Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 12:09AM It's just after one in the morning local time. We arrived safely on the bus about thirty minutes ago, 10.5 hours after leaving Port au Prince, Haiti. I'm laying on the tallest bunk bed I've ever seen in my life. Best not sit up & stretch or I hit the ceiling fans. Time for sleep & I'll write about the last couple of days tomorrow.
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 12:03PM Hi everyone! Let's talk a little about the benefits to theraputic massage. Massage as a method of body work has been around for hundreds of years. Getting its start in western practices, massage works on all systems of the body, muscular, internal, as well as psychological. In the past 50 years massage has made a progression from being thought of as a "treat" to being considered a necessary means in combating muscle tension, stress, and injury.
As a practicing massage therapist since 2005, what I see most often in clients is upper back and neck pain as a result of poor posture, stress, and tension. If you are someone, for example, spending significant hours sitting at a desk, holding a phone, or carrying heavy items, you could be suffering from upper back and neck tension and not even realize it. The human body is amazing with what we can learn to live with. Maybe it's waking up with a kink in your neck, or chronic pain building up over time, in either case massage is an effective way to battle discomfort that comes from muscle pain.
Other benefits to massage therapy include:
* Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
* Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers
* Shorten maternity hospital stays.
* Ease medication dependence.
* Enhance immunity by stimulating the body’s lymphatic defense system.
* Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
* Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.
* Improve the condition of the body’s largest organ—the skin.
* Increase joint flexibility.
* Lessen depression and anxiety.
* Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
* Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
* Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling.
* Reduce spasms and cramping.
* Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
* Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body’s natural painkiller.
* Relieve migraine pain.
The power of body work is undeniable. Regardless of how we justify it (pampering, rejuvenating, therapeutic) or the reasons we seek it out (a luxurious treat, stress relief, pain management), massage therapy can be a powerful ally in your healthcare regimen.
Leslie Smith, LATC, MT
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 11:42PM First Dr. Shay should be leaving tomorrow in the afternoon from Haiti, traveling to the Dominican Republic before she flies home on Monday. Hopefully she will be leaving one more note here before she returns.
I'd like to invite everyone to continue to visit this blog. She took along a small camera that works quite well. So we'll be posting some of the photographs that she took, along with her thoughts and feelings about the trip.
Thank you for all your support!
Tom Shay
Eva Shay, DO
Dr. Shay just called and said that they were just loading up the bus for the 8 hour drive back to the Dominican Republic.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 10:50PM The last team with which I will be working has arrived. This is another big team like the first week. We have 15 docs/PA's/NP's this time. That means that we can see a lot more people at any time.
We had a short day (we left the compound at noon) because the truck with supplies from DR was delayed at the border this morning. They weren't sure if the Haitian boarder control is starting to crack down on incoming vehicles or if it had something to do with the second earthquake in two nights having occurred early this morning. The truckwith the new supplies finally arrived, was unloaded, reloaded and we were off.
This clinic was different because we were not in an enclosed space, but in a large open area beneath trees and between some buildings. This time the clinic was in view of the initial patients line & not behind a wall & gate of a school, church or private home.
At one point it got interesting when there was a lot of shoving and yelling in the line. Fortunately we have a great team of leaders who got it under control rapidly.
Even with the shortened day we were able to see 368 patients. Hopefully we'll be able to see about 500 a day over the next two days and then a shortened day again Friday before we head back to LaRomana, Dominican Republic, in the early afternoon.
I met a patient today who is my age... only nine days younger than myself. It ends up that she has been having pain in her lower right ribs for the past six months. Initially it sounded like she might have a nasty form of low grade pneumonia that just hadn't been treated, with difficulty breathing deeply, pain with breathing, occasional painful cough, etc, but she wasn't having fevers and her lungs were clear. When I touched her ribs she began explaining to Ephezian, my translator, that about six months ago she had been caught in a crowd that was running and was knocked down and fell on a sewing machine(street taylor), landing on her ribs. They have hurt since then.
Some simple seated OMT put her ribs back in place and she felt much better. I've rarely seen anyone so relieved to know that she didn't have a severe lung infection and feeling so much better after the OMT. She made my day knowing that her life had been so changed by such ashort encounter.
Great news! We now have a large batch of sulfa ointment again for all the fungal and bacterial skin infections... AND... We have been restocked with Piperzine, the worm medicine! What a simple blessing.
Coming home this afternoon we passed the tent village just on the other side of the wall from our US troops stationed at the end of the international airstrip. Traffic was backed up worse there than usual. Once we got closer we were able to see US armed troops for crowd control and three Samaritan's Purse semi trucks passing out food and tarps. Another blessing of the day.
The first blessing of today was actually for our personal safety. Just before 01h30 this morning I awoke to dead silence followed by a very deep rumbling noise and then about five seconds of another aftershock. Immediately dogs in the entire neighborhood started barking & there were lots of loud voices outside our compound.
Jeremy was at our doorway immediately telling everyone to vacate the building. The locals were outside immediately; very calm, but excited. Mattresses began to be pulled out of rooms all over the compound. Many of us gathered and sang and prayed for the peace and comfort of heart for those afraid and safety for all.
Lila and Fabiola were very concerned that any of us would consider going back inside to sleep. Miriam & I decided to sleep the rest of the night under the stars and mango trees. For the first time in mylife I slept on a mattress laid on two long school benched facing each other. Within an hour of the quake I was asleep.
Today, the quake this morning became a touch point in communication with my patients. They all laughed and indicated that I understoodthem better once they knew that I had chosen to sleep outside under mango trees this morning like the rest of them.
Several of our local team have really pushed for Miriam & me to sleep under the stars with them tonight. I hated to tell them no. It's so much cooler outside, but with the team being so large it would make things difficult.
Mom told me today that both today's aftershock (and the one yesterday morning that almost all of us slept through) were both 4.7's with the same epicenter as the original quake. The news reported minimal additional damage and no new injuries. This was a HUGE blessing. Thankyou for your continued prayers for our safety and the Haitan people.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 7:45AM We received calls last night and this morning from Dr. Shay about another couple of earth quakes that hit Haiti. We don't know how bad they were but everyone in the compound spent the evening out doors. Dr. Shay said she felt, but mostly heard the quake. I would imagine that these were just some good after shocks. The compound where they are staying had limited damage from the oringinal quake so they should be safe.
Tom Shay
Eva Shay, DO
An article in the Washington Post about the quakes.
Tom
