Row, Row, Row your Boat

Greetings from the very wet and rainy Mekong Delta! 

It has rained every day since we arrived (amazing, as this has never happened before) and the ceiling in our hotel lobby is still missing, but it seems no more of it has fallen so far.  Phew!  Today was the worst in terms of the quantity of rain we received...it started raining this morning and hasn't stopped all day with several periods of very heavy downpours. Unfortunately, I left my trusty-dusty rain gauge at home, so do not have an exact measure (sorry dad), but it was a lot! 

During our 1st day at the Benh Vien Nhi Dong Can Tho (translation ~ The Can Tho Children's Hospital), there were moments in time that we could not hear either our translator speaking or Bac Si (Dr.) Phuong, the physiatrist/pediatrician, speak because of the sound of the rain hitting the roof.  The roofing material on the hospital is some sort of aluminum or metal which then just makes loads of noise when the rain drops are pelting it.  Now, it is difficult enough when it is not raining to hear the Vietnamese people speak as they are so quiet and Amy and I find ourselves leaning in very close to even tell if any noise is coming out of their mouths.  :)

Upon the completion of our workday, we typically like to walk from the Children's Hospital to our hotel, as it's not that far and we like to stretch our legs after treating all day, but today it wasn't an option.  As we exited the Children's Hospital grounds and came toward the street, the level of flooding was amazing.  We tip-toed from one spot of dry ground to another on the 'sidewalk' (trying not to get our toes wet) and our cab was waiting for us, but was a few feet off of the curb.  Thank goodness for my relatively longer legs...I definitely got to work on my splits today.  :)

Here's a photo I took as we were driving away from the hospital...look toward the left side to see the level of flooding. 

Ok...enough about the weather...on to more important things!!

Yesterday morning, Amy and I went to the General Hospital at the request of Bac Si Tan, one of the adult orthopedic surgeons.  He wanted us to come and see their Physical Therapy department in the new hospital.  So we went.  It was a nice, large room with about 15-20 staff members in the therapy room ~ about 10-12 were PT students we later learned.  There were a handful of adult patients, all looking in some manner of discomfort, being treated with passive range of motion, cervical and lumbar spine traction (on a pulley system with a weight attached), active shoulder range of motion using a pulley system, ultrasound, diathermy (what!?!?!...this still exists!), and electrical stimulation.  Wow...I definitely felt like I was likely back in a PT department in the 60s or 70s?  We met the medical director and the PT instructor from the University and they are going to email me with some topics for which they would like more information. 

Here's a couple of photos taken while we were there...

Then, Amy and I had lunch with Fruma Nyska, Meir's wife, who comes along for these trips.  She typically spends time with Amy and me at the Children's Hospital, as she was once a teacher in Israel.  We walked around Can Tho a little bit and as always saw some interesting sites...

Vietnam now has a helmet law...these are ladybug helmets for children...with antennae included.

Anyone hungry???  Chicken and Roosters for sale!

T-shirt being sold ~ look at how jeans is spelled...jenas!

As I said, we completed our 1st day with the little children/babies and wow, was it fun to be back in the pediatric world again!!  So happy to be seeing the kiddos.  We arrived, with 2 full totes of supplies, in-hand and ready to see a ton of kids.  In true fashion, there were children and families everywhere throughout the hallway.  It's a bit like slightly organized chaos as you walk through the different departments.  We greeted our colleagues from the past and met 3 new 'therapists' that are now part of the department. 

Then Bac Si Phuong whisked us away to meet with the hospital's Director.  Similar in format to the meeting we had on Monday at the general hospital, but on a much smaller scale.  The Director was familiar to us from our previous experiences here at the Children's Hospital.  We met for a short time and then were on our way back down to the therapy department to get started with our day.

Historically, our time at this hospital has been a mixed-bag...as Amy and I are not sure of our impact in this smaller community and it has been difficult to find out what their real needs and their questions are and even what types of kids they are and aren't seeing.  During our last trip in 2007 we did not have many children to actually treat, so we were again concerned with this issue. 

As I had said before, I had invited about 13 kiddos that were seen in our screening clinic earlier in the week and who were not surgical candidates to come to the Children's Hospital today to see us.  Excitingly, 11 of the 13 kiddos showed up, so we were able to see all of them today.  We tried to give each family/parents ideas as to what they should be working on with their kiddo, as many of these children do not actually get formal physical therapy.  Amy took on the role of 'resident artist' today and produced some great home programs.  Here's an example...

These kiddos ranged in age from 2 months to 8 years of age and their diagnoses included brachial plexus injuries, s/p meningitis, spina bifida, and a number of kiddos with cerebral palsy (mainly quadriplegia, a couple with diplegia, and 1 with true athetosis).  Athetosis is a description of specific movements that are snake-like and/or writhing in nature and in the US we do not see a lot of children with true athetosis.  He was an 8 year great kiddo to treat, though, and he was super-smiley and engaging.  I even got a kiss on my cheek at the end of our time together.  Swoon!!

Little guy with athetosis sitting on a stool for the 1st time.

One of the last patients we saw today was a little 5 year old girl with spina bifida.  Wow...she was awesome.  She was affect fairly low on her spine, so she did have some muscles in her hips and knees that worked a little bit (but not much), but she was able to walk nonetheless.  It was one of the most amazing things I have seen...now her feet look horrendous and her spine is in a funky position, but this is what she has to do to be able to walk independently.  If any correction of her feet occur, then she will not be able to walk.  We will see her again when we return to Can Tho in the future to keep an eye on her needs.  She was super-sassy and very chatty and as we were discussing some recommendations with her mom, she just jumped up and walked out into the hallway with her lollipop we had given her and was leaning against one of the chairs, hanging-out.  She then proceeded to walk back into the therapy room very quickly with her mom's bag, speaking to her mom in a very authoritative voice.  I imagined her to say, "Why did you leave our bag in the hallway?  We should have it with us right now!"  What a cool kiddo she was!!

We concluded our day around 445p and are sitting for a little bit before a large dinner being held for us here at the hotel.  We were supposed to be on the rooftop bar/patio of the hotel for this dinner, but the rain has forced our festivities inside.  Apparently, after dinner, we will then retired to the hotel's Karaoke lounge and some singing will commence!  Bring on the ABBA!

Tomorrow we will return to the Children's Hospital here, so I will write more later.  This weekend we will stay in Can Tho and relax, read and walk around in the oh-so-cool and non-humid weather.  I think it's supposed to rain and be about 90 degrees all weekend!  Bring on the hair clips!  ;)

Thanks for reading and hope you are enjoying the blog!

xoxo
Stacy