Priscilla

This entry is for the sake of a young woman, Priscilla, my comadre. Comadre is a strong tie in Latin American culture. I’m the madrina (godmother) of her son (Adrian), so that makes Priscilla and me comadres. Last year, I came down to Ecuador for Adrian’s baptism and big party. I’m sort of like Adrian’s second mom, although she is much more maternal than I am! I’m here right now with Priscilla and her family in the small jungle town of Puyo. I have a long relationship with this family because Priscilla’s brother-in-law is Hector, my ex-boyfriend and longtime friend. Anyway, I was telling Priscilla about my thyroid problems, my symptoms that have lasted about 2 years and how much better I feel now that I have my thyroid out and am taking thyroid replacements.

Turns out Priscilla is experiencing the same exact systems that I was and her thyroid is noticeably swollen. She also has a nodule that has hardened over the years, which indicates cancer. She’s so worried about her health and I’m worried for her. She’s a beautiful young woman, just 30 years old (one year older than me!) has four wonderful children, a loving husband and wants to enjoy life again. She’s depressed, she can’t sleep at night, her children are driving her crazy, she has no appetite and has lost a considerable amount of weight. Now the scary part-her heart has begun to race, she’s having cold sweats and feels like she can’t breathe. She went for an EKG and they said everything is normal…but she feels as if she’s having a heart attack. Scary. All of these are some of the very same systems I was experiencing too. Now Priscilla is Quichua, indigenous and very, very distrustful of hospitals, western medicine and doesn’t understand why she feels the way she does. She’s tried natural medicine, feels a little better, but not really cured. (My thoughts are that she can try and alleviate the symptoms like insomnia but the only cure is to remove the thyroid)

Prisiclla’s doctors have sent her to Ambato and Quito to do some more blood tests but I think she will need the same surgery I had and will need to be on thyroid meds for life. However, she is very poor, has zero savings and has no idea how much an operation like this will cost, nor the cost of good quality thyroid meds, blood level checks every six weeks, etc. will cost. I don’t have any idea either. I know that in this country there exists two heath systems. The government run one which is free but the quality is very poor and the private system that is quite expensive.  I am seeing an endocrinologist in Quito, but of course, I have health insurance that will cover my medical bills. She has nothing. And thyroid surgery isn’t something to be taken lightly. I offered to take her with me when I go see my endocrinologist to see if he has any advice. What she really needs is one of those medical brigades that come from Canada or the US. She’d be a perfect candidate for a free operation because she really has no money. I’ll have to see what I can do to help her out…but if anyone else has any suggestions I’d love that!