Iglesia, Car Accidents and the Burn Clinic

Sunday:

In the morning we all piled in the truffi and headed to downtown Cochabamba to attend church. The church was called, ‘La Iglesia Presbyterian de Cochabamba’. It was located in a small building and I never would have noticed if I were driving by. The service was simple, yet beautiful. We sang hymns in Spanish, a baby was baptized and a sermon was given. We also had communion. It was so encouraging to be able to worship God in another language.

For lunch we had llama. Yes, llama. It was so delicious and tasted like crispy beef jerky. We also had fried cheese, hard-boiled eggs and corn. I will need to go on a low sodium diet when I get back because I am eating so many fried and salty things, but they are delicious.

Me and the llama

Juice, a staple at every meal in Bolivia

Charque (or llama)

Emily and her llama!

We then drove back to the guesthouse where we had a relaxing and fun evening. I checked and wrote emails. Lydia (one of the volunteers) was giving haircuts to some of the other volunteers. She offered to give me side bangs, so I jumped on the opportunity. Don’t worry mom, Lydia did a great job. J There was a thunder storm in the distance. The whole sky would light up. It was incredible. We also saw a full rainbow…all from the porch. In the evening we played Spite and Malice. It was such a great start to my last week here. Thankful for the Sabbath.

More cows! 

Monday:

Today was incredible. 

After rounds, Emily had the idea to go and pray for/ visit with some of the patients that had been in the hospital over the weekend. Lydia and I talked to a woman who almost cut off her thumb. We were able to pray with her and encourage her a little.  As we were walking towards the emergency room (which is normally quiet) we saw a man with a bloody head and almost all the interns and doctors surrounding him. Little did we know he would be our patient today.

The first weekend of each month is basically a holiday in Bolivia. Most people go and party and [most] get drunk. Juan (the guy with the bloody head) was drunk and had been hit by a truffi. He was in a lot of pain, and after an ultrasound they discovered that he had internal bleeding. The next hour I got to see so many cool things! I got to see them put a catheter in him. They put a NGO and chest tube in the patient as well. While this was going on, two other patients were in the ER. One had broken his leg in half (the xray was crazy) and the other was an old lady with seizures.

Lydia and I were able to watch Juan’s surgery after asking the surgeon if it would be okay. Juan had massive internal bleeding so we knew the surgery was going to be epic. We got to see them cut open the abdomen and dig around looking for a bleed. It was so cool! The small intestine was laying outside as they checked for bleeding. During the surgery, they allowed the wife to come and see her husband while he was in surgery. I couldn’t believe it. The doctor was telling the wife how serious it was while he had half his arm in her husband’s abdomen.  It is a different world down here. They quickly found the bleed (we aren’t sure where) and then continued to look for other damaged places. Lydia, Rachel and I left before they closed him up because we were so hungry. The patient is fine and in the ICU currently. It was a bloody prayer-filled day!

In the afternoon, I helped mend some clothes for the boys at the orphanage with Alba, Lydia and Anna. We then went to the hospital storage room to help take inventory.

I am thanking God for this day and am excited for some new volunteers from Westmont to arrive soon!

Tuesday:

Today was hard but good. In the morning I shadowed the gynecologist. I got to hold this adorable two-week old and while the mom’s C-section scar was being checked. She was so kind as Rachel and I had a broken Spanish conversation with her. I also got to see a PAP smear, 25 week check up (for a pregnant woman) and a other random gynecological things.

In the afternoon we went back to the pediatric hospital. I went to the burn clinic. The burn clinic is a place for kids who have severe burns caused by anything from hot water to gas explosions. Seeing those burns has to be one of the hardest things I have ever done. As you enter the clinic there are posters that have pictures of the different types of burns. They were all pretty bad, but I didn’t think there would actually be patients that had full body burns like the ones in the pictures. Well, these kids had worse burns. A group of four of us went in-- me, Emily, Allison and Clayton. We were armed with Magic School Bus and Dora books—our main goal to bring a little comfort to their lives. The first patient I saw was a little girl in a full body cast. The only skin showing was his face, which had third degree burns covering all but his eyes. Some of the kids could move around, while others couldn’t move around all. It is hard to give justice to the horrendous injuries these kids have had to face. For most of them, it is a miracle they are still alive.

At first I wanted to run as far away as I could from these kids. Imagining their pain was too much. But the Holy Spirit kept me in there. Jesus would have loved these kids, and I wanted to too. So, I started by reading one, then two then three books to different kids. Some of the kids were able to converse with me, while others just stared into my eyes. One girl pooped while I was reading. She was 11 and the nurse brought in a bedpan while I was reading. I wasn’t sure what to do so I just kept reading, even through the smell. J

I left with such a weird feeling. So many emotions were circling my head. Thoughts like,  “How could God let this happen to kids? They don’t deserve this!” “Why do I complain, compared to them, my life is heaven.” And “If only they lived in the U.S. where the homes are safer and gas explosions don’t happen as often.” Anger, distress and pain filled our heavy hearts.

We were all talking about how we were feeling as we waited for the truffi. Allison said that it made her feel incredibly thankful for her life. I knew that I would never let my future children near a stove. It was hard. Wise Lydia reminded us of the darkness of this world. We all deserve disease, we all deserve worse 3-degree burns, we all deserve death. BUT, God decided that his son would take that pain. So here we are! We have a new body… but our earthly one is broken. Their burns are a reminder of our disgusting earthly bodies—bodies that desperately need a heavenly doctor.

So today was good but hard. Hard because I was humbled and good because I was reminded of the hope that Christ brings.  As we were leaving, I was reminded of this Helen Keller quote,

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.”

I love this. It reminds me of Jesus’ words,

 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33

So tonight, if you have children, please give them an extra tight hug for me. Remind them to never touch the stove or the light socket and say a prayer for the burn clinic kids in the Cochabamba hospital. Tonight, I am thanking God for his peace and the hope that we all can all have.