I feel like I have a bazillion bullet points. Fragmented thoughts and experiences that I wish I could share in real time with everyone.
I'll give it a stab till my head startes to droop.
Clinic was busier a bit today. My prosthetics teacher would have said something to the effect of, "I wish I didn't have to be here in Haiti or anywhere because someone lost a limb." Still, I felt more needed and busier. Alex intimated to me in both Creole and broken English that they like when I am there because I work with them.
He said the many volunteers come but they work only with the lead clinician or by themselves.
I understand that perspective. Haiti can be and is a very scary place in many ways. It takes effort and work to get through language and stranger-issues or anxiety. I dare say that this week I may have become too comfortable. Here...I never see patients alone. I know my role here is to try to coach these guys along. I think the patient interactions are better for them, for me and for the patient when we are together. ***new topic**
Sevner was in classic form this AM. I nearly whipped out my phone to record our dialogue on the way to work. But I knew I wanted to save Gigs for the clinic this AM. He was nearly emphatic, clarifying when I am leaving and that I will set aside money and things for him. ***new topic***
Alex and I spent a lot of time together, today. A couple prosthetic patients and a couple TLSOs that we were fabricating. All of the guys have really come a long way, but more and more I truly believe that Alex and Cira have the greatest grasp of a lot of the biomechanic principles that are always being applied. I saw Alex instruct Tcho on why certain trimlines simply needed to be present on a TLSO. Joel has great patient skills but often misses some technical specifics...which is all about step memorization. In reality the guys really balance each other really well. ***new topic***
Tcho...has a dog. His name is Walt. Like Walt Disney, I am told. Joel rescued Walt. I don't mean that he ordered him online, paid a couple hundred dollars and recieved pictures of him from someone he never met. I mean Joel rescued Walt from the street when he was sitting under the wheel of a moto when has was barely a handful and the moto was about to take off. However, Joel does not have a house good for a dog....so Tcho adopted him
Tcho has a loud, high, chirpy voice for a 40yr old Haitian. I can do a good rendition but it comes across better 1) in person and 2) after you have met Tcho. Walt is about 3-6mos old. Pretty small. My issue is that when anyone, especially Tcho, yells for Walt....it sounds like "PAUL!!"....to which I yell.."Sak Pase!!!" Sak a fett!!"
This morning.....well, I was out of beer. I spoke to my Kay Mothers before I left for work and gave them money for beer, but at lunch....I saw no Prestige. I asked Madame Maude. She said NO Prestige. Mwen non Comprahn!!!! No Prestige????!!!! CRAZY. Soo....today end of day I talk to my brothers. Explained my plight. So Tcho and me and Walt take off down the corridor. Tcho is driving his moto. I am on the back. Walt is in the equivalent of a potatoe sack with his head perched out, on my lap - one arm clutching him. We are in search of Prestige. The corridor is a partially paved, mostly not, bumpy rocky ride through a Haitian farmers market. I don't know what the Haitians marveled most at. Tcho driving with Chov Blanc? A Blanc on a moto? This tiny little puppy head poking out the top of a sack? Brian has asked me for the GoPro video of this sight, but I have only my....memory. In the end...my Haitian Mothers were right. There is no Prestige left. No, I didn't drink them out....I see you nay sayers. It is a local supply issue. I CAN tell you that when Tcho dropped me off at Kay Alumni, Louie, the current CEO of HAS was entering the gate. He saw me dismounting and handing my literal doggy bag to Tcho. He simply looked stunned....just like the Haitians. Mind you, Louie is so Blanc that he is from Canada. ***New topic ***
Dad this is for you. Please pardon the bad language that is coming. The house here continues to turn over. Currently, there are 2 Germans, 1 Haitian and 5 Blancs. That makes 2 Prosthetists, 1 pediatrician, 1 nurse, 2 surgeons, 1 nurse pratitioner and a solar engineer. The surgeons are a retired pediatric specialist and his current resident. They hail from Portland, ME. Dr. Mike is the retired surgeon. Discussing his current case today, he described the childs issue how he reconstructed her large colon. "Yup, when they need new assholes around here....that's when they call me. Of course it isn't more assholes, it is just re-engineered. Made somehow better....still an asshole.....in the end, that is"
I nearly fell off my chair 2X
Bon Nuit
Chov Blanc
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