Post by tomcamp on Apr 30, 2007 22:22:51 GMT -5
This is from our friend, Dr. Jon Ranson, who is working in Chiapas, Mexico for a prolonged mission. Give him a "ring" to let him know we support the work he is doing.
Jon has always been one of the folks I look up to in reminding me of the work we are trained for, as well as a supple reminder its o.k. to "march to the beet of a different drummer". Thanks Jon for your leadership.
p.s. when is the last time I saw, or recognized, Typhoid Fever?
AHMEN rep.
Hello everyone from Chiapas,
Things are moving along here. Adam Engst left with the two people from Seattle - I'm now the only gringo in Altamirano. The only thing happening here for me is the medicine. I was quite busy last week, with about 15 people in the hospital, but now it's down to 4 to start the week. We had a run of typhoid fever, I admitted 4 one day and had 7 or 8 in the hospital at one time. I'm down to two now. It's pretty interesting: people come in with a week of fever and headache, sometimes some GI symptoms but often not. Their exam is negative except for fever. Every day they have fever spikes, often two or three, with temperature of 103 or 104. We put them on cipro or maybe bactrim or IV ceftriaxone, and day after day they continue to have fever. Their head hurts when the temp is up, otherwise they feel pretty good. Finally after a week or so their fever resolves.
I moved into an apartment yesterday - the one the doctors from Seattle had used when they were here. It's pretty nice: two bedrooms with reliable hot water, a kitchen and a little deck: 800 pesos a month ($80 US). It hadn't rained in two weeks or so, but last night poured for hours. I have a metal roof; that was interesting. It's much quieter than the place next to the hospital where I had been staying.
I'm finally starting to see my Spanish getting a bit better. Six more weeks, we'll see what happens. I'm not going to be fluent, but it's the journey, not the destination, right?
Not much else to report from Chiapas,
Take care,
Jon
Dr. Jon Ranson: jonransom@yahoo.com
Jon has always been one of the folks I look up to in reminding me of the work we are trained for, as well as a supple reminder its o.k. to "march to the beet of a different drummer". Thanks Jon for your leadership.
p.s. when is the last time I saw, or recognized, Typhoid Fever?
AHMEN rep.
Hello everyone from Chiapas,
Things are moving along here. Adam Engst left with the two people from Seattle - I'm now the only gringo in Altamirano. The only thing happening here for me is the medicine. I was quite busy last week, with about 15 people in the hospital, but now it's down to 4 to start the week. We had a run of typhoid fever, I admitted 4 one day and had 7 or 8 in the hospital at one time. I'm down to two now. It's pretty interesting: people come in with a week of fever and headache, sometimes some GI symptoms but often not. Their exam is negative except for fever. Every day they have fever spikes, often two or three, with temperature of 103 or 104. We put them on cipro or maybe bactrim or IV ceftriaxone, and day after day they continue to have fever. Their head hurts when the temp is up, otherwise they feel pretty good. Finally after a week or so their fever resolves.
I moved into an apartment yesterday - the one the doctors from Seattle had used when they were here. It's pretty nice: two bedrooms with reliable hot water, a kitchen and a little deck: 800 pesos a month ($80 US). It hadn't rained in two weeks or so, but last night poured for hours. I have a metal roof; that was interesting. It's much quieter than the place next to the hospital where I had been staying.
I'm finally starting to see my Spanish getting a bit better. Six more weeks, we'll see what happens. I'm not going to be fluent, but it's the journey, not the destination, right?
Not much else to report from Chiapas,
Take care,
Jon
Dr. Jon Ranson: jonransom@yahoo.com