I love Skype, I miss everyone

Yesterday, Elena talked to Angel. He recognized her voice right away! Surprise, surprise. She's everyone's favorite. (Is that bitterness you sense? No...)

I also got in touch with Rosalina! Rija' xk'oje rik'in Odilia iwir aq'a, xub'ij chwe chi rija' xq'ax rik'in Dr. Tun y wakami maq'a npe Dr. Pablo richin nutz'et ruwach, to xkikot nuk'u'x.

Odilia is the woman with RA and severe, recurrent asthma (plus what I think may be ILD related to the RA). It is possible that Odilia's management will continue to be sub-optimal for now, but with Paul on board, I hope that at some point we will be able to get her on DMARDs. In any case, Rosa and Odilia seemed happy about the care she is receiving at the clinic. For once, she has had a chest film and some blood work done. (It sounds like they are awaiting a uric acid--doh! Hopefully there was a RF drawn. Can you imagine: a 21-year-old woman who lays in bed all day crying from joint pain and swelling, and she's never had a work-up? Damn it, as my mother says, "That really pisses me!") Pablo Benedicto has been working his magic, and Odilia has not had to "collaborate" (what the !*%# does that mean, anyway?) for any of her tests or medicines!

Getting off topic

I'm afraid that I will start to get off-topic (at least as far as this blog's web address goes), especially as I delve into some theoretical realms to which I have yet to be exposed. I might have to create another blog. In the meantime, here is something off-topic, but hilarious!

"All those Theories in Philosophy which are expressed only in metaphorical Termes, are not real Truths, but the meer products of Imagination, dress'd up (like Childrens babies) in a few spangled empty words... Thus their wanton and luxuriant fancies climbing up into the Bed of Reason, do not only defile it by unchaste and illegitimate Embraces, but instead of real conceptions and notices of Things, impregnate the mind with nothing but Ayerie and Subventaneous Phantasmes. [Free and Impartial Censure of the Platonick Philosophy (1666)]"
~Quoted in Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980)

Xitzijon rik'in Gerardo pa ruwi k'iy q'ij

Iwir xitzijon rik'in Gerardo, nutijonel richin chab'al. Xikikot sib'elaj richin xitzijon rik'in rija', roma ri pa k'iy q'ij qa xojtzijon. Yalan utz runa'oj Gerardo.

Rija' xub'ij chwe chi xkamisax jun k'amol b'ey pa ri gobierno pa ka'i q'ij qa, roma ri jun asunto politico. Xeb'anataj cosas ke ri q'ij q'ij pan Ixin Ulew. Pa ri k'a k'a Indice de Paz, Ixin Ulew xel 103 kojol 140 chik paises.

Jun chik k'ayewal wakami, ri meb'a'i man yekowin ta yewa', roma ri jotol rajal renojel. Roj wawe pan Estados nqab'an preocupar pa ruwi ri pwaq roma ri jotol rajal ri gasolina, pero tab'ana pensar pa ruwi ri winaqi' ke la aj Nueva Providencia--rije' man yewa' ta utz taq e k'o taq condiciones economicas favorables, y achike nab'ij chi rije' nkib'an wakami? K'a e k'o winaqi' pa Colonia Pampojila', akuchi roj xojkanaj wi ri juna' qa, rije' man yekowin ta nkiloq' rik'il richin ri wuqq'ij, y roj xqatz'u' chi la tinamit la mas utz kikaslem, k'o mas kipwaq! Y achike nab'ij chi xtib'anataj roma ri yalan meb'a ri winaqi', achike k'o chi nkib'an richin nkil/nkiwil ri wa'in?

Konojel ri taq k'ayewal yepe roma ri gobierno man nkiya' ta ri taq servicios publicos, o mas utz ninb'ij, rije' man utz ta nkiya' ri taq servicios. Nkiya' jujun, pero man utz ta rub'eyal.

Gerardo xuk'utuj chwe si najin ninkanoj jujun Kaqchikela' winaqi', pero majani ninkanoj. Jun wachb'il xintamaj ruwach ke la Chile xub'ij chwe chi rija' nutamaj kiwach k'iy winaqi' aj Ixin Ulew que e k'o wawe pa Boston, y rija' xub'ij chwe si ninwajo' rija' nub'an presentar chike. Y ninwajo'!

PEPFAR2

PEPFAR2 passed the Senate. There are some problems with the legislation (from an evidence-based perspective) , and there will likely be some effort to make minor changes, but this is still an important victory!

In Boston, thinking of Ixin Ulew

We've been in Boston a little over two weeks now, and it has been good. I spent a week with Peter (Rohloff), and his friend Andrea, at his new place in Jamaica Plain. He recently began his intern year in IM/Peds at BWH. It was a good week for me, mainly bumming around and spending time with Andrea (and Peter, when he was home). We went to Vermont over the weekend, which was really nice--we got to spend some time with Peter's parents and see the beautiful place he calls home. It reminded me a lot of Ixin Ulew.

...

I am auditing a class on global health delivery, which is a "new" science (it only seems somewhat new to me, honestly; the innovation in it is really more in the integrated application of existing ideas and technologies to particular settings/populations) being developed my Jim Kim. It is very interesting to me because it provides a forum for thinking through, in an intensive case-based way, a lot of obstacles and issues similar to the ones we faced last year (or rather, continue to face) in our work with the health promoters.

...

My job is also good. I am working with a few different people to develop a course that will be taught by Paul Farmer, Jim Kim and Arthur Kleinman. It is entitled, "Case Studies in Global Health." It is going to provide a very theoretically deep perspective on the history of and contemporary issues in global health. Very cool. I am learning a lot!

...

The health promoters are having problems, similar to the ones they often face. I talked to Vicente and Dominga this morning, and ever so briefly I felt like I was sitting in the centro comunitario in K'ix Ya', speaking Kaqchikel to Dominga and Spanish to Vicente, thinking through things with them and expressing my support and sympathy for their difficulties.

I miss Ixin Ulew!!!