CHECK OUT OUR NEW BLOG!!!
Hey...so i know you think i haven't thought about YOU or BLOGGING for the past few months...but you're wrong!
Since we're about to start a new chapter in our life (actually this wed. Aug 15th), Brett and i thought it would be fun to begin a new blog--TOGETHER, so who knows, you might hear from him every once in a while---that is if he finds extra time aside from school and fantasy football!
Check out our
NEW BLOG!!I'm super excited for all our new blogging family members! It will be such a fun way to keep in touch and not feel so far from home!
--Jami--
San Blas, Mexico...NOT the resort
Well, well...where do i even start? One monday morning Dr.C came to work and asked if i'd like to go to mexico...of course i said yes and asked if there was a beach?! ha ha ha NOT EVEN CLOSE! Then he proceeded to tell me that it would be to volunteer in a clinic and provide less fortunate people with dental work....WOW!! I jumped on that opportunity SOOO fast, there was just one setback...i didn't have a passport. To make what's already going to be a long post a little shorter--i applied for my passport on tuesday and it came 10 days later! YEAH! (Can i just tell you how many crazy people i met at the post office while i waited almost 2 hrs in line to turn in my passport application?! There was an old couple there gettting a passport for their exotic bird...but that's another story for another day!)
So, it was final...i got to go too! The name of this organization in LIGA--they are also called the "flying doctors of mercy" and you will see why... In our little private plane for 6 was our pilot, Joe Rainey, (blue shirt...have you ever heard of Rainey Homes in St. George--that's him). From left Dr. Cowley, Leighann (asst.), me, Camie (rdh), and Dr. Petty. We flew down in this TBM 700 jet which really spoiled us (if you are one for small planes! We had to wear these noise cancelling headphones to be able to talk to eachother on the flights.
We flew 2 hrs into Tuscon, AZ and switched pilots.
From there we had another 1hr flight into Obregon which is in Mexico. Here they checked our baggage and passports to make sure we weren't packing anything illegal, then back up into the air for another short flight of about 30 minutes into the "airport" at El Fuerte.This is Camie and Leighann where we landed...the green building behind them is some barracks where the army men sleep. It was kinda freaky landing there where all these men in army gear and huge guns approach the plane as you get out. They don't let you take pics of them though...so i didn't want to chance it! You can see why these people who volnteer are called the "flying doctors of mercy"...this is just the beginning of people landing here.The volunteers came from allover...Utah, Texas, California.
Not only is it a dental clinic, but general surgeons, eye doctors, pharmacists, orthopedic surgeons, translators, and many more come to volunteer in the clinics. There are 3 different clinics in this area that volounteers come to. We had a 45 minute "taxi" ride from El Fuerte to the clinic in San Blas. The taxi was a suburban---probably a 1980 model. The A/C consisted of rolling down all the windows!
We arrived on a Thursday afternoon. The medical work is free to the Mexican people, the only price they pay is standing in line. This is what the line looked like when we got there. It was interesting to hear the hum of excitement in them as we hauled our bags from the taxi to the clinic. They knew we were coming to help them! We actually didn't start any dental procedures until friday morning, as was the same for most of the other volunteers. We spent a while organizing and setting up our clinic area.
There are 3 dental chairs in one room. 2 of them are equipped with overhead lights, the other chair user has to wear a head lamp.
Dr. Petty has actually been going down twice a year for the last 14 years! He has donated a ton of instruments and things for the clinic to run as smooth as possible! We actually were quite spoiled with 3 cavitrons to use. (For you hygienists out there...you know i was grateful for that!) There were some issues with the suction unit when we got there so Dr. C and Dr. P spent a number of hours fixing that...i am very grateful for handy men who know how to repair things with minimal tools!
The eye doctors actually start screening pts for cataract surgeries on Thursday so while the dentists were figuring out the suction problem Camie and i stood in with the eye docs and learned how to screen pts for surgeries. I must say, dentistry is interesting and i love it...but nothing compares to giving someone their eyesight back. I was AMAZED!
Everything there is pretty casual as far as what you can do or see at the clinic. All the volunteers are so nice and willing to teach you about their specialty.
We stood in on some cataract surgeries and i was so impressed by the steady hands of the doctors working in such a small area. We were able to look through the microscopes while they were removing the cataracts and suturing the eye back up. This is a little unreal, but the dark red chunk of stuff is actually a cataract. It's HUGE!
So, after they remove it, they place a synthetic lens back into the eye and the pt can see again! It really is amazing! These are the miracle workers!! On the left is Jeff and Bob...they were so nice to let us learn about something completely different than what we went for! And on the right is Dr.C and Dr.P!
This was a nice little friend we found on a pt table as we were checking out the different areas of the clinic...a dead cockroach! Sickie!! Our living quarters were a lot different than one might expect! We stayed at the clinic.
All of the medical/dental procedures were done on the main floor. The kitchen, bathrooms and volunteer rooms were upstairs. We actually slept on the roof of the clinic because the heat inside was pretty unbearable.
So these are our little cots we used for beds...they were actually pretty comfy with the egg crate on top! We slept in sleeping bags. It would cool off enough in the night that we'd wake up with wet/dew on the bags...it felt like we were camping! Talk about getting to know your boss...we all slept side by side!
San Blas...DAY 2
TIME TO GET TO WORK! Our first day of seeing pts started around 7am...well about 5:00am if you count the random roosters, wild dogs, and other animals as a wake-up call! I really felt like i got the best of both worlds while we worked in the clinic. I loved being a dental assistant before i finished dental hygiene school.
Because there were only 3 chairs i was able to jump in as an assitant to Dr. C for a lot of the time and also do cleanings where they were needed. Camie saw pts that only wanted cleanings, but if she saw that they needed other work she'd numb them and send them to us when she finished. We were only able to do certain procedures because of the small time we had there. The majority of pts we saw needed extractions. We also did fillings and cleanings.
Our routine was just that...very similar on each pt. Either Dr. C or i would numb the pt for the extraction or fill, then while they were getting numb, i'd jump in with the cavitron and blast off as much stuff as possible in about 10-15 minutes!
(i didn't bust out many hand scalers) I loved that Dr.C would jump in with the high speed suction and help me because the small suction kept getting clogged from the big pieces of tartar. (you know a dr. assisting a rdh NEVER happens in real life!) There were people that could have qualified to be board patients right and left! These people had the kind of tartar that us crazy hygienists love to clean! Sorry for all you non-dental readers, this stuff won't make you salivate!! ha ha ha
This little girl in the yellow is Anna. She's 9. She was our translator!! I can't tell you how ADORABLE (and tiny) she is. Her dad is a preacher, they are from Georgia and have been living in Mexico for like 6 years...it kinda sounded like they were on a mission type thing for their church. Anna was as smart as they come! She was fluent in English and Spanish.
She's been volunteering in the dental clinic for the past couple of years. She had never actually helped though as far as procedures go. I asked her if she wanted to put on some gloves and assist? She was all over that! She was wiping down the chair, getting the next pt, asking their problem...she even diagnosed this one guy! He said his gums were bleeding, so she proceeded to tell him he had "gum disease" and he needed to brush better, then she handed him a "cepilla" (toothbrush)! A total future hygienist, huh? She cracked me up!
She told us she felt like she wasn't even missing school because she was learning so much while she was there! Anna's dad was translating in the clinic with the foot doctor.
Anna says feet are gross so she stayed with us the whole day, then i got to clean her teeth before she left. She was such a doll; i totally would have brought her home with me if it was possible! Now look really close in this next pic...yep, those are forceps in my hand! I extracted my first tooth in Mexico...i extracted my 2nd and 3rd while i was there too! Dr.C was very nice to let me experience procedures that i normally wouldn't in the states! That was pretty cool! A lot of the Mexican people just want teeth extracted when they have a cavity instead of a filling. It's a different type of dentistry there, that's for sure!
So this tooth had a cavity, other than that the bone levels were normal...it took some work, but i did it! You can see, i'm pretty proud of my work! ha ha ha (Hey Brett, i got to ext a tooth before you did!!!) The pic on the right is of the kitchen/ feast area! I'm not sure how many volunteers stayed here, but i'm guessing 30+. We had all our meals here.
These fabulous ladies from the community who had the time and means to feed us cooked 3 meals/day. (they were from some of the higher class families). They were so nice. We'd all come in shifts for the most part, sit down and they'd serve us. I am a little picky with foreign food, but everything i tried was pretty good! It's definitely authentic! This was my favorite meal. Inside the taco shell was grated potatoes--no meat. There were onions, lettuce, carrots and cucumbers on top, with fresh mexican lime juice squeezed on the vegetables...very light and refreshing! I wish i could have brought back some mexican limes...they were different than ours....SOOOO good!
My other favorite was a vegetable soup with pasta noodles for lunch one day that was really good, but hot soup isn't as refreshing in 100 degree weather! The other translator for the dental clinic was an older man named Juan. He was a sweetheart. I'm not quite sure how old he is. I would guess 60, maybe even early 70's, but it's really hard to tell with some of the Mexican people.
Most of their skin is pretty weathered and they look a lot older than they are. Juan lives about 5 blocks from the clinic. He asked us if we'd like to see his house...so we went for a walk into town after our long day (8am-7:30pm) in the clinic. Juan's house was actually not typical of the others around it. It was a lot larger, and nicer.
He lives alone, but had about 15 people staying with him that night from about 80 miles away that would be coming to the clinic the next day. I don't think they were relatives, probably just acquaintances. He was very generous. When we got to his house there was some creature that crawled out from under a pile of wood...it was big enough and ugly enough that i let out a scream! I had never seen anything like it...it looked like a GIANT rat. The next day Juan figured out what it was in English...it was an oppossum. UGLY! I wasn't able to get a good pic from outside because it was dark by the time we got there. This pic of Camie and me is in Juan's house, just inside the front door. I don't think most houses there even have stairs to an extra level, let alone linoleum covering the floors.
Juan used to work in the states, i can't remember what he did, but obviously he did well for himself. Camie cracked me up...i looked over at her when we got in bed and she had this surgical hair net over her face...apparently it doubles as a bug net! We got a good laugh out of that one!
San Blas...Day 3
Saturday was actually the busiest clinic day for everyone. This is what we woke up to...the noise of hundreds of people standing in line. A lot of these people slept right there in the dirt to save their place in line.
Many people who came on Thursday and Friday weren't even seen until Saturday. Have you ever seen so many white cowboy hats in one place?! This man came on his horse. He tied it up right there at the clinic. Dr. C caught us getting ready for the day. The least we could do was put on a little makeup so we didn't look as gross as we felt!
Another first for me in Mexico was actually drilling and filling a tooth! I've seen it done a million times...couldn't be too hard, right?
I loved every second of it! Dr.C stood by just to let me know if i needed to to anything differently. So, this is me placing my first composite filling!The next few pics are all pretty self explanatory...just at the clinic.
...
Sorry to those of you with weak stomachs...you may want to skip this last pic! These were some of the other teeth i extracted. This man came in for a "cleaning" because his gums were sore. They look like it, eh?
There was so much infection the best thing to do for him was to pull them and send him to a dentist that could make him a denture. These were pretty easy ones to pull. He only had about 6 other teeth beside these. I felt sad for him after but he was very grateful that he wouldn't be in so much pain anymore. This cute little girl was so brave...as are pretty much all of the pts there. I don't know if they just realize they don't have a choice and its free or what...if i cleaned anyone in utah that had anywhere close to as much tartar as these people did, they'd be jumping out of my chair and freaking out...unless they were numb (and they'd jump for that part too!)
These people were pretty dang tough! I have NO IDEA why, but these urine specimine cups were in the storage closet of the dental clinic! Dr. C decided to try some Mexican Peridex and this is what he put it in! We all got a kick out of that!!! I think i gagged a little!!
As far as sterilization goes, they have an ancient autoclave that takes way too long to work, so our instruments were jiggled in the ultrasonic, soaked in Cidex for as long as possible, then we wiped them with alcohol soaked guaze. I know, this makes my skin crawl a little too! We worked till about 7pm on Satuday (cinco de mayo) and called it a day. In 2 days we saw just over 100 pts!
This is our awesome team! We are feeling tired, but very accomplished and excited about all the patients we were able to see...and disappointed at the same time that we still had to turn away about 70 people.
These are some picts in the kitchen with the ladies that prepared our meals. I think that's the biggest pan of refried beans i've ever seen!
Our last night there i think i only got about 45 minutes of sleep due to some very loud abnoxious music that i couldn't even understand the words to! It was awful! I didn't feel very good in the middle of the night to begin with, but to add Mexican party music on top of that i was about to kill someone! I went inside around 3:00 am, and pushed three kitchen chairs together and laid down on those. I think i slept for 20 minutes, then got cold, so i went back outside where i had left my sleeping bag open...it had already gotten cold and a little wet from the dew. I shoved my earphones in my ears, turned rascal flatts way up on my ipod and actually was able to sleep for a little bit...then it was light outside before i knew it. At 6:00am the music was still blasting!
Going home...Day 4
The way my stomach felt and the lack of sleep from Saturday night made me real anxious to get home. The worst part about this trip was the bathroom situation...the water tanks to the clinic were VERY small. I showered once while we were there. I went to shower the last night and there was no water left. SO, i was feeling pretty gross after a long sweaty clinic day and no shower!
Whatever i ate wasn't agreeing with me...and we couldn't flush the toilets because of the NO WATER situation (plus the plumbing in mexico isn't great so you can't even put tp in the toilets), so i think i was just ready to be home to running water and flushing toilets! Sorry if that's a little too honest for ya'll!
We taxied to the airport at 7am. It was real cool to watch all the planes take off. We were sneaky to get this pict with the army guards in it! We got eaten alive by little black bugs for the hour we were standing on the tarmac...i think i still have open wounds on my legs from them...don't worry, it was only 2 mos ago...that's normal, right?!?!
Dr. C was loving all the neat private planes. He has a plane of his own, so he felt really spoiled to be the copilot on our flights in the private jet.
There were a lot of cool different planes, this one he was particularly fond of! The pilot actually took him up for a spin while we were all getting ready to go. He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning---couldn't stop smiling!!
This was while we were waiting to go...when the bugs were eating my chicken legs. Camie and i got to be really good friends in that 4 days...it's amazing how much you can learn about someone when you spend 24/7 with them! She is such a sweetheart! We had a blast...and now she is working w/ me one day a week at Dr.C's. (we obviously had fun together! )
This is the final photo!!!! I know you all are totally bored of this 2 month overdue post...so here ya go! Me and Dr.C on the flight home...mine is a fake smile because there is no bathroom on the small planes! :) Really all i wanted to do at this point was find a bathroom and not leave till the bug was gone...we didn't get back to ogden till about 8:30 that night...wow, that was one long day of travel. I think we took off and landed a total of 8 times that day....that was 7 too many for me! I am very grateful though that i was able to go on a whim like i did! I definitely opened my eyes and made me so grateful for not only the access to care i have, but for my education and that i was able to provide a much needed service for these Mexican people.
Thanks to all of you faithful readers...sorry if it's too long, it was more of a journal for me to look back on, but hopefully you found it somewhat interesting too! I have lots more pics to post of our last 2 mos, so stay tuned! I promise i won't ever get that behind again!! :)
UPDATE...but not really
So, i know you faithful readers are all waiting for Mexico pics...still (a month later) and i will disappoint once again. I'm sorry. I actually do have part of a draft ready, but the day i had some time blogger was giving me fits and i couldn't look at a preview, so i couldn't post anything...so,
I can kinda update as far as what's going on and why i haven't been checking in other than to others blogs! Softball has started which most of you know is my favorite summer past time. That takes up 2 nights/week. I have been jumping through hoops to get my Ohio license application finished which looking back, i should have started in January. Most things i can only do on my day off, so when i started in April i have only been able to get so much done! It's all good though! Just give a lot of people a lot of money and they'll do whatever you want them to! I wish we would have picked a state to move to that just does the reciprocity rule...that would have saved some headaches!
We had been throwing around the idea for a couple months of moving out of our apt to save some rent $$$. We actually decided to do that sooner than later and once we decided we only had about a week and 1/2 to move out...to make it by the end of the month. So we cancelled our trip to Idaho to see my grandpa and spent most of Memorial Weekend moving to Brett's parents' basement in Morgan! That's right...living with the inlaws! Who'da thunk it?! Well actually since we moved in on Friday night i think i've only spent 2 real nights there. Living with the inlaws really won't be bad, they're super! Im just not too psyched about the drive to work now, when before i was about 10 min from my offices. We left town on Wednesday the 30th (which is why we needed to be out of the apt) for OHIO! That's where i'm currently typing this! And i'm dying because i actually have some down time...and no pictures with me to post or you'd all be checking out my mexico trip right now! We spent yesterday and today looking at places to live...homes and condos to buy. I fell in love with this one particular condo and if it all works out i will post pics. We will be flying in late monday night to Utah, then leaving early the next morning for a week to Lake Powell with Brett's family! (being gone for 2 weeks straight was also another reason we decided to get out of the apt this month...then we're not paying for that time away..but it all came SOOO soon!)
WOW! I'm out of breath just typing all that! It has been a very hectic and a bit of a stressful month! As far as the job hunt goes i was hoping to get something set up while we are here, but i don't think that will really happen. I will be personally taking around some resume's on monday before we take off, just so my name is out in a few offices. I do have a contact out here though that i got from a friend from back home. There's a RDH here who is also from UT. Her husband is in dental school and she's been working here for a couple years. She's also temped in a bunch of offices around here. I signed up with a temp agency and this RDH told me that once we get out here i shouldn't have a hard time at all finding work, so that put me at ease a little! She is actually having us over for sunday dinner and i don't even know her other than talking on the phone and a couple emails...i can't believe how nice people are around here---i'm sure they've been in our same shoes though. So, i am very grateful for that! I will just be glad to hopefully have a house before we leave and at least know we will have somewhere to call "home."
SO...i hope this will suffice for a few more weeks until things slow down a little. I am dying to get caught up on what's been going on. Thanks to everyone who keeps checking on me! We're still alive...just trying to get used to this humidity in OHIO!! Till next time... GO BUCKEYES! (we got our football season tix today--can't wait!!)
M. I. A.
FELLOW BLOGGERS....
YES, i did go to Mexico recently to volunteer my skills AND i did return home safely AND it was quite the adventure AND i have a bazillion pictures i want to share AND i don't have a lot of time to post so i keep putting it off AND i really want to post AND i need some of you that know how (Breanna--like you did with your pics from convention) to post small pictures with the text around them so it's easier to follow the story to let me, the computer illiterate, know so i can post my mexico pictures (i don't think any of that made any sense!) AND my stomach is still a little queazy from eating tortillas and frijoles (that means beans for those of you who don't speak espanol) with every meal!
AAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD.....
LOOK at PG.77 of you GENERAL CONFERENCE ADDRESSES ENSIGN and you will see the STINKIN CUTEST BOYS EVER!! Yeah, no big deal, those are my nephews Dexter and Everett! Please stay tuned...i have NOT gone M.I.A. :)
meet Willa...
I'm a little behind on my blogging...things are starting to get crazy around here! I'll have to post about all the craziness later, but for now just a quick snapshot of the newest addition to the Anderton Family....
This is "Willa Giselle Anderton." And you have to say "jisselle"--not "gizel" :)
She was an April Fool's baby (yes, i know that was a whole month ago!) I snapped this pic on our weekend trip in St.George a couple weeks ago. Her older Brother Brooks was born as a baldy and now at 17 mos finally has some blonde hair! So, this was interesting to see that not only does Willa have hair, but check out those defined eyebrows! What an angel!
We spent part of last Saturday in Lehi at a birthday party for "super grandma." Brett's grandma Wanda turned 85!!
She was so cute! She's a real funny lady and actually quite fun to hang around...she's very witty and if you don't do what she says, then she'll "kick your guts in!"
I couldn't get enough of Ruby while we were there! She was loving attention from super grandma...actually, maybe she was just trying to be sly about eating grandmas candy!! What a hoot!
HAPPY 85th GRANNY!
