Friday, 8 August

 The last couple of days have been somewhat chaotic.  I was prepared to go to a church clinic on Monday, but my ride (Pastor Augusto) couldn’t come get me because he was occupied with an ill son.  When I finally met him at about 11 AM, he told me that the pastor of the church where I was headed had forgotten to inform the congregation anyway, so nobody would have been there for me to see. 

On Tuesday, I did attend patients at the Methodist Church in Mutirao (this is Augusto’s church).  It was busy, to say the least.  I saw 107 people between 08:30 and 15:30.  And I even had a 1 hour lunch break!

 Wednesday I helped a guy move all the furniture out of Gleicy’s house (where I live) so that tile can be installed on the floor.  Just to add to the inconvenience, the entire neighborhood lost its water supply, and about an hour later the electricity disappeared, too.  The heat is unbearable with no ability to even cool down one room of the house.  They tell me it typically gets hotter every day until October, when the rains start. This combination of events convinced me that continued living in this house was not possible.  Not possible for me and not possible for my Brazilian family.  I called around, and the only hotel with rooms big enough for all of us was the Go Inn, in downtown Manaus.  So here we are, spending three nights in a hotel while final construction takes place on the house.

 I went back to the house yesterday, to help the guy doing the work.  Our car broke down and the engine started to smoke.  A mechanic replaced the thermostat and says we need to change the oil filter.  Because the car was in the shop, I had to take a motorcycle taxi to and from a house call for an elderly woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis and two destroyed knees.  She was a real sweetheart, telling me all about her well-controlled diabetes and hypertension.  We spoke at length about her daughter who died just a couple of weeks ago from renal failure caused by lupus, at age 40.  Her son appears to have Sjogren’s syndrome.

 On Sunday, a team from the state of Sao Paulo will arrive at mid-day.  At 5 PM on the same day I will depart with them for a week on the boat.  We’re going back to Ouro Verde because there’s a lot more dental work needed there.  Pastor Augusto wants to also fortify his presence in the community since a new church will be built there as soon as possible.  We will return to Manaus on the following Saturday.  That day, I will hook up with a team from Georgia and will leave on the boat with them on Sunday.  I hope I am not afflicted with illness or too many bug bites as there will be no opportunity for recuperation between these two trips.  I’ll barely have time to visit the house and pick up a change of clothes for the second trip.