As we began
our first work day we jumped right in. Our site leader, Silvio, assigned a few
patients to each of us, who we would then work with and take care of for the
next 2 weeks. I thought this meant that
we would prep each patient before Silvio would see them. Soon after I thought
this, I found out that I was very wrong. These patients became our
responsibility and the people we would be ministering to for the next two
weeks. To be honest, this made me very nervous, especially after I was able to
meet with one of my patients named Santos.
Santos is a 55-year-old who is paralyzed on the right side of his
face. This really tugged at my heart
strings.
Over the
past two weeks I have been working with Santos in order to restore the muscles
and nerves in his face. Every single
morning Santos walks into the office and smiles the biggest smile he can, which
only ends up being half a smile. He then
walks to the back of the room, behind a curtain and sits down on the medical
bed. He lies down and in broken English says,
“Dr. Abby, I am ready to get better.”
Our first 15
minutes consist of different facial exercises that he needs to perform in order
to restore muscle-memory. After facial exercises Santos must put a hot pack on
his face for 15 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of electric stimulus therapy.
During this time Santos and I started to have some great conversations. In the first few days he would teach me
Spanish, and I would teach him English, but as our time went on our
conversations got deeper and we were able to joke around more.
For some
reason he found it very interesting and funny that I like to drink a lot of
water. Every day he would bring this
up. When I finally explained to him that
I do it to have a healthier body he laughed at me, but as I continued to
explain he would just tell me all about how much he hated to drink water. I asked him what his favorite thing to drink
was and without hesitation or a second thought he responded, “Beer. I drink it
every day.” For some reason this hurt my
heart and I somehow mustered up the strength to challenge him on this
lifestyle. I told him how unhealthy this
was, not just for his well-being, but also for his nervous system. As soon as he heard this his face dropped and
he began to talk to be about how he wanted to get better. As we talked about
this our time ran out and it was time for him to go. I felt a little disheartened, but decided to
let it go.
The next
morning Santos walked in looking happier than I have ever seen him. We went to
the back and he said, “Dr. Abby, I have something to tell you. I tried water
last night and guess what? I liked it.” I laughed a little but he kept talking,
“Dr. Abby, I also thought a lot about what you said and I didn’t drink any
beer. Instead, I just drank a lot of water and this morning I felt so good. I
don’t think I will ever drink any more beer.”
I looked at him and smiled ear to ear and told him how happy this made
me, and realized that God does really work in crazy ways. This was the last day I spent with Santos and
as we parted ways he said to me, “Dr. Abby, my friend, I will miss you.” Then
he smiled his funny half smile, waved goodbye, and walked out the door.
I do not
think that I could ever forget this experience and how God revealed himself
through it. But as a result, and by God’s grace, I go to bed with a full smile,
a full heart and an empty Nalgene.
As we leave
our sites over the next couple of days please pray that God will continue to
reveal Himself to the people of Jarabacoa. Please also pray for good health as
we begin preparing for travel home and safety during our last few days here.
Abby Kuder
Check out the updated photos in the facebook album, "LIFT 34 in the DR".
https://www.facebook.com/liftdiscipleshipprogram/
Abby- It is great to see and hear how God is blessing your work and the work of the team. We are praying for the well-being of LIFT 34 and for Santos that he may experience healing.
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