Courtney and Mandie in Honduras

We're back...& where you can find us now:

2010-02-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

We're back from Honduras and moving on to the next thing. Courntey starts her first job as a nurse at MUSC Children's Hospital on a pediatric medical surgical floor. I am headed back to Honduras for a week starting Feb 19 and then will be in Uganda and Brazil in March and April. To continue following along with what we're writing, you can find us at:

COURTNEY - http://courtsliquidsunshine.blogspot.com (under construction)

MANDIE - http://paratopera.blogspot.com

Thanks to all of you who kept up with us in Honduras. We'll be posting pictures and maybe a few videos over the next few weeks here and at our personal blogs.

love,

C & M

Day 13 & 14

2010-02-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was yet another “lazy” day. We woke up for breakfast at 7:00 but did not leave the house until noon. We were picked up by Suzy, and taken to yet another location within the ministry…Casa Lamb. This is a beautiful house in a very nice neighborhood with breathtaking views from the windows and an overall peaceful environment. The reason for our visit was to capture on video some of the happenings of the “Alonso Project”, for which a meeting was being conducted throughout the day. We interviewed several of the people in leadership positions, and got several pictures of the meeting.

After lunch with the group, we headed back to Mision Caribe. We were ready for a light afternoon of packing, napping, and fusebal – we needed rest before our long day of travel. It was not long though, before we decided that we NEEDED ice cream. Kathi joined us, and off we went in the pick-up truck to find chocolate. The best part about this adventure was the great quality time we had to talk and just live life with each other.

That night we helped Dr. Ken and Dr. Pat with inventory of the trunks. Dr. Ken had Mandie and I both help him with his special trunk. Haha – we had specific instructions NOT to touch anything we were not instructed to and to count everything…including the bandaids. It was fun.

We went to sleep late, hoping that we would get some much needed rest before our long day of travel.

This morning we woke, ate breakfast, and zipped up our finally packed bags. It was important for us to be ready at 8 because Dr. Ken had a special patient in which he needed nurses Mandie and Courtney to assist. We were really excited. The patient arrived on time, so it was a good thing we were ready. She is a beautiful little girl with wonderful English speaking parents…which made the visit much more enjoyable for me! Haha… J Dr. Ken has amazed me beyond words. In a baby with no visible veins, he was able, in one stick, to get three tubes of blood. Mandie and I were astonished. I have come to the conclusion that he has to have magical powers…it was the best stick ever. After lots of exciting learning opportunities and a satisfied doctor and patient, we had one more thing on our agenda before it was time to leave. We also set up a bathroom urine lab that would have made the OSHA people sick, but it worked for us!

In order for Kathi not to miss us too terribly now that her roommates are gone, we left behind little memories of ourselves. This included short sheeting her bed (for the second time), putting hot chili on her toothbrush, covering the toilet seat in Vaseline, and replacing the soap in the bathroom with orange juice. How will she ever forget us! We love you Kathi… :)

We were dropped off at the airport at 9:45 am. Since the Delta line did not open until 10:30, we sat on Mandie’s trunk and played cards. I am pretty sure everyone in line believed we were crazy. We were slapping cards, laughing, and of course, being unusually loud. Eventually, the gate opened, we checked our luggage, and then were informed that our flight was an hour and a half delayed.

We made the best of it though. Our first distraction was Suzy. She was incredibly sweet and stopped by the airport to say goodbye. We had coffee and enjoyed conversation with her for quite some time. Our next surprise was Jenny, Fanny, and Alejandra. They came by as well to send us off. We sat on the floor, as there were no tables, and ate tootsie roll suckers and talked. They are some of the sweetest people I have ever met. When it was time for them to go, Mandie and I grabbed a bite to eat and then went through security. The flight was smooth and we are now in Atlanta waiting on our final connecting flight. As we were waiting on our luggage after going through customs, we received our comment of the day. It came from a nice gentleman who had been in the first class section of our plane and had been behind us in line during our card slapping, laughing, loud adventure previously this morning. He said, “I have to ask…Are you two really nurses or are you in high school?” Haha – we replied that we are in fact nurses but all three laughed at the question.

One fun note of the day is that I have officially broken Mandie of several of her “travel no-no’s.” (Or at least some of them) We are in fact in matching t-shirts and for a portion of the trip have carried a camera around our neck. The matching t-shirts have just increased the amount of times we are daily asked if we are sisters. However, just to reassure you…we do not have our passports, travel documents, and boarding passes hanging around our necks…NOR do we wear white socks pulled up to our knees with shorts…and sandals. :)

Courtney and Luis Fernando the night of Kathi's party...

A great little Spanish house in Valle de Angeles...

One of the sweet children that we would have liked to bring home...

Cindy, who lived with me before she went to live at the children's home. I can't believe how big and beautiful she is!

Day 12

2010-02-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

Today was filled with new and exciting adventures. The plans included shopping in the morning and a surprise birthday party in the evening. What a fun day! We began our day early as we headed for Valley of the Angels for a morning of shopping. Although Mandie and Kathi went on Saturday, Mrs. Pat and I missed the opportunity due to the Honduran sickness. Nevertheless, the Saturday trip was cut short, so all four of us were excited for the adventure. We traveled down beautiful winding mountain roads, passed many donkeys tied to trees, and eventually found ourselves in a small village lined with shops and restaurants.

Mandie and I spent the morning in and out of shops. We had several conversations in which Mandie chose to either be very fluent or understand no Spanish, depending on which she thought would be more convenient for the situation. It was actually quite comical. We bought several things, and when we were content with our purchases, we found a unique restaurant on the corner of the plaza square, chose a table outside and ate a long lunch while we talked and enjoyed “people watching.”

One our favorite past times of the morning was to find a street curb in which something interesting was happening across the street. We would act nonchalant as we snapped pictures of the events taking place in front of us. We actually got some wonderful candid shots!

After lunch and a stop at our favorite coffee location, Espresso Americano, we headed to find Mrs. Pat and Kathi. We reconnected, shopped a while together, and then headed back to town. On the way home I found it interesting to notice so many donkeys tied to random trees. It is as though they are dogs, and their owners just tie them randomly on the side of the road until they return. My thought…”I would forget where I left my donkey!”

Mandie: This was my first trip to Valle de Angeles in which I was not responsible for a group of Americans, a handful of children, or shopping for specific gifts for friends back home. It was wonderful to just be free to enjoy the town with no agenda. I got a migraine while we were there and had the chance to fell asleep on a sunny spot of grass while the medicine kicked in. There’s nothing I like better than a nap in the sun. Courtney finished her last errand and then we headed back to town. I also got to eat my first plato tipico, which is a big plate of all the common Honduran foods: chorizo, beef, fried plantains, stinky cheese, beans, rice, salsa, and tortillas. It was absolutely wonderful. What a perfect day! Heavenly!

When we returned, Mandie and I laid in bed and looked at the pictures of the morning; however, our picture fun ended as we both fell into a deep sleep. We’ve been going strong for a while now and I think we both needed a nap.

After our naps, it was time to begin the preparation for the surprise birthday party for Kathi at Mision Caribe. We had all of the decorations, and the guests were instructed to arrive before 6. (And Mandie’s instructions included…”This is an American six o’clock not a Honduran six o’clock!”) The plan was for Mrs. Pat to need Kathi to drive her to the store, and while they were gone, Mandie and I would decorate while the guests arrived.

After they left, the decorations began to blossom. Since we did not have a helium tank to blow up the 60 balloons, we graciously allowed the guests to help us inflate them. We put up streamers, taped balloons to the ceiling, and prepared for the big surprise. And surprised she was! She was grinning from ear to ear – she had no idea! We had a great Honduran dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans, followed with a beautiful cake and flan. Everyone enjoyed chatting and catching up on each other’s lives and then began the Honduran tradition of palabras or “words”. It happens at almost every birthday party or going away party. All the guests take turns giving “words” to whomever the party was for. Everyone had beautiful things to say about Kathi.

After palabras we played fusebol, had balloon fights, and slowly said goodbye to everyone. In spite of our long nap and relatively easy day, we are exhausted and headed to bed as soon as we wash the dusty day off. Fortunately, there’s water tonight, which means hot showers! :)

Day 10 and 11

2010-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

Courtney's littlest Honduran friend, Linda.

Yesterday was our first somewhat “lazy” day. Although we woke early for breakfast, we laid in bed for over an hour just talking before we began our day. Our mission for the day was to go to the neighborhood of Flor del Campo and interview several of the people working in the institute. This is the location of the first official buildings in the ministry, and there were several important video clips we needed. Unfortunately, I am a blonde and Mandie somehow forgot, and during our first interview our camera informed us that it had low battery. So our day at Flor was cut short meaning we would have to return the following day. Because this is the neighborhood in which Mandie previously lived, she was easily recognized and many people were excited to see her! We even received free orange juice from one of her previous landlords.

Since our day ended before lunch, Mandie decided to take me to one of her favorite Chinese resturaunts in the city, King Palace. It was delicious! Because we had no other agenda for the remaining part of our day, we were able to sit back and enjoy a long lunch. On our walk back to the mission house we stopped for ice cream, which is always such a wonderful way to end a great afternoon.

Once we were back at the house, we uploaded the one video we were able to record and worked for several hours on our project. We cropped, edited, listened to lots of potential music, and had a great time seeing the beginning of our project piece together. Suzy happened to drop by so we were able to show her what we have so far and she liked it. :)

Later that afternoon, one of the employees, Melissa, became very ill. She had been to the hospital the night before and received an IV, but had developed more serious symptoms and was in no way improving. Instinct kicked in and Mandie and I quickly became her nurses. We sat with her for a while, and because there was no doctor presently available we did all that we could to comfort her. We truly were nurses for most of the afternoon. It turned out to be Classic Dengue (as opposed to hemorrhagic Dengue), so she should be discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning.

Later, we had dinner, played a round of Mexican Train Dominoes, worked a little more on the video, watched a movie, and headed to bed. Overall it was a very relaxing yet successful day.

This morning we awoke a little earlier because we had to make up for lost time at Flor. With a charged battery, we headed back to the LAMB Institute, ready this time to complete our mission. After several hours of interviewing both children and adults, we were content to leave.

We left in a taxi (which Mandie proudly got at the Honduran price!!) and headed to Jenny’s house to visit for a few hours. We were able to spend some great quality time in their wonderful home. Around noon, we left to pick Alejandra up from school. We walked some distance but were able to see the market and several other “Kodak memory” shots around the area. Fir the fist time, I experienced children living in garbage cans. They live in the dumpster outside of the market because scraps are thrown there throughout the day. It was a heartbreaking site and something I will never forget.

Fanny bought us, her children for the day, ice cream as we walked to Alejandra’s school. When we made it to her school she was elated. She is full of such joy. We walked hand in hand as she talked about her day. On the way back to their house, we passed a very large hog eating out of the river that everyone dumps their trash and sewage into, and she giggled beautifully at the site.

Upon returning to their house, we ate lunch (which was absolutely wonderful) and then had to say our goodbyes. They put us in a taxi, and off we went back to the mission house.

Jorge and Ana, two medical students in Tegucigalpa, picked us up at 3:00 to take us to the hospital and show us around. The hospital here is very different from the ones in the states. Our first obstacle was the guard at the gate. Jorge and Ana are students, so they were easily passed; however, Mandie and I were not sure how we were going to get the guard to let us pass. Luckily, since we were American and possess very blue and green eyes, he smiled and let us pass without even a question.

Hospital Escuela is the teaching hospital of Honduras and Jorge and Ana go to school in an adjoining building, completing some of their clinicals in this and other hospitals. We entered into the Emergency waiting room and I found myself extremely wide eyed. There were people everywhere. They were laying on stretchers made of metal, patients with NG tubes connected to nothing, and a woman with a rotting, bleeding, swollen foot. They were all in one loud room with absolutely no order other than the line of people trying to manage to push themselves closest to the front of the door. Jorge said that people come in regularly with arms cut by machetes and major lacerations, and they just have another person in the waiting area help stop the bleeding. There is no since of urgency or order relating to the seriousness of the condition. I was tempted to ask if we could just sit and watch. They said that in a matter of minutes there would probably be someone with major bleeding or something else which we would have been able to fix.

[here's a link to a post that Mandie wrote about Hospital Escuela last year]

We continued our tour and my eyes remained just as wide. As Jorge, our very animated tour guide, walked us through what he called “hallways of gold, lined with mahogany benches and crystal lamp fixtures” I was amazed at the condition of the hospital. He asked us at one point how the hospital would be rated in the states, and simultaneously Mandie and I both stated…”CLOSED.” There were holes in the ceiling with water dripping down from who knows where, mop buckets of muddy water, broken windows, etc. One of the most astounding aspects of the entire hospital though was their complete lack of patient confidentiality. As we walked the various hallways there would be bins along the halls labeled “Results.” Inside of these boxes, being monitored by no one, were all of the patient’s lab result sheets. You thumbed through the entire stack until you came to yours, and there you could read about your tests. On the psychiatric ward, there are glass boxes filled with patient consults. We were able to walk up to the boxes, see the patients, name and remaining patient information, and read their entire list of notes from the consult. It was astounding. After walking into the ICU, adult unit, and a failed attempt to enter labor and delivery, our final hallway was the Morgue. Ana was absolutely terrified. Nonetheless, we ventured onto the floor, and walked the halls. It was eerie but very interesting. We then found ourselves back in the Emergency waiting room, still lined with people on stretchers and various body parts bleeding, and eventually made it to the exit. It was an experience I will never forget.

After the hospital, we had time to swing by the Mall Multiplaza, which is as great as any mall you’d finding the states (better, in fact, than the mall we have in Charleston). We bought coffee at the Honduran version of Starbucks (Espresso American), browsed Pink, the Honduran version of Victoria Secret, among other stores. Jorge and Ana are a super cute couple and it was fun to just listen to them talk and hear about their lives. On the way home, we started crunching numbers and found out that Courtney’s starting salary as a new graduate nurse is almost twice as much as a master’s prepared nurse makes here in Honduras. Wow!

So…a few days back, Courtney beat Jorge at fusebol. He swore that she cheated, but really he was just a sore loser. Anyway, when she found out that he doesn’t have a facebook account, they made a deal that if she could beat him again, he would open one. Tonight, she not only beat him again, but beat him so bad that now he has to open a facebook account AND use it for a whole year. Ana was so glad Courtney beat him. He made her stand far away from the fusebol because she was “distracting him” (whatever!), but she had a big cheering section going on from her banished position on the couch. We expect friend requests from Jorge by the end of next week.

So…our feedburner says that like 20 people sign on to read this blog every day and we want to know who you are! There’s a link below that says comment and if you click on it, you can leave your thoughts about what we wrote and make us so so happy. :)

Our Honduran tour guides for the day...so proud to be wearing their whites!

My little friend Aaron Josue. Doctors didn't think he'd live. His parents didn't want him. He's absolutely precious.

We've been doing a lot of this all week...

comment...comment...comment!

Day 9

2010-02-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Yessenia...at the San Buenaventura playground...where kids can fly...

Today was our first official “video day”. Suzy picked us up a little after 7:00 and we drive the 45 minutes out to the children’s home.

This is my first trip back to Honduras in over 3 years and lots of people know how unsure I was of what I would feel upon returning. The first things I noticed were smells. Stepping out of the airport, I met a whiff of diesel fuel and smoke. It has almost felt like with each new smell, I repossess some of the “me” that was born here in Honduras. The “me” that lived on much less, the “me” that had children and spent every waking hour invested in their lives, the “me” that went days at a time without speaking any English, the “me” that I left here. At Mision Caribe, I walked into the bathroom and smelled the black water that backs up into the sink drain when the city water goes out. Honduran toilet paper has a clean, dusty smell that reminded me of every time I’ve refilled the toilet paper here. Then the smell of fresh plantains sizzling in the frying pan in the morning made memories of crisp Honduran mornings jump into my mind. Then my sense of touch kicked in. Hondurans are very touch oriented. When they talk to you, they often reach out and put a hand on your arm for the duration of the conversation. Every greeting and goodbye is accompanied by a kiss on the cheek and often a hug. When we arrived at the children’s home in San Buenaventura today and I felt warm little hands slip into mine and looked into deep brown eyes that conveyed the sincerest admiration and delight, I remembered why I came here in the first place.

It was wonderful to be with the children again, and to feel like I could absolutely just enjoy their company without feeling responsible for their welfare or spiritual development. J Five of “my” six children were there today and while I enjoyed playing with each of the fifty-some children there, it was especially wonderful to see Reina, Julio, Wendy, Jimmy, and Cindy again. I can’t believe how they’ve changed. I remember the first day I met about half of the children we saw today. The others have arrived since the last time I was here. For those who I knew before, it became a game to ask me over and over, “What was I like when you met me?”, “How old was I the first time you saw me?”, etc. For children who have few positive memories of their past lives, I imagine it was exciting to hear the sweet things I remember about them from years ago. I told Cindy about how we taught her sign language before she learned how to talk. I told Suyapa about how I remember her taking care of the younger children when she came to kindergarten. I told Gina about the time I spent the night in Las Tapias and we read bedtime stories in her bed. They loved it.

Another sweet moment was snack time. At 10:00, the kitchen cooks called the kids over for their morning snack. Courtney and I held back a ways and took pictures of them lining up and praying. The prayed for children on the streets who won’t get a snack today. As they slurped up their cherry jello, a hand motioned me over to the kitchen door. As I peeked inside, Reina handed me two big cups of jello. I thought about the many snacks that Jenny, Annabel, Katie, Ruth, and I had made for those precious kids…and how neat it was that now one of them was watching out for me.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games, climbing on the playground, wobbling on the see-saw, and sitting close to each other talking about life. An impromptu game of baseball started up in a nearby field and we sat in the shade to watch. Wendy, who wasn’t playing, ran up to me with what was obviously a treasure in her hands. “Look, Mandie”, she said excitedly, and placed a rock in my hands. A few people know that I bring a rock back from almost every place I visit. Sometimes I write a verse or a word on them that reminds me of what God did there... or of that season of my life. There is a little silver dish in my bedroom where a growing pile of pebbles reminds me of where I’ve been, what God is doing, and why I will always continue to follow him. I don’t have a rock from Honduras yet, but the children’s home property is full of rocks and I was sure I would find one there. The significance of this particular rock is hard to put into words and will mean infinitely more to me (and the few people who know my WHOLE story) than it will to anyone else. It is exactly the shape of Africa. Receiving it from Wendy, in Honduras, on February 1^st, felt like Jesus putting his hand on my head and saying, “Well done. I can’t wait to show you what’s next.”

Courtney and I came back to Mision Caribe around 5:00 and were immediately filled in on Dr. Ken’s neuro patients for the day. He saw a young boy who has a variation of Turner’s Syndrome, which is extremely rare, as well as several other interesting cases. We did a little bit of pharmacy work after dinner and then proceeded to look through and edit the 427 pictures we took today, not to mention the 30+ videos.

It’s late now, and we’ve got another long day ahead tomorrow, so I’m going to say goodnight. Thanks to all of you who are reading these updates and praying for our time here. We’re having a blast!!

Courtney adds:

Children – what a joy! My passion for them never changes no matter what country I find myself in. Today we spent our time at the children’s home in San Buenaventura. Upon our arrival we were rushed with smiles and hugs. With too many hands to count holding onto our ten fingers we began snapping what ended up being 427 photos. Because we were able to spend all day in their community, we were able to do much more than just take photos and video of their lives. We were taught many “Miss Mary Mack” clapping games and the girls sang and danced to Hannah Montana “Hoedown Throwdown.” Inside we played card memory games, dominoes, and Go Fish, and outside we played on the slides, monkey bars, and a see-saw. What a day!

We ate, sang, laughed, played, and loved the children all day today. It was wonderful to be a part of their lives for such a brief moment.

One thing that I have become accustomed to during my time in Honduras is a slight variation to my name. My Honduran name is Corey. J Haha – I now respond to it just as much as Courtney because the children could not seem to master the “t”.

I believe Mandie has said it all…I am watching her hang her head off the bed, which I have actually learned to enjoy and elevate her legs, which she just informed me I should join her…for twenty minutes…to help with circulation. This will be fun. Good night and sweet dreams!

Joel, Courtney's newest admirer...

How many people can we fit on this thing before it breaks?

Courtney and Joel. They've become best friends in spite of only being able to say about 6 words to each other.

the rest of Day 8...

2010-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

Doctora Alejandra...

Courtney hanging out of the guard tower at Mision Caribe...

The view through the peep hole at Mision Caribe this afternoon...

Marina, our amazing cook...

Today I woke up feeling much better! Although I woke a little later than the others, I do feel 100% better than my previous 24 hours. Today was a new and exciting day for our adventures in Honduras. It was our first day without a clinic, which left us with a large amount of free time. After breakfast, we had a few visitors. Jenny, Fanny, Alejandra, and Dona Francisca came by to sell coffee to the team before their departure. I was sitting at the table painting my fingernails, and Alejandra, in her beautiful English, asked me to paint hers as well. They quickly became a beautiful shade of red.

Being a prepared nurse, Mandie brought with her three isolation stethoscopes to use throughout the week. The first night one was quickly claimed by a doctor who had left his in Charleston….so we were left with two…perfect! This morning Mandie gave one of our stethoscopes to Alejandra. She is a six year old, energetic, bubbly, wonderful girl! The moment she was given the stethoscope, she transformed into Doctora Alejandra. (If you asked, her nurse was her mother Fanny). She listened to all of our breath sounds, front and back, and looked in our ears, finally coming to a diagnosis. Each time she checked me she would say, “Esta bien” (you are fine), however Mandie continually got a head shake and was told her ears were dirty.

At 10 we left to drop the rest of the medical team off at the airport. Alejandra stayed with us to hang out at the airport and eat lunch. She is a very responsible young girl. Wherever we would walk she would take one of our hands, and give the other the hand of her stuffed animal, (because she would be holding onto Berney, the monkey’s, other hand) so that the four of us would not separate. After our goodbyes and making sure everyone made their plane, we returned to Mision Caribe. This is when our new adventure began. Mandie and I are now in Honduras with no schedule. After several hours, we had to take Alejandra home because she has a test in the morning, and her mother said she needed to study. Mandie negotiated a taxi down to 70L and we were off. After a 5 minute taxi ride and hopping rocks across a field to avoid mud puddles, we arrived at their home. Alejandra was so excited to show us her room that she made us close our eyes until she was ready. It was beautiful. She had a Disney princess comforter and so many stuffed animals! She quickly got out her stethoscope, and again we were listened to and diagnosed. She even checked her princesses on her comforter.

One thing that Mandie has missed the most while being in Honduras is the piano. Today that problem was resolved! Alejandra had a small keyboard in her room that she allowed Mandie to play…however, what Mandie did not know is that the notes were animal sounds. Her beautiful song came out as quack quack baaaa quack quack baaaa. Haha – it definitely made all of us laugh!

After we left, we took a taxi back to Mision Caribe where we settled in for the night. We took several pictures outside of children playing soccer and then spent time on the video. Dr. Ken and Dr. Pat also stayed this week. Dr. Ken, a Pediatric Neurologist, has many patients that he has seen for years who he sees annually the week after the mission trip. God has placed so many children in his life that he has been able to bless through his medical talents in more ways than I can write. Today, at Mision Caribe, he saw three children who he has been with since they were infants. He let Mandie and I meet each of the children and their families, and explained their complicated cases in detail. He is a wonderful teacher! Each case has a new and exciting aspect of medicine for us to learn, and every story is such a blessing!

We had dinner and then the house settled down. Now Mandie is reading a book and I am typing away. Tomorrow morning, Suzy is picking us up at 7 to go to the Children’s Home for the day. We will be taking pictures and video of the kids and just living life with them for the day. I cannot wait for what God has in store!

Day 6 & 7...and the beginning of 8

2010-01-31T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we spent another day at the Centro Medico Lucas clinic. We saw pastors and their families, as well as other members of the community. Mandie and I had the awesome opportunity to work in the lab at the clinic. It was quite an experience. We wore no gloves, drew up plasma with eye droppers, saw a cockroach, and disposed of materials in regular trash cans. It was definitely a learning experience. We also had the opportunity to change the dressing on the man we had the previous day dressed.

I (Mandie) have had an interesting time adjusting to not being one of the dedicated “doctor” translators this trip. Each day when we get to the clinic, I have not known what I was going to do that day and usually ended up getting pulled in several different directions all the time – triage, the dentist, the pharmacy, a doctor here and there, the “crowd control person”, etc. It’s been fun, but also a little frustrating because I can never be where everyone wants me to be at once. One thing I enjoyed doing was going to each doctor’s station and asking him and the translator if they needed anything. The doctors, as usual, didn’t. But, the translators always wanted chocolate so I ended up making hourly chocolate rounds by the second day. Nursing care at it’s best. AND…the reason I could do this is that Courtney has basically mastered everything you need to say to keep the triage running. Parese aqui. Sientese aqui. Cuantos anos tiene?

After the clinic, we met Melisa, a 20-something former medical student who was shot in the head three years ago after she fought off a rape. For over two years she lived with bullet fragments in her brain that cause her to have several seizures every day. Her mother came to Suzy for help and Dr. Ken happened to be in the country at that time. During her initial consult with Dr. Ken, Melisa accepted Christ and as soon as he got back to the states, Dr. Ken was able to raise the necessary funds to pay for doctors, an operating room, and the equipment for her surgery. They went through her femoral artery up into her brain to repair a bulging artery behind her eye and then removed her parietal lobe to extract the bullet fragments. Today, she has some residual effects from the trauma and seizures, but is successfully completing radiology technician school and expecting a baby in about 4 months.

At this point in the day, Courtney was coming down with a combination of “Honduran stomach sickness” and a virus that has been travelling around the mission. When we got home, she went straight to bed and spent the night up and down, not getting any sleep. This morning, several people from our team and the Canadian team were sick and it was comical to see a constant stream of people waiting for the 4 bathrooms. Courtney slept through breakfast and was brave enough to try and come to our last clinic day at Ministerio Jerico. After about 20 minutes, though, the two other nurses on the team (me and Mary) forced her to go sleep on Betsy’s couch. She stayed there until 2:00, at which time when the healthy people left to go shop in Valle de Angeles and the sick people (Dr. Steve, Court, and Dr. Ken) went back to the mission. Shopping was fun, but my favorite cotton candy man was no where to be found. Sad day.

After getting back from Valle de Angeles, we scrambled to clean up as the folks at Mision Caribe were planning to take us to La Cumbre, a gourmet Honduran restaurant overlooking the city.

When we got back to Mision Caribe, Courtney went straight to bed and everyone got started on pulling out the medicine that we need to leave for Jerico ministries. I stood there trying to help for a while, but after a while abandoned the job to the professionals and came back to the room to write this and clean up. The team was up late getting ready to leave and this morning we had our last devotional. Courtney and I will go with them to the airport and then take the rest of the day to organize, plan the next week, and go through the 1,000+ pictures that we took last week! She woke up feeling 100% better today. The good thing about travelling with a medical team is that when you get sick, you have 16 people clamoring to take care of you. :)

A van packed Honduran style...with room for about 30 more people...

A contented glasses customer...

Day 5

2010-01-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

Today we joined a group of Honduran doctors who are a part of the Christian Medical Association here in Honduras. They have opened up a private practice, Centro Medico Lucas (CML), that provides affordable medical care in a Christian environment for both affluent patients and those who can’t afford specialist’s care. There is also a clinic available only to pastors and their families where a consult costs just $5.00. Their goal in this second clinic is to educate pastors and their families in a country where the belief is often that seeking medical care indicates a lack of faith.

Our doctors and dentist set up in six of the offices and from the CML provided adult neurology, OB-GYN, orthodontics, and dermatology consults. Courtney and I were in charge of triage, but….wonder of wonders…we were given two nursing students (white scrubs and all!) to work with. They were excited to help, so they really did most of the work. After about 30 minutes, however, we noticed that almost everyone was reported as having either a blood pressure of 120/80 or 110/70. Then, at the end of the day we noticed that the stethoscopes we had loaned them had been turned to the wrong side all day, so it’s unlikely they were able to hear anything anyway. J

Our nursing experience of the day included a man of about 40 years of age who had a disease called Filiarisis. Basically it is a parasite that gets inside your vein and prevents peripheral venous return. His right leg was swollen to 4x the size of his left leg and had oozing open lesions on various aspects of the leg. We dressed the wound with a topical medication and wrapped it in gauze. He was instructed to return tomorrow for a more proper dressing change as we did not have the correct supplies to adequately meet his needs. So we are excited to see him again tomorrow and dress his wound for a second time!

Since today was especially set aside for our doctors to give second opinions for many of the regular patients at the CML, each visit took MUCH longer. For that reason, Courtney and I finished triaging long before the last patient was seen and had time on our hands for practical joking.

I have seen a different side of Mandie after today. One of the doctors passed us in the hall and said, “Why do you two always look like you are up to something?” We came upon a ziploc bag that in the process of being made, somehow lacked its opposing side. So if you can imagine tearing a Ziploc bag down the sides, it appears as if the bag is whole. We took the bag, and with puppy dog eyes asked each and everyone of our team members (and even some patients) to please open the bag for us…we were having trouble. After several doctors tried, and had yet to notice that the problem was the fact that a side of the bag was missing, a competitive spirit broke out. Each doctor wanted to be the one to open the bag first! Haha – I have never tried to contain laughter like this. It was absolutely hilarious as each doctor tried their best to out do the others and pull and tear to open the bag. The dentist went into a long diagnostic explanation on why the bag would not open properly and the gastroenterologist had to actually sit down, he was so engrossed in his project. When we finally confessed, everyone got a great chuckle.

Our other fun for the day came when we discovered a very childish practical joke involving our name tags. We gently yet forcefully applied our “Mandie and Courtney” name tags to the backs of many team members. Haha – it was quite funny.

On the way home from the clinic, Mandie and I rode in the truck with Jorge and his girlfriend Ana. Due to the time of night, we got stuck in Honduran traffic – which if you have ever been to Honduras, you know that this can be quite an exciting adventure. There are absolutely NO rules of the road…and no one has the right of way…anything goes! Since the trip was a little longer than planned, we decided to play cards. Go fish was the game of choice, and Ana had NEVER played. Although she was the rookie, she beat both of us and was quite excited about her victory!

After a delicious dinner we were again challenged to a game of fuseball by two 19 year old Hondurans. Surprisingly, from who knows where, we put up a great fight and only lost by 2 points!!! I am pretty sure we surprised them just as much as we surprised ourselves.

Our team is now at the grocery store and Mandie and I stayed behind to take showers and get a few things done. The night will be filled with excitement as we make sandwiches and restock the pharmacy…

Although I am diligently trying to learn the language, I have not picked up enough to understand the conversations Mandie holds with the natives. However, there is one thing I have discovered. Laughter is universal. It does not change no matter where you go. I have laughed a lot during my time here and plan on laughing much more! It is so wonderful because even though I cannot communicate with the people, we can laugh together, and laughter is such a blessing from God. I believe He has laughed a lot this week while watching over Mandie and myself. I am sure we have caused laughter in the Heavens on several occasions. Isn’t God just wonderful!

Oh yes…and p.s….we have a little friend who lives in the corner of our room. He/she is a mouse (We are going to believe she is she because she is in the girls room) and I really want to name her. I have yet to see her but she has been spotted twice today by Mandie and Mrs. Ann. I will keep you posted on our little friend…

Photos of the day:

My theme verse for the past few months. I did my devotional morning on this verse, so it's the one that the Bible at the eye glasses station is open to.

Our nursing students, Waleska and Karina.

Day 4

2010-01-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

So today was Wednesday, and for everyone who was unaware…today was Inaguaration Day in Honduras. The new President was put in place at noon. For this reason, we had to stay in the city due to the likelihood of riots in the streets. We were not intimidated although a police officer did watch us especially closely at the gas station while holding his very intimidating gun…Dr. McAdams handled the situation with such grace…

This morning was especially great for two reasons. One…we had a true Honduran breakfast (called baleadas) and two…Mandie led the devotion. I must say that between her excitement over the food and her beautiful devotion, the morning began full of joy and excitement.

We were stationed today for the second time in the neighborhood of Flor de Campo. This is where Mandie lived for the 7 months she was in Honduras, and where the first two buildings of the Lamb Institute are located. We set up clinic at 9, and were quickly flooded with people. As today was a national holiday, no one had to work. Therefore, a line began outside the gates sometime before 5 this morning. It was difficult to turn people away, but we knew that we had to focus on those we could help in the time that we were blessed to be there.

Aside from several high blood pressures, we did have one fairly exciting case. As Mandie and I were triaging (which as a side note…we have now triaged 600 people in four days)…an elderly man sat down ready for his turn. As we were going about our duties, we came upon an interesting discovery…his pulse was 37 and had no audible heart beat through the stethoscope. This basically meant that he was going to have a heart attack any minute. We immediately took him to the doctor, bypassing the wait, and he was urgently sent to the hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital told him they did not have time to see him, and he returned less than 3 hours later. The hospital had offered to admit him on the spot, but he knew his wife had no one to take care of her, so he came back to Flor del Campo.

We saw several sets of twins, colored over 100 pictures of Winnie the Pooh, and took over 200 pictures. We returned around 6:30, ate dinner, had a group meeting, and restocked the trunks. The pharmacy was completely wiped out today, so much was to be done.

It was a wonderful day and resulted in seeing over 200 patients. What a blessing and joy it is to be here!

I did call home tonight. The funny part was that the first thing my mom asked me was…”Courtney, just warn me…are you bringing a child home?” Haha J

The LAMB Institute, where our Monday and Wednesday clinics were held...

Courtney with a little patient at the end of the day...

Me with Melanie and Isahi, the children of LAMB's resident psychologist, Arely. She was a great encourager for me when I lived here and I was incredibly excited to get to meet the grown-up Melanie and new baby Isahi this trip...

Day 3

2010-01-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

Today was so wonderful that I find it hard to believe that there will be another day on the trip to top it. Today we went to the Children’s Home. It is an orphanage of 60 children that have either been abandoned, abused, or neglected, and have somehow made their way to the home. We left this morning, full of French toast, and embarked on a 45 minute bus drive to San Buenaventura. I was in the van with about 10 other people and had the opportunity to sit by a guy named Jorge who was going to be a translator for the team. He is about to begin his fourth year in medical school – so we had a very interesting conversation about the similarities and differences of our home countries.

When we arrived I was amazed by the facilities! What a blessing the LAMB institute has with the home they have been able to provide to so many deserving children! We set up clinic in their beautiful school. All 60 children were triaged and quickly lined the halls waiting to be seen by the doctors. We took pictures, made airplanes, and distributed random gifts to entertain – it was amazing! The children were so appreciative, patient, and full of joy! It was such a reminder of God’s love!

Mandie and I had way too much fun with the children. We both held babies for probably an hour (for which I am sure we will be sore in the morning) and just had a blast entertaining the children. Mandie was able to reconnect with several of her children that she took care of while she lived in Honduras, and I loved meeting each and every one of them. I now have a face to all of her stories. J

As for nursing - I had two great opportunities today. First was an IM injection. Let me just begin by saying that I have never in my life given an IM injection with a needle this length or this size. It was huge. Haha – but the lady was a trooper which made the 3 inch 14 gauge needle that I stuck her with a much more enjoyable event. For all of those in my nursing school class – let me just say…I recapped a needle, gave an injection without gloves, and improperly disposed of the syringe…oops J

Also, I had the opportunity to dress a pediatric burn. It was wonderful!

After hours of clinic and a wonderful PB&J, we were able to go down the trail into their “village” where all of the cottages are located. I was able to see where they live and just enjoy the company of so many wonderful kids. I was in Heaven! It is a good thing that we are not going back there for a week because I would probably be bringing back about 10 children home to Charleston.

One child in particular seemed to cling to me. He told me he was 10, but I am pretty sure he was about 8. We flipped, twirled, danced, and played follow the leader. He was absolutely precious. And, because I have picked up enough Spanish to help me carry on a basic conversation, it was much easier today to interact with the children.

After a tour of the facility and the breathtaking new chapel, we left for the day. We returned to a Honduran meal of enchiladas and sugar cookies, and ended with the nightly assembly line of sandwiches and pharmacy refill.

Now that Mandie just jumped out of the shower, I am going to take my turn…

We are truly exhausted but because of the excitement of the day and the absolute love that radiates from the people, it is a joy to be awake and in their presence.

This little guy cuddled with us all afternoon...

A sweet little one sitting in line, holding her medical file...

Courtney's burn patient...

Photos of the Day

2010-01-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

We were on the glasses sorting committee last night and couldn't resist trying on a few outrageous pairs.

Sunglasses were a huge hit with the kids today!

the dentists didn't have a translator, so this had to do...

Bedelyn, one of my babies when I worked in the nursery...she remembered me today and gave me a huge hug. :)

One of the many babies that I triaged...I even painted this little ones finger nails! Ten beautiful nails of the 310 nails painted today...

Day 2

2010-01-24T20:11:00.000-08:00

Today we awoke at an early hour (1:45!) to an alarm clock that had somehow managed to end up at the very bottom of a suitcase. We fell back to sleep, only to hear yet another alarm at 5:00 for the first person to start her shower. After getting dressed and brushing our somewhat unmanageable hair, we again tried our luck at fusebol. This attempt ended in another loss; however, where there is a will, there is a way, and Mandie and I plan on winning before we leave. You may want to say a prayer.

After our stomachs were full of pancakes, we headed to church. All 17 of us piled into a 10 passenger bus (true Honduran style) and began the trek. Church was wonderful. It was even better since I had Mandie to whisper/translate the words (being the entire service) into my ear. Haha – I really am trying to learn.

[Mandie here – Courtney is doing such an amazing job at learning Spanish. I’m quite impressed at how motivated she is to ask “how do I say this?” for almost everything and then how she remembers it and uses the phrase with our next patient!]

After church, we again piled into the bus and headed to lunch. Today we experienced a true Honduran meal…Pizza Hut…with no electricity.

At 1:00 we were back at Mision Caribe ready to open our first clinic. We quickly changed clothes, and began setting up stations. Triage, doctors, pharmacy, dentist, eyeglasses, nail painting, bubbles…it was exciting. Mandie and I had three jobs: triage the patients, photograph anything and everything, and finally, never let the supplies in the various stations run out. After triaging 100 patients, we went about other various activities before shutting the gate at 7.

We then ate dinner, met, and prepared for our early rise in the morning. We will be in clinic from 8-7 tomorrow with cheese & mustard sandwiches for lunch.

Several great things happened today. I learned quite a bit of Spanish (and a patient actually made me count to one hundred in espanol before she let me paint her nails), tasted an interesting Honduran drink, and Mandie and I were both promised by the dentist to have extracted teeth before we depart. Yay! Haha…if not someone elses, we are each going to extract the each other’s wisdom teeth. :)

Luis Fernando’s Story

2010-01-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today I got the wonderful surprise of walking around the corner in our make-shift clinic and bumping into an old friend. I first knew Xiomara through her picture on the front of the LAMB Institute’s first informational pamphlet. She was little more to me than a name I said aloud when I prayed for LAMB students. I was 14. The next year, on my first trip to Honduras, we met and since then have been becoming better and better friends.

When I lived in Honduras in 2005, Xiomara came to my rescue several times in ways that reminded me that Jesus was caring for me when at a time when I felt completely alone. Xio came into Jenny’s and my empty apartment on our first night there. An innocent lack of communication had left us both homeless for a few days and when we finally found a place to live, it was completely empty. We sat down on the floor just before dark, exhausted and hungry…and cried. At that moment our cell phone rang. Xio was on her way to our apartment with Popeye’s for dinner, mattresses, a cook stove, towels and soap, and a few dishes. That moment has always stood out to me as an example of God’s perfect provision and since Xiomara represents that to me, she is obviously a precious friend.

SO, Luis Fernando is Xiomara’s three year old. Two months ago, they were carpooling home from church and ended up in a three car collision that resulted in three deaths and seven seriously injured passengers. Luis Fernando was thrown head first into the windshield and spent the next seventeen days in a coma. The doctors at the public hospital gave up hope that he would ever wake up, let alone walk or talk. He became septic after just a few days and required several surgeries to be stabilized. Mireaculously, however, after just 24 days, he was released walking and talking. Since he had been ventilated in the hospital, he went home with an artificial airway (a trach) and developed croup shortly after arriving home. When he lost the ability to pass any air at all, Xio rushed him to the hospital and has had to nebulize him daily since. He still has his trach, but doctors are hopeful that it could come out in the next few months.

The miracle of the story is, today Xiomara brought Luis Fernando to the clinic so that Dr. Ken (a peds neurologist) could look at his scans and asses his current condition. After an hour of observation, questioning, and other doctor stuff, Dr. Ken could find absolutely nothing wrong with Luis Fernando that would indicate he had ever had brain damage (aside from a large scar on his head). He’s an incredibly intelligent little boy with a personality that won over everyone who he had time to make friends with.

By the way, if anyone has access to some decent trach ties, I would love to get my hands on some to bring back for him when I come back to Honduras later this month. His trach is currently held in place by a dirty shoe string. The public hospital here ran out of supplies. Sigh…

We're here!

2010-01-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Courtney and I made it uneventfully to Honduras. She and Patty were absolutely convinced that we needed to be at the airport by 5:00. Ugh. When we got there and saw the enormous line, I was inclined to agree with them, but we ended up moving very quickly and smoothly through check-in and security...our personal bag weighed in at 49 pounds exactly. We were very proud of our packing skills.

For our arrival in Honduras we were under strict orders from our team leader to "absolutely NOT leave the airport", but when we got here our leader's flight had been delayed. The men who were helping us with our bags ignored our request to keep them inside...so...we just got on the bus and came to Misión Caribe with half of our team. Apparently the other half just landed so we are updating quickly before the inevitable scolding that will occur when they arrive. The great thing is, all our bags arrived with us and we breezed through customs.

My roommate from 2005, Jenny, and her family met us at the airport which was a big treat. I haven't seen them in four years!

Arriving at Misión Caribe, we claimed two top bunks and were promptly involved in a loud and competitive game of fusebol? with Jose Jorge and Cristian. They won the tie breaker game and have been begging us to play again ever since. Suzy and her children joined us for dinner and Courtney and I had lots of fun entertaining and taking pictures of them while our team organized the pharmacy for the week. We had a team meeting to get to know each other and talk about the schedule for the week and now everyone is doing odd jobs. Tomorrow, we are going to a nearby church in the morning, lunch at Pizza Hut (so American!), and then back to Mision Caribe for our first clinic.

Love to all our families and thanks for the continued prayers for safety!

C & M

Photos of the day: