Hey guys! Here’s the continuation of our trip that I promised last time!
Day 3
Saturday turned out to be a short day for seeing patients in União do Sul. Of the 40 patients that Dr. Julio saw in the morning, only two required surgery to excise cancerous lesions.
The Mobile Unit outside the elementary school in União do Sul
We did get another great opportunity to talk with the local nurses about our e-book. We especially wanted feedback on the skin cancer section of the e-book, because, as that day demonstrated, most of the patients being referred for skin cancer screenings have only benign lesions. And actually, the nurses had a lot to say on this topic.
We’ve heard several times that the pictures they are shown in training (and, subsequently the pictures we currently have in the e-book), are all extremely obvious cases of skin cancer. Most of these pictures are very large lesions, and while they’ve all been taken by Dr. Carlos on the Mobile Unit, they aren’t exactly typical lesions. All of the nurses that we talked to expressed a desire for pictures of lesions that are more borderline, as long as an explanation for why or why not they are cancerous.
Me and Yian with the local nurses and the coordinator in União do Sul
We thought this was a great idea, so even though we didn’t see a lot of cancer cases that morning, we were able to take a lot pictures of benign lesions. We’re planning on sitting down with Dr. Julio and adding descriptions before we add them to the e-book.
In the afternoon, Yian and I had the opportunity to ride in the Mobile Unit when we headed over to Cláudia for the night. The dirt roads aren’t any less bumpy in a giant truck, and it is extremely clear why this unit doesn’t have any mammography equipment – there is no way it would survive the trip.
We ended Saturday night at a Festa Junina party being thrown at a local farmer’s house. There was a bonfire, dancing, and Brazilian hot dogs, so all in all it was a very good night.
Day 4
Sunday is a day of rest for everybody, so we got to take the morning easy and sleep in a bit. Lunch that day turned out to be a huge community event, put on as a fundraiser for Cláudia’s local Rotary Club.
The main attraction was the two large cows that had been cooking rotisserie-style overnight. After some of the best beef of the trip (and trust me, we ate a lot of beef), we spent the afternoon just hanging out, listening to live music, watching the auction, and just generally enjoying our day off.
Rotisserie-style churrasco!
Lilian, Yian, Lidiane, Letícia, me, and Creuza enjoying the barbeque.
Day 5
Monday was the last working day of the trip, and we spent it at the local health clinic in Cláudia. The Mobile Unit was parked out front and seeing patients all morning, while we took the opportunity to demonstrate our e-book for another set of nurses. We also had a chance to take more pictures of lesions that were non-cancerous, so we could add them and their descriptions to the e-book.
The local clinic in Cláudia
All of the feedback we’ve been getting has led to a lot of new ideas and things we think we could add to the book to make it more user-friendly and interactive. I wish we had gone on this trip earlier in our stay, just so we could have had more time to adjust our projects after we got back!
When the handful of surgeries wrapped up that afternoon, it was time to say goodbye to the team from the Mobile Unit. Dr. Julio, Thiago, Yian, and I were flying back to Barretos from Sinop, but the rest of the team rode back with the Mobile Unit, which is a long drive that usually takes 2-3 days.
The whole trip was such an amazing experience, and I’m so glad we got to spend time with this team. They put in a lot of hard work, and they have to be gone from their families for a long time, so I think they are all really amazing people!
The whole team in Cláudia: a local driver, Creuza, the local coordinator, Dr. Julio, Thiago, Letícia, Lidiane, Lilian, Yian, and me
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That’s pretty much everything from our trip. We flew back on Tuesday, and today Yian and are back at the Hospital in Barretos. We’re wrapping up our projects and putting together a final presentation for the hospital staff on Friday. We’ll head back to the US on Monday
I can’t believe this adventure is almost at an end! There’s probably one or two more blog posts headed your way guys, but it’s just about time for us to head home.
Tchau!
Jessica