Here are some more journal entries from the rest of the week:
August 1st, 2012 Wednesday
August already! We are in the car on the way to Jalapa. It is past 2 o`clock and we haven´t eaten lunch but I´m not hungry-I´m dealing with a pretty bad allergic reaction still. Around my mouth is not getting better. Maybe worse. Everything is itchy- my ears, my face, my neck. It is very irritating and hard to work with. I started tearing up while talking about it earlier today because I am afraid of it getting even worse (as in, my throat closing up) and not being able to counter-act it, because I don´t have an epi-pen with me and my benedryl is not working. Usually when I take benedryl it kicks it out of my system. I am going to stop eating the granola and walnuts that came in the suitcase for me on Saturday, because that is the only new food that I have started eating this week, and I´ve been eating it everyday since I got it. I really hope that that is what it is, and that I feel better soon. Otherwise, I don´t know what to do. Could it be a reaction to the bugs that are biting me? My ear kinda feels like that. It´s so itchy! I really don´t want to die from an allergic reaction, where I can´t breathe. Although, Dan Zellner (a missionary here) made a good point earlier today by asking ``Well, how do you want to die? Everyone is going to die one day, you can´t escape that.`` I´m really having to trust God with this. It´s scary, but I´m glad that I know He is in control.
Later in the car ride I was able to listen to a sermon by John MacArthur. I´m really glad that I was able to load a bunch on my ipod before I came to Guate- I miss sermons that I can understand! The sermon I was listening to was about being thankful no matter what. When we look at life like we are not getting what we deserve, we are being prideful. In reality, we are sinners who don´t deserve anything! Everything that happens to me, especially bad things, are conforming me to the image of Christ. When you look at life that way, it has a profound impact on your attitude. It is encouraging for me to remember all of the hard times that God has already pulled me through and to look forward to how He is going to work through my current trial, however small or big it is. Give thanks for everything.
August 2nd, 2012 Thursday
Today was a good day. Minus the itching. Halfway though the day today I started using latex-free gloves, and stopped using my mask. My face is puffy and is itchy up to the top of both cheeks. I´m a mess!
On the bright side, the clinic in Jalapa in my opinion is much nicer than the one in Miramar. No humidity and less bugs. We are inside with fans blowing on us so it isn´t too warm. At the end I started feeling hot because I was itching so much.
Today I assisted Dr. Leonel Bran. I first I thought it would be hard to learn to assist him, because I was used to assisting Dr. Candie all week, but I learned quickly and he was good to work for. I was excited because I knew the names of the tools in Spanish.
The morning flew by. My position assisting Dr. Bran was a lot more comfortable than with Dr. Candie, because I was sitting down and I didn´t have to hold a light because he had one on his head. Today I had not pain in my back or anything, just itchiness. It´s amazing how you can not think of much else when you´re itchy. At times, I would feel better but then it would come back really bad.
Both Thursday and Friday in Jalapa were more organized than Miramar, because we were serving the pastors and their families, so we had a list and knew how many patients we had. Friday was fun though I could tell that everyone was getting tired. The morning was shorter, we got to end around noon because we had less patients. Last minute, we had two more sign-ups. Dan Zellner came to Dr. Ruano and said ``Your friendly neighborhood policemen are here.`` Haha, at first I thought that meant trouble, but no, they just wanted their teeth done too!
