When I first got here I wasn’t expecting the level of
medical care that the government provides the people. If you have a job you have one type of
insurance, if you’re poor you have SIS (another type of insurance). If you have cancer and have SIS you can go to
a hospital in Lima and they’ll cover your chemo/radiation and all treatment
costs. The poor have access to the other
specialties as well. When I realized all
this I questioned the need for Diospi.
But in no time I’ve seen the problems in the system and why the lines
for Diospi continue to be long even though more and more doctors arrive.
Yesterday
I was working the ER and a 39 year old lady came in complaining of pain all
over and breast pain. She showed me her
breast. It was red, warm, deformed and
hard with cancer. I began to question
her about her medical history, what treatment she’d had for her breast cancer,
who was taking care of her and why she’d come to Diospi if she was receiving
free care elsewhere. She’d been
diagnosed with intraductal malignant breast cancer in 2011. They’d done a lumpectomy and a lymph node dissection
(the lymph nodes were positive for cancer).
They’d given her 20 rounds of radiation therapy and she was still
currently taking Tamoxifen. Evidently it was “gone” after all this treatment but
then “came back” in August 2013. She
just managed to get an appointment with her hematologist in Lima (a 28 hour bus
ride from Cusco or a 45 min flight if you can afford a plane ticket) a couple
weeks ago. They took a biopsy of the recurrent
breast mass, gave her a follow up appointment in March to discuss the results,
and told her maybe they’d have time to remove the mass for palliative care in
July or August. She also had what
appeared to be a pathological fracture (ie the bone broke with little force or
trauma because the bone was weakened by cancer eating away at it---likely
metastatic cancer) of her clavicle on the right side of her chest as well that occurred
in August 2013. They’d sent her home
with over the counter Tylenol/ibuprofen for pain control.
I ran
her case by a couple of the doctors here that know the system well in order to
know how I could best help her. She’d
come to Diospi for a miracle. She’d come to Diospi because patients are treated
and care for as individuals and not a just another symptom or problem. Unfortunately, her best resources were in
Lima. Through her insurance and current
care plan she had access to hematologist, plastic surgeons, etc. All I could offer her was the love of Christ,
pain medicines, and encourament. She told
me she had a strong faith in Christ, but I could sense her desperation and
desire for hope. I tried to fill this
need with words reminding her that Christ is with her through this even if he
doesn’t cure her and that we’re his hands and here to help her be comfortable
and walk through this trial with her. I
think we’ll never truly know the impact that anything we say or do has on the
lives we encounter, but I took her tears and a sign that she felt at least
enough comfort to let her emotional guard down.
You can definitely be praying for
Mrs. Consuelo and her family. She’s only 39 years old, married with 2 or 3
children.
No comments:
Post a Comment