prior to debridement (another Whew!).   I have never done such a thing before, but she was right beside me, and next time I am sure I will be better at it. 

About 10am we had an 11 year old girl come into the emergency room.  Yesterday, when playing with a friend, she fell and hit the back of her head on a wall.  She was alert, but couldn’t walk straight.  Dr. Kony decided to transfer her to Trujillo to the general hospital there for a trauma consult.  Her aunt was with her, and asked me if I was going in the ambulance.  Light bulb!  Ride to Trujillo=ATM=money for the school uniforms that will be done tomorrow, and the Spanish lessons arranged for the week.  So I asked Dr. Kony if I could go with and friendly “yes”.  She is really a breath of fresh air for a bummer attitude.

Our sweet 11 year old, who I will call Maria, got an IV with several medications in it, including one I recognized as an anti-nausea medication.  Good thing.  I climbed into the back of the ambulance with Maria, her aunt and cousin, and directions from the nurse that the IV needed to run at 25 drops a minute.  Maria was really scared.  Her aunt told her to close her eyes.  I was worried about carrying on a conversation with these two all the way to Trujillo. 

I don’t know if I have said too much about Otuzco.  It is 8400 miles above sea level.  Truijillo is at sea level.  The distance from the sugar cane covered flatlands outside of Trujillo to Otuzco is about 18 miles, so we descend or climb about 7600 feet in 18 miles.  Think the “S” curve in Big Cottonwood Canyon, times 30!!  It is a two lane road besides, and was just paved 10 years ago (thank goodness for that!!). 

So as I was counting drops in the IV as we started down the hill, the nausea started in.  I looked back, and in addition to Maria, her aunt and cousin also had their eyes closed.  Thinking of the two times I vomited out the window the last time I crossed the Andes in a bus, I decided that the drops were pretty close to what they should be, and I decided to close my eyes too.  I kept them closed all the way out of the mountains, opening them only a few times to check Maria, and to see her aunt and cousin vomiting into bags that they had brought.  I didn’ t have a bag, so I was very thankful that closing my eyes averted the vomiting. 

The traffic in Trujillo seemed to last forever, and we finally reached the hospital.  We took Maria to the emergency room.  I asked the ambulance driver if he was going to take me back to Otuzco (at least that is what I was trying to ask him), and he told me to go inside with the technician, and drove off.  “Great”, I thought to myself.  Here I am at a hospital in Trujillo, with no idea where it is, and where to get a bus to go back to Otuzco, and very bad Spanish to communicate all of it with. 

The technica (I’ll call her Luci) at Maria’s bedside seemed nice.  Not much was happening when we first got there, but in there were probably 8 people there, so compared to the US it was about the same as far as waiting.  A doctor came by to ask Maria’s story.  I told him I was a volunteer and fortunately Luci came up quickly and told the story.  After, Luci indicated to me to come with her.  It was at that moment I found that Luci was a technician from OTUZCO and that she had ridden in the front of the ambulance there and that we would be going back together and that I didn’t have to find my own way back.  I was filled relief, and almost hugged Luci.  Sure enough, the ambulance was parked a little ways away. 

Maria burst into tears when we went to leave.  It must have been terrifying for her to be there in that emergency room, with all of the other people waiting on stretchers for evaluation.  We waited until her aunt and cousin got back and then left.

A truck was on its way from Otuzco with another emergency patient, so we waited until they got there to head out.  I had time to go to the ATM to get money, and to get a Diet Coke (not available in Otuzco).  I rode back in the truck to Otuzco..  The driver is 23, and drives the ambulance, which should explain our ride.  I saw the sign in Spanish which said “No passing”, but I must have been wrong, because it seemed that every time we saw it we passed someone, double line or not.  I was really happy to see Otuzco after our wild ride up the mountain, and very happy that I did not throw up again, because I still didn’t have a bag.

The kids were in better spirits when I got home.  Ruth got her first love letter (in Spanish) from a classmate.  She came to Peru prepared for this scenario, bringing the picture of Nick Jensen that Eric and Brenda sent with his Senior class announcements (Thanks, Eric, Brenda, & Nick!!).  She showed Nick’s picture to her classmates, leaving out the fact that he is really her cousin.  The poor boyfriend wannabe dejectedly took back his love letter, and Ruth did not have the heart to tell him she really did want to have it to compare with her sister’s letters.  Ruth said that she would LOVE to actually have Nick here, because he is so tall and buff it really would have intimidated the mostly small Peruvian boys.

Sam said his day was “normal”, which translates that the girls that are enamored with him tried to help him with Spanish.  The school uniforms will be done tomorrow.  We all have a lesson on hygiene to teach to a 6^th grade on Wednesday.  It IS difficult to not understand or speak well, but we only have 5 weeks left here in Otuzco, and we should take time to enjoy it!