The female patient without shoes
The old married couple looks seriously into the camera. For the Quechua Indians life in the mountains of Peru is hard and for these two people it actually is extremely hard. This woman is just 65 years old and already drew attention today when she hobbled into the morning service barefoot. Since years she walks without the typical rubber sandals that her husband is wearing. When she tried the left sandal always slipped off her left foot and then she tripped most of the times. At this time of the year it is cold in the mountains in the mornings and evenings. The woman has to endure amazing things, better to say horrible things.
Nobody knows exactly how long she has been walking so lopsided. The descriptions are alternating between “from childhood” to “since a few years”. But she is not coming because of her feet, rather because of the pain in all joints. More her wrists, because they disturb her more than the hip, especially when she is working.
She got some lab work and an X-ray of her pelvis done. The hospital paid for the medication for her arthritis, gastritis and for the parasites in her bowels. “When you come back in three months, we will give you your pain relievers again for free!” Dr. Martina John couldn’t have said anything better, because now the sad face started smiling big.
