Food for the soul

Today has been one of the best days I have had here in Haiti which is making it very hard to purchase my tickets home (I swear I am just waiting for a better price…)

I hope I was able to make her day as awesome as she made mine!

I have a few patients who I absolutely LOVE to treat. Oddly enough they are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the kiddos who capture my heart under normal circumstances. Today one women who I treat weekly for her back and leg pain came early this morning and Jason our guard came to get me to let me know she was waiting for me out on the patio. I light up when I see this woman as she is such a kind gentle soul. She is in her 70’s and always comes to appointments alone. Her children have died and her grandchildren are less than helpful. She walks with a cane, slowly and purposefully as she has intense low back pain that radiates down her leg making ambulation difficult. This morning she was her ever smiling self when I showed up dressed in my pj’s. She pointed at the bag I had lent her last week to carry her medications home in. I opened the bag and inside was 4 gorgeous coconuts and about 10 lbs of oranges and limes. She paid for a moto taxi to come this morning as she couldn’t carry everything but wanted me to have this beautiful gift. My eyes water just writing about it. There was nothing she wanted in return and there was no special occasion, she simply said, “as long as God allows me to walk I will bring you gifts.” Wow, talk about a way to start the morning! I accepted the fruit and gave her my breakfast in return.

My gifts that were made into the most delicious juice ever today!

sugar cane

I merrily went about my day (seriously it was the best adult day I have had here, as you all know I am not a fan of treating the adults but I have worked it out to basically see only the returning patients one week and I love to see how well they are doing so it makes it manageable) thinking how thoughtful it was for her to come and bring me those heavy fruits. At the end of the day a women who we see often, not as a patient but as a grandmother of a baby we treat, was waiting for me on the porch. Last week I helped facilitate an arrangement for her grandchild to stay in an infant care center called Children of the Promise as her mother is unable to care for her due to some cognitive issues. Grandma wanted to let me know how she was feeling about the situation and how she felt about the process and then took me out front to show me the four large sugar canes she brought me. Say what!?! Two sets of gifts in one day?? I really AM the luckiest girl alive J We chatted for a bit with Marie, Leonise (our translator) and Monise which was really fun, it was like girl talk mixed with match making as they were all plotting ways to get me to stay in Haiti. I had joked with Marie the night prior that if I met someone and got married I would have to stay. This pleased everyone as Marie relayed the story and they all discussed qualities I need in a man and how they were going to throw me a party and bring all of the eligible Haitian men for me to meet. I, in turn did my best, in Creole, to stay with the conversation while I pantomimed how Haitian men can dance and American men cannot…it was pure hilarity. They were laughing so hard and yelling “m’zanmi” with their hands in the air, I really wish I could have gotten a photo. Oh well, I have a mental snapshot that should last at least another 50 years.

I have been so blessed with such an amazing experience here which has transformed the way I not only practice as a doctor but how I see others and their daily struggles. There is so much love and beauty here in Haiti, how could I not come back for another round. This is like food for the soul and I am eating it up!

Patient yesterday who received a doll made by hand in the US because she was too cute not to, guess what goes around comes around.