By the way, there is a huge thunderstorm in Puyo right now. Most people know I love the rain, so, yes, I am absolutely loving this. I have never been under harder rain in my life.
But, back to the story. I spent four and a half hours this morning in Voz Andes and a total of 15 minutes at the orphanage. I had intended to stay at Casa de Fe for the afternoon, but the sub-director I was to meet was very sick and could not give me the "first day" tour. I was sent home with a smile and a "see you tomorrow lovely girl!" That made me laugh.
This all being said, I found the orphanage to be difficult to be in, emotionally. I didn't know that Casa de Fe was a special-needs orphanage before arriving in Ecuador and even when I did find out, I certainly didn't know what to expect. It was really, really hard.
When I first entered the orphanage, two huge dogs ran up to me and gently sniffed and pawed my hands. They wanted to be pet. Thinking back on it now, the response of the dogs and the children were very similar--walking into a room full of kids sprawled out on the floor watching Monsters, Inc., I was immediately met by Tatiana, who touched her foot to my feet and said, "Pies." (That is "feet" in spanish). Tatiana has cerebral palsy and I can barely understand what she says beyond her first greeting. Then Jhony, Javier, and Dubi surround me. Personal space is a foreign concept, not yet learned. I play for a moment and then take a peek into the rooms. There are beds stacked upon beds and more children sleeping and/or crying in them.
I can tell that these kids are loved, but they need so much more. Better-fitting clothes, better ventilated rooms (it is almost as stuffy as a hospital), etc. One girl is crying her lungs out and I reach out my hand to rub her back, to tell her its okay. She shrinks away from me, a stranger, still crying. Another little girl cries in another room and as I sit down to try to comfort her, I can feel that she has wet the bed. She is crying in her sleep in a terrible dream. And as much as I want to, I don't wake her...can you imagine, waking up from a nightmare to see a complete stranger hovering over you? These kids have been traumatized and abused enough. I leave soon after this, silently grateful that my first experience with Casa de Fe is a short one. I will be more prepared for it all tomorrow.
The hospital has its own sad stories, but a lot of hope as well. I first met Dr. Brice and Dr. Martin, American doctors completing two-year medical missions here in Ecuador. There are only two "interesting" patients today.
1. A 45 year old woman, diagnosed with stomach cancer (gastritis and stomach cancer are incredibly common in Ecuador, most likely due to diet). She had undergone surgery to remove the tumors and seemed to be improving but somewhere along the way, something ruptured and she lost a great deal of blood. The one surgeon at Voz Andes had stayed with her all night, giving her transfusions and monitoring her status.
2. A 21 year old Quichwa girl with a growth in her pelvic area after a miscarriage. The mass had been growing consistently for two weeks, so the girl had gone to see a rural doctor who did nothing for her. Frustrated with "western" medicine, she went to her community's shaman for a cure. No such luck. Finally, she was sent to Voz Andes, where the doctors correctly drained her mass and found a nick in her small intestine. The fixed the tear but a fistula had grown between her stomach and her SI...basically feces was leaking into her stomach. The doctors treated this, but because she waited so long, the scar tissue in her pelvic region will never allow her to have children. She is unmarried and in her culture, will never be able to marry because she cannot bear children. Her life, as she knows it, is ruined. She doesn't know yet. Dr. Brice is trying to figure out the best way to tell her.
Today, I learned about compassion.
I thought about the discomfort and the shame that many of these patients feel coming into the hospital. Many of them are unaware of basic health information (for example, drinking juice with ice does not cause you to catch a cold). Culturally, there are a lot of beliefs that doctors must work against and/or with: pregnant women typically refuse pap smears because they think that such an "invasive" procedure will harm the baby; 70 year old women ask for pap smears because any pain in the abdominal region "originates" from their "womb"; several patients asked us to close the windows to keep out the "bad air"; one man thought that the pain he felt when breathing meant that his heart had failed.
In the span of four hours, Dr. Martin and I saw 11 patients. There were many things I understood and many more things that I didn't. But that's why I'm here. To learn and observe and absorb.
Tomorrow is another day to learn, observe, and absorb, but for now, the rain.
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