into the bushes…we cure
Today we did our first mobile clinic-scary. But not after the wild and crazy squall that sent our boat dragging anchor all over an unmarked bay. The rain came down so hard and the wind blew so fiercely that even when I stood on the tip of our bow I could not see but two feet past. Our anchor had to come up and we were dangerously low on fuel. Any moment our engines might cut out and we would be dead in the water only a few meters from shore and unsure of our relative position to the two other tankers neighboring us. This was a stressful night. Finally, the wind died down and the rain stopped allowing us the visual capability we so desperately needed to drop anchor once more. Crossing our fingers our second attempt to drop the anchor worked. Almost midnight the crew rock-papered-scissored the decision to stay up and wait for their watch or risk an hour or two sleep than stand watch. With an absent crew member we were forced to cover an extra hour’s time on top of our regular assigedn duty. With a watch from 4:30AM to 7:30AM Nick and I greedily took to our pillows leaving Sky and Noah (1:30AM to 3:30AM) to stick it out-troopers. The day was going to start early for all of us-regular clinic was to begin at 8AM (which meant up and out by 7:30AM) and then we would regroup for our mobile clinic at one in the afternoon. Oh sleep how I envy the word.
With bags under our eyes only adrenaline and excitement kept our crew going for this first attempted mobile clinic. We ‘skiffed’ it up on the local beach and I jumped out with my red dental bag in hand. Ben tossed up the other medical bags and Noah sped back to the boat to pick up Nick and Sky. I was going to do 20 cleanings, Nick was going to be my lead assistant, Sky was going to administer 30 triage patients, and Ben was going to treat them all. The clinical room was a dirt plot 10 feet by 20 feet. Bushes housing us on our right, a cactus wall sheltering us on our left, and a mere two feet away waves crashed up on the shore. A small wooden table with a delicate lace tablecloth one might use for an afternoon tea party in front kept the mob of people out of our little space. A single tree with a 4 foot piece of wood nailed into it once served as a bench for escaping the afternoon heat now served as my dental chair. Buckets overturned became doctor stools, and one a trashcan for obvious sanitary reasons. My clipboard took the responsibility for keeping track of my patients’ name, age, and dental issues, fanned away mosquitoes , and acted as a spit shield for Nick-oh my. Thankfully we had three interpreters with us each sitting with Sky, Ben, and I to keep the patient and ourselves informed. I saw all kids today and helplessly explained to their accompanying adult the importance of the dentist, no more sugar, brushing teeth, and at the very minimum swishing with water before bedtime. Sometimes my advice fell on deaf ears while kids were given sugar cane as a treat for sitting still. Um hello…if the children’s cavity ridden mouths were not painful enough I can only imagine what pure sugar would do them. I grimaced at the sight reminding myself that at least the calcified plaque was temporarily gone-ew. Moving along down the list I had to keep shaking my leg to rid off the ants, and other various only-god-knows-what-insect-that-was from biting me. My spit bucket was a small hole in the ground and was often blocked by the curious bodies encroached in my limited space. This was AWESOME!
Haha on my third child I had to pee. So by the time I reached number 20 I was dying my bladder hurt so bad. I had Nick help me pack and ready to go so the minute I pulled the floss out of the last child’s mouth my gloves were torn off and I was racing out of there. I could barely stand up I had to pee sooo bad…for some reason I thought of my Grandma Brooks…this just seemed like a situation that I would find myself in with her…no buckets to pee in though and no privacy for a mile. Haha I can only imagine what she would have come up with for a solution-something funny and outlandishly clever I assure you. But there was no time for laughing about that now. Not only would laughter cause me to pee my pants, but every minute passing was also threatening the same. I pushed past the still hyped up crowd waiting to see Ben and yelled “I have to pee like a race horse. I am going to pee my pants!” to Sky as I flew by her. I was comfortable yelling this in a big crowd because nobody spoke English so my words were safe…can you imagine yelling that in a waiting room back home…haha NO WAY! Haha
Nick raced to the boat, started the motor, and as soon as my feet were off the sand he revved up the engine and zoomed away. I could barely wave to the several kids running after me. It felt rude to leave so abruptly, but when you have to go-you have to go! The ride home didn’t help either. The water was significantly choppy and every swell sent our boat into the air landing back down with a gravitational force I thought would surely burst my bladder. When we pulled up to the boat I was off and into the bathroom in a record ten paces. Nick was laughing so hard I think he almost peed his pants-that would have been GREAT! Ahhhh. I felt like a million bucks. Slowly I walked back to the boat to help Nick lift up the supplies and buckets. I had all the time in the world now…until I had to pee again. Phew-the day ended with a great sunset and I watched from the top of the boat as the entire coast of Petit-Goave was fogged for mosquitoes.
The clinic was fun. We are going to do another one this weekend and I was tired tired tired. With no generator and no cool air running through our cabins the entire crew slept up on deck under mosquito nets and drenched in bug spray. Only sleep was going to have to wait until the thunderstorm passed and the rain stopped-2:30AM. I got fed up and passed out in my cabin drenched in sweat and wondering if I would wake up alive in the morning. Who in their right mind would pay hundreds of dollars to sit in a sauna room for cleansing is beyond my comprehension at this very moment. I was so uncomfortable I think I passed out from heat exhaustion waking every so often to wipe the sweat off my face with a soaked towel. EW GROSS!
I am praying for diesel fuel. diesel diesel diesel.
My 4:30AM watch came early this morning. Oh and did I mention no coffee either…oh the agony.
