Labor Repose

Labor Repose
LaborPayne during her 6th homebirth (9th baby) at age 44

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Haiti Family Mission

I feel badly that I haven't got to post like I really want to. The internet connection has not been good, and my time to post has been very limited. My days have been long and eventful and I have so much to tell. Once I get back in the states tomorrow, I will go back and review everyday. Yesterday we were assigned to Haiti Family Mission, which was an outdoor clinic (not even a tarp this time, we were under an almond tree). It was another busy day of seeing women and babies (they were specifically assigned to me- no men). I treated lots of yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, and bladder infections. Even though I was given a private space to do exams, I got very good at diagnosing by getting the patient to describe their symptoms, so I didn't have to examine them on the hard ground. White lumpy discharge? yeast infection, yellowish discharge with fishy odor? bacterial vaginosis, greenish frothy discharge? trichomonas. I knew my vast knowledge of vaginal discharges would come in handy some day! My saddest case was having to explain to a young lady that that 'bump' in her vagina was herpes. When I asked the interpreter to ask if she currently had any sexual partners, she said she " had a man back at the house". For the rest of the day we all joked, that we had a 'man back at the house'. After returning to Quisqueya (pronounced "kisskaya" by the way) I finally gave a call to my 'man back at the house." It was good to hear his voice.

1 comment:

Alexandra said...

what a wonderful thing you have been able to do!!