¿Habla Quechua?

Hello everyone! I was finally able to upload some pics to the computer, but these darn computers are so slow that it would take forever to upload even a couple. I also tried snapfish, but I can´t download the software to distibute the pics. I´m also currently trying to upload pictures to facebook, which isn´t going so well.
Maybe I´ll just wait until I get home.

So, here is the update. This past week I´ve been working in 2 different clinics. The first one was a clinic here in Cusco, where I spent three days in general medicine, pediatrics, and OB/GYN. The clinic was basically run the same as back home, but in much more crouded conditions. In every room people were crammed wall to wall. The only place to move was at the examination table. But, things were run pretty efficiently. People came in for all sorts of problems, but most were the typical stuff we see back home. I got to spend some time in the procedure room, washing out and suturing up wounds. A lot of people in the city work in laborous jobs which can be dangerous. I even got to tie off a vein on a teenage girl who got her arm in the way of a saw. (Shé´s fine now.)

On Thursday and Friday I spent the day in another town called Quiquijana. To get there I had to take a couple of ¨compativos¨ (kinda like station wagons) and a bus. It was about 1.5-2 hour drive, but well worth it. The scenery out here is great. You drive through the mountains and are high enough where you can see clouds forming below the top of the highest peak. When I got there my first day not much was going on in the clinic. But there were some people loading up into an old 1960´s ambulance. I didn´t know where they were going, but I figured that I like medicine that deals with ambulance rides - so I jumped in the back. Once we were driving down the road I asked the other students with me where we were going. They said it was to some place about 2 hours away. They didn´t say that it was 2 hours on the top of the mountain. So, we spent the next two hours in the back of this old ambulance holding on to the seat, walls, windows, and each other as we climbed this mountain on a road that is probably used once a year and this was it. It was a blast! We even had a couple of times where a river crossed over the road and we had to plow through it.

We finally reached our destination point and got out of the ambulance to a group of waiting patients. They are people who live in the mountains, and only speak ¨Quechua.¨ Which is the ancient language of the Incans. Amazing, they are so isolated that they don´t even speak spanish. Needless to say I wasn´t able to communicate with them, but another student spoke a little. We set up our clinic in one of the community buildings (no electricity available) where one of the students interviewed the patients, one wrote down everything, and I examined the patients either on the floor or on one of the benches. Once we were done we would put our heads togther and figure out the problem. Most of the time it was pretty typical- pharyngitis, bronchitis, parasitic infection. We did get to see a woman with a pupilary problem (anisocoria), a lady with vertigo and headaches (possible schwanoma), and a woman with a mass on her arm and loss of sensation in her fingers (ulnar distribution). For them we had to recommend to go to Cusco because we didn´t have the proper tools or imaging available in Quiquijana. We saw about 30 patients, and they were all so greatful for us to come. They prepared lunch for us and made sure we had enought. It was a great experience! On the way down the ride wasn´t any smoother, but still a great time. We even stopped to pick up a pregnant woman to bring her to the clinic in Quiquijana. I guess that´s how the ladies do it out there.

The next day wasn´t nearly as exciting. We mainly saw people in the clinc. Although, we did get to do something unusual. A family brought in their 1 month old child who had recently died and requested an autopsy. I´ll spare the details of what happened with the child, but we did do the autopsy. We had a table outside in the back courtyard and placed it underneath a covering. I never dreamed that I would be helpìng to do an autopsy in the back of a clinic on a makeshift table during a rain shower. It was sad for us and the family, but still an unusual experience. I took the bus back to Cusco where they played ¨Mortal Combat¨ on a TV fixed to the front of the bus. I had to peek over the children crawling all over and the ladies selling bread and popcorn to see it.

Today I went to the hospital for a couple hours of case presentations, but the doctor never showed up for us students and residents. I got to talk with some more students, which will be nice because I have no idea where to go in the hospital on Monday. Tonight I have been invited to go out for pizza and dominoes in the Plaza de Armas, and tomorrow I´ll be going to a festival at a nearby town. We´ll see what happens this next week when I´m at the hospital full time.