Med Brigade

I helped out at a medical brigade earlier in November, a group of around 80 doctors and nurses who would be spending 5 days in the Comayagua area doing hearing tests, prosthetic fittings, community health, medical consults in various communities, and even surgeries. Lucky gal that I was, I got to help the eye doctor assess candidates for surgery, and later helped translate for the doctors and nurses in the operation room and PAC U!! (post-anesthetic care unit) It was a really terrific week, even in spite of my coming down with a nasty virus (so typical of me and my pathetic immune system). It was really eye-opening to get to see actual surgeries, C-sections, births of babies, hernia operations, the removal of spleens and gall bladders and uteri, oh my! It was so interesting to see the patients groggily coming out of anesthesia and the silly things they sometimes do (screaming, thrashing, vomiting, whispering bizarre things like “Where’s Oscar?” and “fear,” just the word “fear,” and one little girl even came out smiling!). I loved watching the nurses and doctors at work, the nurses knowing exactly how much morphine to give to calm them down, inundating the little kid patients with juice and Cheese Nips and beanie babies. It was really neat in my position to talk to the patients, as many were just looking for someone to talk to and since I had no responsibilities but to translate the most important things from one language to another, I was able to relax and listen their often-long stories. Finally, it was awesome to meet all theses wonderful doctors and nurses coincidentally from Arlington, VA, and hang out with other fellow PCV translators, and stay in the Comayagua Golf and Country Club and eat delicious American food prepared by their own COOKS, which they brought down with them! Again, I still ended up horribly ill, but it was seriously the best five days I’d had in a very long time. Hurray for med brigades!