Contents tagged with long way from home
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A welcome reminder a long way from home
By Lesca Hadley, MD
On the second day of a spring break medical trip in the mountains of Guatemala, an 87-year-old patient led carefully by her great grandson’s wife entered the schoolroom where I was seeing patients with a UNTHSC medical student, a nursing student, and our Spanish translator. She couldn’t have had another wrinkle on her wizened face. She lived alone on the edge of her village near fields of corn. Everyday she walked her route, selling milk she got from her neighbor to the families in town.
She had delivered milk the previous day, but on this day, she was too weak to stand without help. She had a temperature of 99.5, and she felt hot. Her productive cough was audible. She trembled as our small interprofessional team began to examine her, gently raising her clothing. This was her first time to see a doctor.
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