Nu Inteleg.

I don't understand.

That pretty much sums up how I felt throughout our experience yesterday. The language barrier was a major obstacle. At times, I was unbelievably frustrated...

On top of that, I felt we were pretty much helpless. Our medications and knowledge base were limited, so most of the time we were unable to do anything for the patient except check vital signs. One of my patients in particular was a 3 year old boy with a large, abnormal bone growth coming from his left clavicle. The mother first noticed it when he was a year old and she said that it was giving him quite a bit of pain. She had gone to a local doctor who informed her that he needed surgery. However, they were unable to afford it. So there they were...sitting in front of me, on the verge of tears, in the hope that I would be able to help them. It was probably the worst feeling in the world to tell them (through the help of a translator, nonetheless) that there was really nothing I could do.

I think the important thing, through all of this, was the realization that we could do so much more to help this group of people in the future...hopefully someday soon.