Stuck on the wrong side of the river...

When they talk about the rainy season here, they are not kidding! I've never seen so much rain in all my life! I went to town with the surgeon and his wife this week and we got stuck on the wrong side of the 'plancha' (the dry river bed that turned into a raging river over 6ft deep!). We sat there for 2 hours watching the rain pummel us and all the people on either side hoping the water would go down. A couple guys tried to swim across and the current was so strong they barely made it! Finally it was getting dark so all the buses and cars turned around. We ended up staying in La Ceiba (the city) that night. We went and got toothbrushes and then went to dinner in our wet clothes. Fortunately, I don't get cold down here too easy, but they were freezing! We went out to dinner and I splurged and had Filet Mignon for $7! Not suffering too bad! :)

Roseanne just HAD to have clean underwear, so a gaggle of girls followed her around the store to 'help' and tried to convince her to get a g-string. She was trying to explain that she wanted underwear that actually covered her bottom and soon the whole store was very interested in her taste in underwear! So funny!

Fortunately, the next morning the raging river was more manageable, down to about 4 ft high in the middle and not too terribly strong. We made it across in the landcruiser with the snorkel. Everyone else was being pulled across by this huge tractor. I"m glad we didn't have to try to go across in a little canoe with all our groceries and junk!

So, that was my first "trapped on the wrong side of a raging river" experience in Honduras. I 'm sure it will become old hat soon enough!

Supersize

Today was a strange day of abnormally large things. A 72 year old man came in with the complaint of 'hernia', which is fairly common around here. As he pulled down his pants, I was about to ask him which side was bothering him, when he revealed an incredibly huge scrotum. We're talking football size...actually a little bigger than a football. I was amazed and astounded. I had never seen such a large hernia except in the textbooks. I ran to get the surgeon so he could share in the hugeness of it all and schedule surgery!

Then a young girl of 16 presented with abnormally large breasts. Again we are talking supersize here. She was very uncomfortable and was having a lot of back pain and couldn't even find a bra large enough to fit. She made Pamela Anderson look like she was wearing a training bra. I felt really bad for her and we are trying to figure out a way to get her a breast reduction surgery so that she can at least sit up straight.

Obviously photos of these cases would not be appropriate!

Bouncing Baby Boy!

We had another delivery at the hospital and it was very fun! It was a lady that I have seen many times for prenatal care and so it was great to be with her and her family for the birth of her first child.

Tea Party!

After taking care of another scary snakebite and spending three hours in the middle of the night digging rocks out of a kid's head and sewing his scalp back together, I was ready for a tea party. Some of the young girls told me I had to dress up and come with an appetite! We had a lovely time drinking lots of sugar with a little tea, giggling over nothing, and having very refined and sophisticated activities such as trying to keep a cup on the end of your chin longer than anyone else! :) It was great to hang out and relax. They started talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up and I realized that I am grown up and I am doing what I've always wanted to do! Cool! I guess they call that living the dream! :)

Snakebites and swimming holes

A lady came into the hospital this week after being bit by a coral snake. She was reaching behind some dried corn in their storage room and grabbed a snake. It bit her on the finger and by the time she came to us her arm and face were numb. We had six vials of antivenom and we gave it all to her. She got a little worse, then better, then worse again. So, since we were out of antivenom and we don't have a ventilator in case she went into respiratory failure during the night, we sent her into the city. Scary stuff!

This morning a few of us drove up a muddy road and then hiked across a river, past a waterfall, and down a dense jungle trail to a lovely swimming hole. As we struggled through the dense underbrush, the thought entered my head. I hope I don't run into a snake, since we don't have any more antivenom!!! We stepped very carefully. :) Then we went bouldering up the river in flip flops....lots of slipping and sliding! We swam across to where there is a natural hot spring. The sand was really warm (hot if you dug your feet in) and there was a nice warm mud hole! Gorgeous scenery!