Students working hard in prosthetics

Once again, our pharmacy students have no training in the fitting of a prostheses. However, with very good shadowing on the first morning, hands on in the afternoon, the second day they complete a prosthetic leg on their own with very little super vision. The gratification that they receive by fitting a new leg for a patient who may have not walked normal in years is so rewarding to watch. Im proud of their willingness to jump into something strange with a positive attitude and finished with a positive smile!!!

Met a New "Friend"

Inevitably on each mission, one or more people make an impression on my heart. Most times I meet a young child who makes my insides warm and puts a smile on my face. Meet Diem My, The daughter of a family who ate in the same café as us 2 nights in a row. First night, she was rather shy, keeping mostly to herself, although by the end of that night, she warmed up nicely. I was pleasantly surprised when her family arrived on the second night. There was no warm up time, she immediately recognized us and started to interact with all of our team. Her laugh was energetic and contagious. Her smile was bright and sweet, and her eyes cutely touch my heart!! I hope to see her each time we return, to watch her grow up.

Final Clinic day in Binh Phuoc

This is our second visit to Binh Phuoc province, last in 2015. If anyone who reads these blogs recalls, the final day in 2015 we treated 250 patients, most of who got bused in because they knew our work was successful and we would be leaving. I call the condition LDS (Last Day Syndrome). So having that history, I prepped our team for a very busy last day in Binh Phuoc. This year, as I was finishing my morning run at 5:45 am, there was already 30 patients waiting for the team to arrive at 7:00am. I knew from that moment, it would be similar to 2015, and I was correct. The sad thing is, it got to a point where the crowd of patients was hard to control. (Some literally begging to be seen). Because the care is so subpar here, and the availability is limited, patients do desperate things to be seen. For the team’s safety, we employed the assistance of the local authorities to regain order. Once order was once again restored, we were able to successfully treat most who waited. All 151 patients, even the rowdy most desperate ones, received the same hard working, compassionate care we treat everyone else. It is an example of blind compassion and understanding why it occurred makes it all worthwhile. The days in Binh Phuoc ended with a nice celebration, including a treat of traditional Vietnamese music and dance.

Dislocated shoulder

A little pain, a lot of relief for this patient who presented with a dislocated shoulder. After numerous injections of a numbing agent, and 2 of us stabilizing her body, Bac Si Ha was able to manipulate her shoulder back in place and provide her with much improved range of motion.

Assist in any way possible

During a mission of this nature, individuals are called upon to do a variety of tasks they may not used to. Each of our team members have done an amazing job of going beyond their typical boundaries and reaching outside of their comfort zone.

Surgery gone wrong

This young male patient presented with severe knee pain, really limiting his ambulation. Upon examination and interview, we discovered that he broke his tibia a while back and had surgery to repair it. You actually can see the head of the screw they used to hold it in place at the surface of his skin. Still not being able to diagnose the severe knee pain, we requested that he get an x-ray if possible close by and return to clinic the next day. Mystery solved. Viewing the x-ray which showed the surgical repair of the tibia, you can clearly see that one of the prongs of the screws is sticking right into the knee joint, thus every time the patient takes a step, he feels this piercing pain in his knee. Bac Si Ha said that even with his limited resources he could remove the screw, however, since we would be departing this location tomorrow, there is no chance for follow-up. Therefore for liability reasons, we could not relieve this patient’s issue.

From crawl to walker to walking

This 6 year old had to be carried into the clinic by a relative because he was unable to walk on his own. After review of his x-ray and examination by Bac Si Ha, we discovered that he had a severe L5-S1 compression for years. (Typical for a hard-laboring adult but rare for a child). His mother told us that he has to crawl out of bed in the morning because he can not control his legs. We treated him once with injections and manipulations to release the compression with the plan to follow-up 2 more times while we are in this province. The following day, his mother brought him back asking for a walker to assist with his ambulation, because he seemed to be able to walk more independently. Of course, we buy walkers each year to provide to patients as gifts and we were delighted to present him with one. Following the second treatment we watched in amazement, this young boy walk across the clinic to the pharmacy area independently with the assistance of only our walker. He then returned on our final day in Binh Phuoc, and with only slight assistance from his mother, we watched him walk with less dependence on the walker (Just enough for safety for now) From the first day, his face was sad and scared, to the final day where he felt comfortable and got to know us and left us with a huge smile. He spent a good portion after treatment taking selfie photos with many who treated him so well. Success!!!