Guys, the Visa news is good. Finally.
After several years of "luchando" (wrestling), we were granted an Immigration Visa for my husband about 10 days ago. Team Rodriguez is coming to visit the States! What does that mean? We kinda have no idea. We were told that in two weeks we will be able to pick up Monchy's passport with Visa intact but we don't know if there are any restrictions, timelines, etc. Hopefully they will tell us when he shows up to pick it up. Our very tentative plans include coming to Pennsylvania in May and staying through the summer....all subject to change. :)
I must say THANK YOU for all of your prayers, kind messages, support, letters, and strengthening words. I greatly look forward to seeing many of you in the States and being able to say these words in person. You have helped SUSTAIN me here over these last 5 years.
While the visa has been the great news of late, we have been pretty busy with the busiest time of year in the clinic. While there are always patients that one remembers, this winter has given me a few that really stick out. In January, one of our barrio teams found a young man who had fallen from a horse 5 years early and essentially broken and bent his arm into a "frisbee-like" form. I haven't ever seen anything like it and I don't know how to explain it. Unfortunately he misunderstood the directions of WHEN to seek orthopedic help at our clinic and he showed up two days later after walking THIRTEEN hours to get to us. His name is "Miguel" (name changed) and he is of Haitian descent. Sadly, we did not have a surgical team when he arrived and I ended up driving him closer to where he was staying and giving him another date to come to the clinic. When our next ortho surgeon showed up, there was Miguel. He spent the night at our clinic waiting for surgery but unfortunately we could not obtain the needed instruments or plates necessary for his very extensive surgery. Undiscouraged, the ortho surgeon spoke to the next incoming ortho surgeon coming down and the incoming team began to acquire and search for what they needed to do surgery on Miguel.
This past Monday when we started our orthopedic consults, Miguel showed up. Nef grabbed him, I found his chart, and he was evaluated by Dr. John Mann and Dr. Hugh Hagan and booked for surgery on Tuesday. Dr. Canario wrote off the entire surgery. Miguel spent the night at our clinic and had surgery on Tuesday afternoon. I watched a bit through the window while Drs. Mann and Hagan worked together for HOURS to rebreak, reset, and straighten his frisbee arm. I know exactly zero about orthopedic surgery but I can tell you that this was the surgery of the year at our clinic. What those incredible guys did with Miguel's arm is a beautiful miracle. It went from a FRISBEE shape to a REAL ARM. The amazing anesthesia crew put a block in Miguel's arm so that he would wake up without pain, which he certainly did. He was munching on crackers and chatting with us within an hour of his surgery ending. Miguel stayed Tuesday and Wednesday nights with us at the clinic and on Thursday he caught a ride with the barrio team out west where he headed back home to his family in Haiti. The barrio team cheered for him, packed a lunch for him, and sent him with extra vitamins. Many of the workers in the clinic came outside when he was leaving to say goodbye to him and wish him well. He called me about 5 pm to let me know that he was with his family and doing well. It brought tears to my eyes.
Folks like Miguel stay in my mind when I think of the miracles that I have seen at our clinic. There have been countless life-changing surgeries over the years and no matter where I go in San Juan, there seems to be someone who has been in our clinic and is yelling for me to see their incision or their kid or their hernia or something like that.
"Do you remember me?
"Ummmmmm....YES but tell me your name and how I know you again????"
It's amazing to be part of these incredibly talented teams that come to offer their services to the people in San Juan. Humbling. And kinda scary that I'm the one who stays here and I get to be the face, the representative, of those teams when they leave. It's overwhelming sometimes. But man, when they hug me and thank me, I am glowing on BEHALF of those guys like John Mann and Hugh Hagan, who perform SURGICAL MIRACLES like....everyday.
Speaking of incredible folks, the last several years we have had a prosthesis team come with the ortho squad in March. Sadly they were unable to come this year but had left several supply bags last year up in the Scary Room. In March, many folks needing protheses come to the clinic in hopes of having a consult with the Prothesis team. On Tuesday of this past week, while I was running around the clinic like a chicken with my head cut off, a man stopped me in the hallway and asked me about a new foot for his hip-length prothesis. His old "foot" had essentially disintegrated and he was unable to walk with his prosthesis. In a hurry, crabby, and only focused on my immediate tasks, I snapped at him that the team hadn't come and I couldn't help him. He smiled, nodded and proceeded to hop on his ONE LEG out to his motorcycle to drive away. I froze for a moment, took a deep breath, and followed him outside.
"Hey wait, um...listen. Can you give me about 10 minutes to see if I can help you?"
He beamed. Of COURSE he would wait. I hustled to the Scary Room and started pulling down some of the Prothesis team bags. I was clueless about what might be inside but low and behold, I found a bag with some prosthetic feet. I grabbed two feet and headed down to the consult room. He handed me his prosthesis and I looked at the foot and it was instantly clear that I had no idea how to put the two together. He saw my confusion and said "How about I leave this here and I'll come back later to see if this works out?" Great idea. He hopped out to his motorcycle again and I stared at the prosthesis and foot. It definitely did not fit together. In the Guesthouse, I recruited David Johnson, our radiologist who was in the clinic helping for the day. David took a look at the two parts, and we called Charlie Coulter in the States, who is part of the Prosthesis team. Long story short, Charlie Coulter and Doug Call from Virginia Prosthetics, walked us (ummmm DAVE!) through the fitting process and in less than an hour, Dave found the tools, the screws, the parts and HE PUT TOGETHER THE PROSTHESIS AND THE FOOT. Around 4 pm, my phone rang and Celestino, my new friend, inquired as to if he could return to pick up his prothesis. 15 minutes later, he was in the same exam room with me and joyfully put on his "new" prosthesis. Guys, he WALKED out of the clinic, after not walking for a very very long time because he didn't have a prosthetic foot.
I anxiously walked behind him, "Hey- wait! Are you sure you aren't going to fall? You aren't used to this yet".
He turned around to me and said, "I'm not going to fall. I AM NOT GOING TO FALL. " with a huge grin.
I've met Doug Call and Charlie Coulter every time they have come to the DR during my time here. I've known that they fitted and provided bajillion-dollar prostheses to amputees. I've admired what they have done and knew that everyone raved about them. But I've always been in surgery when they have been here and so I've never HUNG OUT WITH THEM WHILE THEY CHANGED LIVES. I've never seen someone walk again after not being able to walk without crutches or a wheelchair because they received a new prosthesis. Tears. Tears in my eyes. Sadness that I have missed this chance earlier every time that Doug and Charlie have been here. Relieved that I ran after Celestino that morning to tell him to wait. Joyful that David Johnson was there and is a GENIUS at putting things together. Grateful that Charlie gave me his cell phone number so that Dave and I could call him with questions. Yes, my dear friends, I am grateful.
I am overwhelmingly grateful right now. There are obstacles. There are teary days. I am tired and crabby a lot. But I watched Celestino walk out of our clinic on his foot, limping a little, trying to remember his gait and rhythm. And he KNEW he wasn't going to fall. And I watched Miguel march off into the sunset with a new straight arm and a sweet goofy operating room hat that someone gave him from our clinic and listened to his sweet accent on the phone announce "I made it! I'm home". I heard the words "Visa approved!" in the US embassy around 10 days ago and hugged Monchy as tight as I could. I spent a marvelous week with my mama planting tomatoes and swinging in the hammock and reading books and staying up talking and watching sunsets by the beach and I felt LOVED. I heard my husband praying for me for a good nights sleep after a few sleepless nights and I woke up refreshed and NEW with answered prayer. There are a million billion stories that I could tell you, both sad and happy, of my life here. A million stories of God coming through, of folks beating the odds, of the tragedies that I've seen, of the triumphs we witness. A bunch of Celestinos, a bunch of Miguels, a bunch of folks that give of their time and lives to help make it happen.
But I'll leave you with these few. A man who can walk again. A boy who will throw a baseball. A radiologist who knows how to put together a prosthesis and a foot. 2 orthopedic surgeons who operate together and know without speaking what each one will do. A Prothesis team who directs and instructs by phone. A "Yes" at the embassy. A husband who prays for his wife. A woman who is constantly surprised by the wild and random moments of life here. A God who loves and cares intimately for His people, every single one. HE CHANGES LIVES. He reminds me of this every day.
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