Days 3 & 4
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Sunday we woke and had a leisurely morning, including
breakfast and a massage for me. Quite the experience as they don’t leave the
room to let you get undressed and dressed again. The second spa therapy I had
scheduled for the morning consisted of sitting in a tub full of hot water for
30 minutes and “relaxing” as much as one can when a technician is coming in to
check on you while naked. Romanians definitely do not have a problem with being
naked (in the strictest non-sexual way) as we learned with physical exams at
clinic on Monday. It just doesn’t seem to bother them like it does Americans.
After the therapies, I got ready for lunch and we left
shortly afterward. We went to Kokuk,a Turkish restaurant in Constanta for
lunch. Our team joined another team from Valley Forge working the churches here
in Banessa and Constanta. The meals were communal style and delicious. Finished
the meal with strong Turkish tea.
Our second stop of the afternoon was to the “Old City” and Port
Constata. Our hosts lived in Romania under communism and escaped Romania in
1981 by smuggling themselves onto a boat to Greece, crossing the border into
Yugoslavia, being held in jail for 3 weeks and then finally making it to Italy
and the United States where they lived many years before returning to mission
work in Romania after the fall of communism. It was an incredible story to
hear, standing at the same port where those memories were lived. We also
strolled along the Black sea there and saw an elaborate, at this point
dilapidated, casino used by the communists when they were in power.
One of the fun things of that evening was hanging out after
the service and eating “biscuits” and drinking juice with the church members.
We were able to meets some of interpreters for the next day and they are super
personable. We barely made it back to the hotel to eat dinner at 8:50 PM and
then we crashed for bed.
Monday, May 8, 2017
My roommate and I woke on our own at 5 AM and were not able
to get back to sleep. So, we got up, I finished my final paper for a class I
have been taking this semester called Perspectives, and then at 7 AM we met up
with our team for breakfast. At 7:45 AM, we met with Dr. Honderick who does the
student education for the trip and discussed chief complaint and history of
present illness, with the medical professionals role-playing along the way. I
think it’s incredibly rewarding to see the lightbulbs of comprehensive when
students have to really tackle something mentally and finally get it.
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| Morning education session with the students. |
Our team headed out in three separate vans to the church for
clinic, and that’s when the adventure started. The bridge was closed. We had to
find an alternative route to get there. Fortunately, two of the drivers are
Romanian and know the routes. Unfortunately, one of the drivers is one of our
teammates. He is pretty flexible though, so when we lost him we eventually
wrapped back around to find him and after about 15 minutes we saw him looping a
traffic circle and were able to caravan the rest of the way. Talk about a
memory.
We arrived at clinic just a few minutes late due to the
bridge situation. Our first day was a little slower than they expected, which
was fine with me as I had a chance to take time with each patient and think
well. Everything is a little harder when it’s going through an interpreter –
that’s one good thing about the Cyracom phones I have to use in clinic in Iowa City
for non-English speakers; I’ve got the whole awkward translating thing down. I
had Natalie (student) with me in the morning and Haven (student) with me in
the afternoon. Each time we saw 4 patients with a total of 8 for the day. Many
of the people were receptive to prayer and most of the medical conditions were
chronic. Many patients’ complaints they attribute to stress.
During our debrief meeting at the end of the day after dinner,
we discussed highlights, frustrations, stories, etc. It appears several were
able to help encourage others in their faith, pray for challenging life
situations, and witness for Jesus. We also are in a predominantly Muslim area, and one doctor encountered a women refusing prayer due to being
Muslim – which apparently is demarcated by a white head scarf. On the flip side, one man I had was
there for chronic stomach problems, which seemed most like IBS or food
intolerance. However, he related it to stress, and did not want any
medications, only prayer. Interestingly, this man has been to the United States
– Montana and Maine. Of the 45 states I have visited, those two I have not.
What are the odds!
We returned to the hotel around 4:30, in time for me to hit
up my “mud massage.” It was definitely weird being massaged with warm mud, and it
was not a pretty smell, but it felt good. After showering the mud off, I
decided to check out the pool. The pool water is warm and salty. They pump the
water in from the Black Sea and change it weekly. There are jets all around the
pool and area like a hot tub built straight into the pool. You can turn on
showers and waterfalls, which are strong and feel like a massage when you stand
under them. There are also dry and wet saunas.
We ate dinner at 6:30, then headed up to the conference room
with the students to meet at 7 for debriefing and brief teaching on the review
of systems. By the time we were finished, everyone looked exhausted. Since Jill
(my roommate) and I had woken up so early Monday morning, we crashed as soon as
we were back to our room around 9 PM.
And now it’s the start of day 5. I woke at 5:30 AM on my own
and decided to sit on the balcony and watch the sun rise. Please keep our team
in your prayers as we are expecting God to work greatly in the next few days.
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| Sunrise over the Black Sea viewed from our balcony. |
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