"I have air in my testicles"...and yet another translation situation in Honduras!

Honduras July 14, 2011
“I have air in my testicles”

Today was our last day in the clinic in Duyure. I was blessed to go on a food delivery trip to 6 of the families in the village. That was an amazing experience to be welcomed into the homes of these sweet, sweet people. I had several patients I had seen in the clinic that hugged my neck and one even pulled out of her bra my notes that instructed her to return today for her repeat blood pressure!! It was precious.

My little boy patient with the 544 blood sugar yesterday returned this morning with a fasting BS of 99! I was thrilled….but the reality is that this was just one day with increased insulin….and no way to get the insulin on a regular basis. The reality of his situation and so many others breaks my heart.

The patient that stole my heart today was an 83 year old cowboy that came in with a big sombrero, plaid shirt, jeans and a big buckle on his belt . He came walking in and sat right down and plainly said that “I have air in my testicles”! As he very graphically continued to show me, as if I didn’t know where his testicles were located. I happened to have two observers from the education team in my room at the time that were sitting there with their mouths open, about to laugh out loud! My sweet, sweet MaryLeigh the interpreter, never flinched and continued to ask him the questions I was asking. He flat out stated that “I pee straight, but there is air in my testicles”. We don’t do prostate exams, but I symptomatically treated him for a prostate infection

The next patient had a “bump in her anus” and it hurt to sit on the chair, and had told us that she had not had a bm in 15 days!! On further investigation, she has had a bm recently but there was pain and a “bump”. This is an elderly lady and I was worried there might be a fistula or the very least a large hemorrhoid . She had a tiny, tiny external hemorrhoid. We had no Preparation H or Tucks for her. When she left she hugged my neck and said “Mucho Gracious for looking at my butthole”! Of course Maryleigh translated exactly what was said!! Everyone in the room busted out in laughter!

The clinic was being broken down and myself and another provider were still seeing patients that had waited for 10 hours to be seen. We didn’t turn one patient away during our 4 days.

We haven’t had internet for 2 days in the pasada and I find myself grumbling about it. This morning as I am typing yesterdays events I realized that as I silently grumble about the 1 ½ hour ride each way up/down the mountain, the lack of vegetables, the heat, the critters in our cabin etc, and the lack of internet, that in reality I am nothing but a spoiled baby. I didn’t walk 4 hours to get to the clinic with no water to drink, I have enough money to feed my children, and buy their medicine, a car to drive with air conditioning… and thank God I do, so that I can use my resources to be able to serve others that can’t.