Clinic Update: A long Friday

Friday was a long tough day at the San Lucas Clinic. Starting with a woman being admitted the night before with mysterious abdominal pains. Doctor Tun ordered blood work to look for problems in the pancreas and the staff got to work trying to look for some answers. After which the staff started looking to an elderly woman who had signs of Peripheral edema, which they have been keeping an eye on the past few days. Having the patient walk a little each day. Friday Morning also brought the birth of twins and so much needed rest for that mother, along with paperwork that needed to be read over by Tun from the Health Ministry of Guatemala.

During the morning round of consults Doctor Tun had a patient come in who was a very special case. A young woman with mental disabilities, unable to speak or seemingly unable to understand much of what was happening around her was brought in by a cousin, because it was thought she might be pregnant.

The problem being the girl's mother didn't really think she was pregnant, since she the patient lived with only the mother and brother, which is why the cousin brought her to the clinic. After examining her even though her pregnancy was obvious she was found to be in her seventh month of pregnancy. Which lead the Doctor and Medical Student Mark Pittman to believe this could be a case of abuse. Later that afternoon she was again brought in by the family member for a ultrasound. During the exam the patients eyes wandered the room not paying much attention to anything happening. When Doctor Tun tried to show her the image of her baby she glanced over but returned to her constant eye wandering at times staring at me as I took photos.

After the ultrasound was over Doctor Tun was obviously bothered by the whole situation. However, with there being little to no social services for people with mental handicaps here in Guatemala the girl would most likely return to the situation she has been living in after the baby is born. (images below)