I'm really happy to be done with infectología - it's just not the department for me. Part of it has to do with the doctors, but I also am too afraid of catching something to enjoy the work. The doctors there were not very nice to us...actually they were pretty mean to us. And los residentes. They wouldn't answer questions, and when they asked us questions we didn't know the answers to it was like the world was coming to an end. To be honest, we couldn't stand it there and left early today to head to a different department.
One of our favorite residents, Carlos, has been going to a different department every month. Well this month, he will be working en quemado (in the burn unit). As you can imagine, this is a tough place to be. Every child is covered in burns, and we find out that some have been there as long as 8 months. So the cause of the burns? It differs in every case, but the most common cause is either house fires, or hot water. The mother could walk away from the boiling water on the stove to grab something, and the child either grabs the pan or it boils over and spills on the child. Some kids only have a few limbs burned, but some are covered from head to toe in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. The burns were even so bad on some children, that they had to amputate fingers or parts of their limbs. Not only is it extremely sad to see the children crying in pain, but the worst part is hearing them be bathed. Now a bath really only consists of a light wash down with a saline solution, but evidently it's extremely painful. The room becomes filled with a child screaming bloody murder, which causes many other children to begin to scream and cry as well. I couldn't imagine being the mother of one of these children - not only seeing your kid in pain, hearing them scream, but not being able to hold them and comfort them. It just seems like an impossible feat.
Many of the children are babies and can't really talk, or are too scared to. But, there's a girl who I can tell is just dying to talk to someone. Well, for the last 30 or so minutes of my day, I spent hanging out with her and just talking to her about life in general. I found out that she was learning how to cook spaghetti and the pot of boiling water fell of the stove, severely burning the right side of her upper body as well as almost all of her right arm. She has been in the hospital for 8 months, and is obviously ready to get out. Her favorite subject is math, she loves to color, and her favorite food is anything chocolate. La semana proxíma (next week), we plan on taking her coloring books and crayons to fill her time. We're also going to buy some suckers and candies for all of the children in the burn unit. I'm very excited - they're going to be so happy!
Deep down, I know it's a good thing to be able to see these kinds of cases. But, it's very difficult. I nearly cry when I burn myself with a curling iron - I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would feel like to have half of mi cuerpo (my body) covered in burns. Especially as un niño. Again, I ask that you keep these children in your prayers!
We head to the beach tomorrow, in Samaná, for the weekend! We're all so pumped about it too! We've heard from all of the locals that some of the most beautiful beaches in the country are in Samaná, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures! I am taking mi computadora this weekend, so I'll keep you all updated! Abrazos y besos mis amores! (Hugs and kisses my loves!)
No comments:
Post a Comment