A Nurse's Story
Ok... so, here is the deal... I am willing to tramp through the steaming rain forests and treat a venomous snake bite.
For as you are probably aware, they have anacondas here in Costa Rica. Technically, I suppose, if you were attacked by an anaconda, that would constitute a snake "swallow" as opposed to a snake "bite". But, I digress...
I am also willing to treat a massive machete wound inflicted by gang members in a precario (Costa Rican slum). These are the things I have seriously thought about, yes, even Googled before my missions trip. However, God and I have this bargain...I don´t do pregnant women! I just don´t! I have personally given birth four times. That is enough pregnant stuff for anybody. But there is also this miraculous, mysterious deal about a new life being born that just rocks my world. In nursing school, I was the one who cried every time I witnessed a birth. What does that tell you? But, I digress...
Anyway, our team is in the precario having a "meet and greet" if you will. Out of the corner of my eye, I spy Joy, our fearless missionary leader, talking to an obviously pregnant woman. ( I am nothing, if not observant.) I watch warily but think, " it´s ok to meet and greet pregnant women right?" Then I see Joy look around and I promise life went into slow-motion as I saw her mouth, "Where is the nurse?" Immediately, I became engrossed in handing out candy and bracelets to small children. I think I actually shrank in size. But, as fate would have it, a team member ratted...I mean...pointed me out to her. Of course, she called me over and I took the longest walk of my life to where Joy stood with the pregnant lady.
I was properly introduced and, after asking what I hope were some pertinent medical questions, found out this girl was only 6 months along and was having a few contractions. Great. I know you are thinking - that I was about to deliver a baby. I am happy to report she is still with child but has some serious medical issues that would be much easier to treat were she in the States.
My point? While I feel more prepared to deal with snakes and machetes than ob-gyn issues, this 24 year old girl is trying to maintain her pregnancy and raise her 4 other children in the most difficult circumstances imaginable...filth, hunger and perhaps worst of all, the extreme weariness that comes with just trying to survive.
This is the reality of the people in the Precario. Anything medically done here is just a band-aid fix. What these folk need here is the love and hope that only God can bring to them. My prayer is that we will be able to share that great love by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
-Robin
