the rest of Day 8...

Doctora Alejandra...

Courtney hanging out of the guard tower at Mision Caribe...

The view through the peep hole at Mision Caribe this afternoon...

Marina, our amazing cook...

Today I woke up feeling much better!  Although I woke a little later than the others, I do feel 100% better than my previous 24 hours.  Today was a new and exciting day for our adventures in Honduras.  It was our first day without a clinic, which left us with a large amount of free time.  After breakfast, we had a few visitors.  Jenny, Fanny, Alejandra, and Dona Francisca came by to sell coffee to the team before their departure.  I was sitting at the table painting my fingernails, and Alejandra, in her beautiful English, asked me to paint hers as well.  They quickly became a beautiful shade of red. 

Being a prepared nurse, Mandie brought with her three isolation stethoscopes to use throughout the week.  The first night one was quickly claimed by a doctor who had left his in Charleston….so we were left with two…perfect!  This morning Mandie gave one of our stethoscopes to Alejandra.  She is a six year old, energetic, bubbly, wonderful girl!  The moment she was given the stethoscope, she transformed into Doctora Alejandra. (If you asked, her nurse was her mother Fanny).  She listened to all of our breath sounds, front and back, and looked in our ears, finally coming to a diagnosis.  Each time she checked me she would say, “Esta bien” (you are fine), however Mandie continually got a head shake and was told her ears were dirty.

At 10 we left to drop the rest of the medical team off at the airport.  Alejandra stayed with us to hang out at the airport and eat lunch.  She is a very responsible young girl.  Wherever we would walk she would take one of our hands, and give the other the hand of her stuffed animal, (because she would be holding onto Berney, the monkey’s, other hand) so that the four of us would not separate.  After our goodbyes and making sure everyone made their plane, we returned to Mision Caribe.  This is when our new adventure began.  Mandie and I are now in Honduras with no schedule.  After several hours, we had to take Alejandra home because she has a test in the morning, and her mother said she needed to study.  Mandie negotiated a taxi down to 70L and we were off.  After a 5 minute taxi ride and hopping rocks across a field to avoid mud puddles, we arrived at their home.  Alejandra was so excited to show us her room that she made us close our eyes until she was ready.  It was beautiful.  She had a Disney princess comforter and so many stuffed animals!  She quickly got out her stethoscope, and again we were listened to and diagnosed.  She even checked her princesses on her comforter.   

One thing that Mandie has missed the most while being in Honduras is the piano.  Today that problem was resolved!  Alejandra had a small keyboard in her room that she allowed Mandie to play…however, what Mandie did not know is that the notes were animal sounds.  Her beautiful song came out as quack quack baaaa quack quack baaaa.  Haha – it definitely made all of us laugh!

After we left, we took a taxi back to Mision Caribe where we settled in for the night.  We took several pictures outside of children playing soccer and then spent time on the video.  Dr. Ken and Dr. Pat also stayed this week.  Dr. Ken, a Pediatric Neurologist, has many patients that he has seen for years who he sees annually the week after the mission trip.  God has placed so many children in his life that he has been able to bless through his medical talents in more ways than I can write. Today, at Mision Caribe, he saw three children who he has been with since they were infants.  He let Mandie and I meet each of the children and their families, and explained their complicated cases in detail.  He is a wonderful teacher!  Each case has a new and exciting aspect of medicine for us to learn, and every story is such a blessing!

We had dinner and then the house settled down.  Now Mandie is reading a book and I am typing away.  Tomorrow morning, Suzy is picking us up at 7 to go to the Children’s Home for the day.  We will be taking pictures and video of the kids and just living life with them for the day.  I cannot wait for what God has in store!