well you need to see more photos!

aww, now that's a cute little baby - that's my granddaughter!

Anthony, Jen & Elizabeth Heather

is that hand really that size?!

I'm a grandma - it's a girl!

It finally happened. This baby really seemed to not want to enter this world, apparently fought it every step of the way! First she made us all wait 8 days after her due date, and that felt like a long 8 days to me, much longer for Jen. Then, finally I got word at 3:30 am Sunday that Jen had gone into labour. So I fairly reasonably thought that by that evening, I'd be able to call myself a grandma. But not so, labour went on and on.....and on. Until finally on Monday at 2pm, after more than 36 hours of labour, that baby had to be fetched out by c-section. So it was a very very long wait. But worth it, we have a pretty little baby girl named Elizabeth Heather, 8 lb 4 oz. And all is well. I've talked to both Anthony and Jen on the phone from the cyber (where I had to explain to the guy why the sudden flurry of phone calls, and he's entered right into it all, asking how they all are, getting me a chair so I can sit while I talk - how old does he think I am anyway!!) They are fine, Jen is very tired of course, but doing fine. And now the distance is feeling real, how I wish I could go and see my new granddaughter, and feel her little downy head, and give her a kiss. But for now I'm glad that there's such a thing as internet, and cybers, and Skype, and I'll see her one day.

Here are 2 photos from yesterday.

lots to think about today!

Well, this day has been a long one. I had a text message at 3:30 this morning to say that Jen, my daughter-in-law, had finally gone into labour, more than a week past the due date! And now, many hours later, I still can't quite yet say that I'm a grandma. It's getting closer, but I'm not there yet!
So in the meantime, while I wait, along with everyone else who is part of this family, I've had to try to keep busy.
I went to church in block 10 this morning, and had been asked to visit a man with Parkinson's, so after church I went to see him. I took Janna to help with the Spanish, because mine is still not up to snuff (will it ever be, I wonder?). And oh, it was a heartbreaking visit. I wept when I left. This is a 54 year old man, diagnosed 15 years ago with Parkinson's, a progressive disease. It's an unhappy diagnosis for a young person in Canada, where the healthcare is good, with access to good doctors, and medications, and help at home if you need it. But to have to live with this disease here, living in block 10 in Bastion, such a poor community.........if you have no money, then you just don't go to the doctor. And if you run out of medication and there's no money, you just do without.
It was a little work to get the story straight, it sounded as though he had maybe had a bit of a stroke some months ago, he some sort of episode, and was in the hospital, but no tests, NONE, were done at the time, so who knows. Some Cuban doctor says he needs to have surgery, but nobody is clear as to what it's for, and they've told her (the man's wife) it will cost thousands! And to come back when they have the money!! They don't even have the money for a basic consultation with a doctor. He hasn't had a review in over 6 months - no money. When I arrived, he seemed not too bad, but in the space of 10 minutes, the morning med wore off, and it was awful to see. Shaking out of control, his little wife having to half carry him around the house, his young son exercising his arms up and down, because he feels as though they "go to sleep". No speech. And the next dose not due until evening.
Can I do anything to help - I don't know. That was partly the cause of my tears after I left, I feel so helpless in the face of that. What I can do is make sure he has the meds he needs and try to find him a good neurologist, and be sure he is seen regularly, and the meds adjusted when they need to be. And I'll start reading up on Parkinson's and meds, so that I have some knowledge when we see a doctor. And above all, I can pray.

My, doesn't time fly when you have a blog to try to stay on top of!! May 9 was my last post, and I feel as though I just did it. I guess it's time for an update.
The weeks seem to have been passing so quickly. I feel as though life has been less exciting than it was (I think of those first weeks I was here - camp, jungle) therefore fewer blog updates, but part of that is just me getting used to this new life. In a way I don't want to get used to it all, I'd like to keep on seeing this place through eyes that are new, and have it all still have an impact. But I have realized in the last week or so that I am feeling at home here. And I think that's a good thing. When I've been to a different part of the city and then am on my way home, and as I start to get close to my part of town, and see the Bastion hill, especially at night when all of its homes are lit up, I feel as though I'm coming home, and it's a good feeling. I am a part of this place now.

My role, which I agonized over in the first little while after I arrived, has become much clearer. I am busy now with people who need help with health care issues. My "patient" load increases by the day now. And it's always varied. Sometimes it's incidents at school - little boy came to the office crying with a sore tooth. I got out my flashlight and had a look - a rather rotten molar - not my area of expertise, that's for sure!! But I gave him something for the pain, and we told his mother to take him to a dentist (which a week later still hadn't happened, as I discovered when he came back to me for more Motrin!). Or the mother of one of the kids in the school showed up with an infected cut on her arm. She had fallen in the area behind her house several days previously, cut her arm badly, not had it seen to by anybody, and by the time I saw it, it was very infected. When I eventually saw where she lived, and where she had fallen, it became clear as to why it got so infected. She keeps chickens, and they roam around inside the house and out, and um......well, the place isn't all that clean, shall we say! So that was a week of antibiotics and dressings. And then this week a cute little girl fell and broke her collarbone, so I retrieved the brace that we had used for the little guy who broke his at camp, and now Milagros is sporting it.
I've been accompanying people to doctors' appointments, this seems to be a big part of my work now. It helps to have someone with a little medical background to help the person understand what is being said, and to ask the right questions, and then sometimes to weed out the unnecessary prescriptions after the visit, and just buy what is useful. But in the last week, I have been to 3 different doctors and come away feeling quite positive about the care each person was getting. I haven't always felt so positive after some visits.

Some updates: The lady with the heart problem that needs surgery - we took her to the surgeon this week, and he wants her to see another specialist for a heart catheterization to be sure that surgery is the best choice for her. I was impressed by him, seemed to really want to do the best thing for her, and it was nice to find that he wasn't just going to operate without due diligence. She and I would appreciate prayer for the right decision in this.
The man with the leg ulcer - after more than a month of almost daily visits, and dressing changes, that ulcer is SO clsoe to being healed. That's after many prayers and lots of advice from Canada. (I'll have to find a new excuse to go and visit, they seem to feel that I need to be fed, and often produce a tasty little snack for me!)
And the pregnant girl I've been visiting - I decided last week to take her somewhere where she would get some better prenatal care. We went to the new-ish hospital near here, and saw an obstetrician who I liked and and he did almost all of what I thought he ought to be doing, (and, as a bonus, he speaks good English). So we'll continue on there, and that is where she will have the baby, which is a much better option than the maternity hospital downtown, where I'm told they do many c-sections, some for no apparent reason.

In between all of that, I've been settling into this house, and making it feel like mine. I at long last bought a desk and brought it home yesterday, so I have finally got my computer off the kitchen table and into an "office". My "consultorio", as one of my visitors said as he looked into this room. Maybe I should hang out my shingle - it would be that easy here!

And I'm awaiting 2 big events. The first - my first grandchild who was due one week ago, but as Jen says, he/she seems to have put up shelves and bought a couch and is planning to stay in! I check my cell phone many times a day for the message saying that he/she is on the move! Stand by for that news.
And the other - Kathryn will be arriving for 3 weeks in just over a week. And I'm really looking forward to that.

So maybe life still is exciting after all.

bargains in bastion!

Last week there was an event in Bastion block 6 - a flea market held at the school. The office that I'm to share with Nikki has been FULL of clothing, sheets, towels, used and new, all sent down from Canada for this purpose. So much stuff that I've been unable to start my work at the school because there's been nowhere to work. So last Thursday was the appointed day, May 1st, a holiday for everybody. So all Wednesday evening we hauled stuff all the way from the office to the gym, then roughly organized it. There was so much stuff spread out in that gym that we could hardly believe it had all been in that little office!

We were there early the next morning for the final preparations, and then the doors opened at 9. And the shopping began!

the 3 photos below are of the same area, before, during and after

Prices were great, most items were less than a dollar, there were clothes for women, men and children, and some household stuff as well, most of it in great shape, some of it brand new.

the guys found these shirts and thought maybe they could be a cleaning team (the thought didn't last!)

The event was a success, a huge quantity of stuff was sold and people went away with necessities for their families that they were able to buy for very little money. In a way it felt wrong to be selling this stuff here, instead of giving it away, but it seems to be a better plan to sell it for a very low price. I was one of the "cashiers" and at times I was practically giving things away, when I knew the circumstances of a particular family. And I guess it helps to attach more value to something if they have paid something for it.

The money raised from the sale will go towards repairs to the roof of the gym, there are many holes. When we were organizing stuff the night before, we had to arrange it in the places where Felipe knows stay dry if it rains. There were many spots that had to be avoided.

And how does the office look now? Well, there are still an amazing amount of boxes and bags in there, but we're going to work on that next week. We WILL make that a usable office! Eventually.