boe4fun
Super Nomad
Posts: 1040
Registered: 1-22-2006
Location: Margaritaville
Member Is Offline
Mood: Circling the drain........
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La Paz Clinic
Hi Everybody, We'll, we've been back home for a couple of days and re-entry in
to the real world is a pain! Anyway, I thought I'd write an
account of our trip. On our way down, we stopped and visited Shelley's dad for
a couple of days, then off to San Diego for one night to visit daughter
Courtney. From there we crossed the border the next morning at San Ysidro,
obtained our visas at immigration, and headed down to San Quintin, about 4 1/2
hours below the border. We camped at El Pabellon, a beautiful beach about 4
miles south of our Flying Samaritans Clinic at "Los Pinos". Spent 2 nights
relaxing and Sunday morning held a clinic at Los Pinos where we cast and
measured 1 below the knee and 1 above the knee amputee. Brad and Dr. Bob Haining showed
up a little late, but helped me finish with the above knee patient. We had a
nice barbeque on the beach that night with Brad and Bob, then hit the road the
next morning driving south. We only made it as far as Catavina, about 2 1/4
hours south, and had to spend the night there, the guys staying at the Desert Inn Hotel,
and Shelley and I a Rancho Santa Inez. The wind was blowing 18 wheelers off of
the road further south, and with me pulling a 5th wheel and having the aluminum
boat on top of the truck, we didn't want to chance it. The next morning the
wind had died down, so we drove as far as Mulege and stayed at Cuesta Real, a
hotel room for the guys and an RV spot for me and Shelley. We walked along the river
road, visited some friends and ate at the local establishment, "Jungla Jims".
The next morning we drove to La Paz and settled in to the "Casa Blanca" trailer
park for Shelley and I while the guys went to the El Arco Hotel. Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all spent cleaning up and organizing parts for
the laboratory, as well as assembling some new machinery we had taken down
there. We picked up Frank Rodriguez during this time, a retired prosthetist
from Redding, CA. The clinic started on Monday and we worked solid for the next
13 days, seeing a total of 38 patients. One man had driven his daughter up from
Santa Rosalia, about an 8 hour drive, on 2 different occasions, 1 for evaluation and to
measure/cast, and another to fit a deliver a foot drop brace (AFO). She
had been accidentally shot by a neighbors son playing with a loaded handgun.
Another young man with Gillian-Barre syndrome had been driven up twice for
bilateral AFO's from Ciudad Constiucion, about 3 hours away. All in all, we
made about 18 legs and 1 arm and 6 lower limb orthotic braces, as well as the
Below Knee and Above Knee prostheses for the two patients in San Quintin. The
Rotarians in La Paz threw us about 4 wing dings and provided us with water,
cokes, and lunches most every day that we worked the clinic. When Dr. Bob flew
out of La Paz, Brad's wife Louise flew in (this was for the second week of the
clinic). Sunday AM we all left La Paz and drove north, Shelley and I in our rig
and Brad and Louise in their Suburban. I was hoping to stay at Playa San
Buenavista on Bahia Concepcion, but the hotel was booked solid so we continued
north and stayed at the Cuesta Real Hotel and RV park in Mulege again. Brad and
Louise wanted to head back, so we said good bye and they took off for points
north. Shelley and I stayed on an extra night, visiting several friends and
visiting one of my favorite taco stands in the world. The next morning we left
Mulege, drove about 1 hour north to the San Lucas Cove RV Park and planted it
there for 3 nights. I finally got to take off the aluminum boat and fished for
3 days, but on the last day I got stung by a Sculpin and had to bee-line it back
to the campsite and get some benedryl and advil and soak my hand in hot water.
After a 4 hour nap (benedryl sure makes one whoosey), I was good to go so I
cleaned my catch of the day and washed off the boat. We met a really nice
couple of folks from the Northwest Territories who drive the "Ice Roads" as seen
on the Discovery Channel. The next morning we again headed north and stayed again
at Rancho Santa Inez near Catavina. Catavina is surrounded by a HUGE boulder
field with some rocks as big a houses. Quite a change in scenery from the lava
and cactus mostly seen in this area. The next day it was up to El Pabellon
beach again for a couple of nights camping. I tried to set up a clinic to see
the 2 patients from Los Pinos as Brad had done a few days earlier, but we
couldn't connect so they'll have to wait for the next Flying Sams clinic. Up to
Ensenada for a nights stay at Corona Beach (a hangout that Shelley had spent
many summers growing up), and then back to Norwalk to spend Thanksgiving with
Shelley's dad and daughter Courtney. All in all a great trip, although Shelley
says she doesn't think she'll ever drive that far into Baja again, but rather
fly into La Paz and meet me for the clinic. She did say that this experience
was absolutely the most rewarding thing she's ever done. Aside from the few bouts
of Montezumas Revenge (I hope I never have to use the words "projectile" and
"diarrhea" in the same sentence again!) and the Sculpin sting, everybody stayed
healthy. We did hit a lot of traffic on the way home as the Baja Mil pit crews and drivers were heading back up at the same time. We're already
planning our next clinic in latter April of '08. Vaya
con Dios muchachos, Paul and Shelley
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ELINVESTIG8R
Select Nomad
Posts: 15882
Registered: 11-20-2007
Location: Southern California
Member Is Offline
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boe4fun I don’t know you, but I for one just wanted to tell you thank you for all the good work you and your organization the Flying Samaritans do for
the people of Baja California. God knows the people you help really need it and truly appreciate it as you well know. I know you do not expect a thank
you but here is one anyway.
David
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docsmom
Nomad
Posts: 418
Registered: 6-21-2007
Location: Tucson, AZ
Member Is Offline
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Paul and Shelly,
I read your post earlier today. I was at work and got disturbed before I could send you this response.....
You are both angels of mercy and I thank you and respect you for your gifts of kindness and selflessness.
Now let me tell you what happened a few hours after I read your post. It's a bit of serendipity. I work with a young woman who has a very serious
disease. She's only 22 and lost one of her legs when she was 14. She lived for many years with a prosthetic leg but later had to have more of her
leg removed and now lives on crutches because she's not able to afford a new prosthetic. She has a very low paying - low respect job in the company
and I suffer with her as I watch her being disrespected (there's more to that story that I won't share here).
She and I talked briefly today about your story. She thought maybe she could get out of the real estate industry and go into the prosthetics industry
and would find it rewarding. What do you think about that? This is a very young woman, not terribly skilled, not very focused, but says there's a
doctor in Tampa, FL who repaired her prostethic leg quickly before a prom and says he would employ her. She doesn't want to move back to Florida.
How tight is the prosthetics community? Are there opportunities out there that I could steer her to?
Now that I've typed this long message I realize it should've been in a U2U. Sorry, I'm too tired to move it now............
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