Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Blood work in the dark

This morning Lourdes and I walked down into central Los Pinos.  We got a collectivo - a cab that waits until they have a full load all going in the same direction.  Then we headed out so I could get blood work done at a local lab.  I almost couldn't get it.  The credit card machine didn't work and it was really expensive.  We pitched in together and still didn't have enough to pay.  Thankfully, the man let us pay all the money we had and we will pay the rest tomorrow when we go back to get the results.  My hair is falling out by the handful and has been since August 3rd.  I barely have a pony tail left.  When I went to the dermatologist 3 weeks ago she gave me some meds, told me to get blood work and come back in two months.  At this point I am almost hoping that something shows up in the blood work so I can understand why my hair has been falling out for three months.  It's frustrating!

Not only was there no phone line for the credit card machine, there was no light in the lab.  The man pulled a chair up to a window, but then had me sit so that my head shaded my arm where he was about to stick me.  I couldn't look.  He took 3 big tubes with no trouble.  He must be a pro.

We returned in time for preschool class.  There were 17 kids today.  Some were tiny.  Since the older kids have sex ed class on Tuesdays with a psychologist, I had no help.  It was controlled chaos, but we made it.  Two little ones fell out of their chairs.  Drinks were spilled.  The floor was covered with rice.  But the kids identified words that start with A-F, read a book, prayed, and filled their bellies, so I guess it was a good day.

I had to hang around for a while, waiting for the conversational Spanish class I am leading.  I love that class.  Today they made such great progress!  We worked on pronunciation.  So strange to think that it is difficult for people to make sounds that seem so common to us.  "CH" as in "chew", "TH" as in "they", and "Y" as in "Yes" seem to be exceptionally hard.  At the beginning they literally could not make those sounds.  By the end they were perfect.  I told the students that soon they will be speaking just like Gringos.

Lourdes is still feeling very tired.  She said she had a hard time getting out of bed this morning.  She left early today.

Tomorrow I will get the blood tests back and go see Dr Gustavo to see what he has to say.

Jairo has been doing a lot of counseling lately.  He was eager to go home and rest tonight.  He never complains.  But tonight he said that the past two days have been long and difficult for him.

I watched as much of the election results as I could stand while I ate dinner.  Some of the "experts" who were speaking were so ignorant I couldn't stand to watch for very long.  I turned it off long before results were in.

Called my Mom.  Her cousin just got electricity back today.  Mom said many people on the East Coast are still without power.  It's cold there.  This is a long time to go with no power.

My friend Jody bought a new house today in Salt Lake.  I'm excited for her!  Congrats Jody!!