A few words about my nurse.

My third day here, a young lady introduced herself as Paola Espinoza, said she was a nurse and wanted to volunteer.  Her 4 year old daughter finished preschool at noon, so she had to leave by then.

Her husband has steady work for the city of Yanzatza 30 minutes by bus from here.  He's one of the lucky ones, the average wage here is US$400 a month, when jobs are available. 

Paola's takes blood pressures and weights, gives IM injections, but her most important function here is interpreter.  She speaks no English, but her Spanish is normal speed and clear; she rephrases things nicely.  But often I hear her saying exactly the words I used to the patient, and they understand.  We all have expectations of others that influence what we hear.

Last week a patient arrived after a 2 ½ hour bus ride with a large lipoma of the back, some 8cm (3 inches) across.  The growth came out nicely.  I had Paola make a few snips with the scissors and put in a skin suture, first time she'd done so.  She said she learned a lot, I wanted her to feel her time was valuable to me, all in all things worked well.  (Understandably, the patient didn't want to look at the specimen).  Pathology's not readily available, which limits what we can safely remove, but this case was clear.  I hope the clinic can hire Paola once more funds become available.