Another Thursday....

Today was Clinic Day....(I think that's the way I started my last post to this blog, too). But let me explain what today was like......

For the last two weeks I have been hearing the 'quack-quack-quack' of a duck somewhere near our apartment. But I have never seen a duck anywhere in all of Juan Dolio. Never the less, I have been hearing 'quack-quack-quack'. I thought maybe it was just wishful thinking, since I enjoyed them so much when we were in the cabin on the lake last year when we were in the States. (check my FB page for ALL the pics)

We headed over to the clinic about 7:30, but before we got to the main road, Bob said "There's a duck!!!" WHAT???? There's a duck??? Sure enough in the road were a duck and a chicken 'conversing'. That should have told me what kind of a day it was going to be. When was the last time you saw a duck and a chicken conversing in the road?

We pulled up to the clinic and couldn't even get to our parking spot in front of the clinic due to all the buses there for the teams. Bob parked on the road behind the line of buses and we made it through the crowd of people patiently waiting for the clinic to open. How Elsie and Jackie ever make sense out of the confusion is a testament to their patience and perseverence!

Before the clinic even opened for the patients, Bob had already treated 3 people from the teams.

I got a cup of cafe con leche from the machine at SCORE...only it was minus the 'leche' (milk). So it was 'cafe con leche sin leche' (coffee with milk without milk). Partway through the morning I went back over to try again. No improvement on the leche part :(

But as I was walking across the front of the clinic one of the older women said something to me, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. She just smiled, I smiled back. (More on this later in the day)

Then I filled the scripts for several patients, including one very sweet older woman. But as I re-entered the pharmacy after talking to one of the interns, I saw one of her BP meds sitting on the table. YIKES!!! Not good! As I exited the pharmacy, I saw Elsie coming in from the reception area and told her. She went out to catch the woman. Too late...she was gone. But there was a man sitting outside on a motorcycle. Elsie told him and he proceeded to take off the wrong way down the street to find the patient. Sure enough about 4 minutes later he came back with her on the back of his motorcycle. I apologized to her, gave her the additional med, she got back on the bike and he took her back to where he had picked her up. I asked Elsie if we needed to pay for the motoconcho. She said "No! He's one of the patients just waiting to be seen!"

Since we're going to be in the States for 2 months, we are filling scripts for the regular patients so they don't run out while we're gone or so they don't all show up on the same day when we get back. For the reg patients who are taking BP and Diabetic meds I'm counting out 115 of each med. I think I counted to 115 about 100 times today. I told Bob to ignore me if I start counting by 5's in my sleep tonight....

One lady crochets every time she comes. In the past she has made comments about making me a skirt. That's made me just a bit nervous! The skirts I see her making are quite beautiful...but they also look like doily lace and quite skinny. Today she offered again. I didn't want to make her feel bad but I don't want to picture myself in a tight crocheted doily skirt either! So, today I asked her instead if she could make me a shawl to wear in the evenings. So, on Sunday I will give my crochet thread to her granddaughter, and if I understood her right, she will have the shawl done for me to wear when we go to the States! How sweet is that?

Now comes my 'how precious!" moment of the day~~ Remember the woman who was saying something to me earlier in the day that I couldn't understand. When I got her scripts filled in the afternoon about 3PM (Yes, she had been there since before 7:30AM!), I called her back to explain them to her. But first I managed to say in Spanish that I hadn't understood what she was saying earlier to me since my Spanish is so bad~~ could she please repeat it. "dulce" (sweet) was the only word I understood. She proceeded to pull out a gift bag from her purse and hand it to me. Inside was a rather large plastic container that normally holds chocolate powder. When I opened it I wanted to cry. Before coming this morning to stand in line, she had made us corn pudding! She said she wanted to thank God and us for taking care of her! She then gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek. How precious is that?

Somewhere in the conversation today in the waiting area, Elsie must have told them that Bob and I are going to the States soon. So through out the day I was receiving lots of hugs, kisses on the cheek and wishes for "Buen Viaje"

Our time in the States will be wonderful I have no doubt. We'll spend time with family, take the grandkids camping, enjoy talking with friends and visit churches. Hopefully, getting some much needed rest and relaxation. But it's going to be hard to leave these dear sweet special people behind, too!