HUMANITARIAN STORIES

OUR PATIENTS IN THESE PHOTOS HAVE FICTIONAL NAMES, WE DID IT SO BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT CASES NUMBER XXX. ARE OR WERE WOMEN, WITH FEARS OR BARRIERS TO CHECK IN TIME.

The stories contained here deserve your respect. dear reader, because they are women who suffered or are suffering from their illness. Their stories only want to show our point of the importance of Teaching to Teach, to our doctors, nurses, administrative personnel and women in general, as the only way to ensure that these sad stories are not repeated.

But they are also stories of the social-social tragedy of most of them.

Women whose children are in the hands of the government when they die, women who, if they had known their rights, would know that they had human and legal options to get care in time. That they would not have lost their land. Also because if they had known their rights as a woman they would have demanded a better education, their right to information, their right to an education that does not underestimate it.

They are stories that I read daily and move me as if it were the moment they arrived ...

SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED

ISABEL (FICTITIAL NAME)

was a 55-year-old woman who consulted a rural doctor in a municipality 6 hours from Bogotá, who found a hard, non-painful, non-mobile mass that she considered suspicious for right breast cancer. However, the doctor did not address his fears ... the patient told her neighbor and she assured her that most likely they would remove her breast and die as she had seen in other ladies. "Look Isabel, Mrs. X had her breast removed and she died after 2 months ..."The neighbor recommended to go to the witch doctor or healer of the town who "had cured other similar ladies ..."I consulted this character who incited him non-medical management and 2 years later a small ulcer appeared that was enlarged to the size we see in the photo.At this time the daughter discovered her and took her to the doctor, who was no longer the same for having finished her compulsory rural year. (Something that motivates us to maintain a continuous education due to the periodic changes of doctors and nurses who provide their year of compulsory social service)The patient arrived at the specialist's office who began her management. Sadly he passed away in 2019.

SOLEDAD, (FICTITIAL NAME)

was a 45-year-old woman who consulted us in a prevention activity in a municipality 4 hours from Bogotá for the injury that you can see in the photo. She had been with the injury for 3 years and consulted because she was ill odor. It never hurt. When I asked him with all respect because he had not consulted before, he replied: "10 years ago a dog bit me and when the ball appeared before this thing that I have now, I thought it was a consequence of the bite, (of the dog) and that's why I started to give me a herbal treatment that was recommended to me, right this is a malignancy? "We taught him how to do healings and we began to make all the arrangements with the Seno de la Gobernacion group (whose staff includes a valuable woman, Maria, who despite her multiple occupations within the group, helps to locate women like this , with her health companies. She managed to locate her and have them attend to her quickly overcoming bureaucratic barriers, but even so it was late and she died a year later, December 2019. She was the head of the family because she lost her partner in the war. Two children remained , one of them 18 years old who took charge of the family economy. But the family history does not always end like this ...

ANA (FICTITIAL NAME)

YOUR CHILDREN WERE LOST


She is the lady of a municipality 7 hours from Bogota, who was very affected by the violence between guerrillas and paramilitaries. She was 51 years old when she consulted with this injury. She lives with 3 children of 8, 11 and 12 years of age. She consulted late with this injury due to the fear caused by the possibility of having cancer. She was affiliated with a subsidized health company and after being evaluated by the doctor, she did not get a referral for a mammogram. Unfortunately, awaiting the mammogram and little conviction about gravity, she made no further efforts until we discovered her in a prevention activity. With Maria, again, we managed to locate her, but her handling was very irregular due to the shortage of money for her transportation, the difficulty of leaving the children, among other things. Its management began but with it, it weakened and the activity on the farm remained in the hands of the children. When her land died, relatives took it and the children were given up for adoption ... when we found out, it was too late.

MARIA (FICTITIAL NAME)

Maria is a woman who discovered her tumor in 2018, consulted but did not diagnose the chance of cancer. The tumor continued to grow until they reached ulcerate. She thought in infection for the absence of pain. She came the pandemic and the EPS already with the idea of cancer she could not pay attention to our arrival. A woman with a locally advanced cancer is observed from at meds 4 years of having discovered the woman. A classical story of a woman who she does not consult because the tumor never diolined him, when she consulted there was no suspicion and she spends time without solving. If Maria had received a capacitation as ours is likely that she had consulted several years ago when she discovered a small dough

NATALIA (FICTITIAL NAME)

She is a woman who at the time of consulting was 30 years old, her first menstruation was at 10 years old, she had no children and her mother had suffered from Breast Cancer, that is to say that at that time she was a woman of high risk of developing a Breast Cancer according to the National SUrgery adyuvant breast program (NSABP). He consulted because an erythema appeared in the breast (area of red-pink color) that did not hurt from almost a month of evolution. The doctor of the municipality where he consulted (3 hours from Bogota), very judicious, initially thought of mastitis. AL did not improve, she changed the antibiotics but she did not improve either. She consulted us during a prevention activity and before the no improvement and the symptoms (Mastitis usually presents with pain, burning, maybe with fever and the erythema is brighter) we suspected a Cancer and a biopsy was requested. Your treatment was confirmed and received on time. It takes 3 years of survival.

PILAR

(Fictitious name) is a 62-year-old woman covered by a health promoter from a town 7 hours from Bogota. It has no affiliation with any Health service. The promoter called us because a year ago she was waiting for the promise of being attended by a subsidized Health Company. (Public) However, for political reasons, it was not included in the Census of patients to be cared for by this health system because it lives in a rural area far from the Municipality. It did not hurt and only healing with natural herbs without improvement. Thanks to Chief nurse Maria SImarra of the Breast Group led by Dr. Consuelo Gracia of the Cundinamarca Government, her management was located in Bogota. It should not be so, the same story, if this woman had had education regarding her breasts and her human rights as a woman, she would never have reached this situation.

ALICIA (FICTITIAL NAME)

She is a 21-year-old woman who consulted for injuries as seen in the photograph. At first they were open. It was detected by a Health promoter trained by us and therefore with the possibility of calling us directly in cases like these. She herself mobilized her to a prevention activity 3 hours from Bogota although the patient lived a two-hour walk from the municipality. We concluded that it was a granulomatous mastitis and as such began its corresponding management. As it is an entity that relapses easily in the first year and also required cures, we explain very well to the woman her pathology, her evolution and what she should do. She began to do her cures herself and was free to communicate with us. In fact, it improved and when its management fell, it was done through WhatsApp video communication. The developer applied the medications to her and a year and a half later the injuries had closed as seen in the photograph. It is a sample of how to empower women, with the help of a promoter we avoid a woman having to travel 2 hours to do a cure, how to assume her evolution, she understood the difficulties and today she is cured. It is a sample that there are many things that are resolved by empowering promoters and women in general so that they know their breasts and their care, in addition to respectfully addressing their myths and beliefs.

GLORIA (Fictitious name)

55-year-old patient, lives in a town towards the eastern plains of Colombia, about 5 hours from Bogota. We were called by the General Medical Office of the town because the lady had consulted for a red mass in her left breast. They had seen her in another town and because of the red color of the injury the General Physician thought it was an abscess or Mastitis and they ordered antibiotics. As he did not improve after 15 days of driving, he decided to change his doctor. Our doctor reviewed it better and found a non-painful mass, underlying the lesion that was seen on the skin. She called us through Whats App and taking into account that the mass did not hurt, it was hard and did not move, she decided to think it was a Cancer. History has its importance in showing the importance of supporting the young doctors who make their rural years. Supporting them can mean a better diagnosis as in this case and a motivation to work for this disease.

STELLE (FICTITIAL NAME)

47-year-old woman that we found in a municipality 4 hours from Bogotá, with this injury of several years of evolution. It started as a small mass that, as it did not hurt, never had the motivation to consult. When asked why he did not consult before, he answered: "It did not hurt, doctor. I thought it had been due to a stilt bite." His sad story that we wanted to tell is because, unlike Ana, the other patient on this page, her 15-year-old daughter. She consulted us because she knew that her mother would die and wanted to see how we supported her so that she could take care of her little brothers and the land. We spoke to the town judge and he was given provisional protection. When her mother died 2 years later, she left school and took care of her land and her little brothers. She visited us at the beginning of the year to thank us because her mother had done everything, but she knew that she had consulted late. (died in June 2019) She had withdrawn from school to take care of the family finances and the judge had agreed to protect her while she was of age. We have not heard from her due to the coronavirus but we believe that she is getting ahead.

MARLENY

(Fictitious name) lives in the RURAL area of Gachala Cundinamarca, received training with us in 2018 and had the assistance of a Health promoter also trained by us. The Lady underwent her judicious self-palpation and nothing was palpated until March 2020, when examining herself, she noticed a small lump and looked at herself in the mirror, finding that when the breast rose, this depression appeared, for which it was due, could be a suspicious sign of a tumor that because it is fixed "pulls" the skin towards the mass when the breast is moved. The promoter contacted us by sending us the photo of the patient and with her permission we publish it because sometimes women do not understand what the sinkings are. warns them to search. We located it in Bogota with its EPS (Health Company) and it is under treatment with good prospects. TEACH TO TEACH

The Head of the group, Dra Consuelo Garcia and two professional nurses including Maria from behind.

.MARIA SIMARRA OUR PROFESSIONAL NURSE WITH A LOT OF HEART ..


A RECOGNITION TO THE SENO GROUP OF THE GOVERNMENT OF CUNDINAMARCA


We have worked closely together in these years with the Seno Group of the Government with activities beyond even contractual obligations. We have worked together solving cases in a virtual way of women found in distant places of the most distant municipalities of Bogota. They have also helped us locate women with Breast Cancer as we have narrated in our stories. Its director and each one of the people who make up the group have been of vital importance given the difficulties that have existed due to the budgetary limitations of the Government or the changes in its policies. But they have remained convinced that empowering women is the right way to improve their conditions regarding the care of their breasts and the rights of women.We have walked together through remote villages, we have transported ourselves in small and uncomfortable buses many times, we have supported each other, we have lived together many frustrations when we have been rendered useless against the disease, the bureaucracy of the Health companies, the lack of That money that if it existed would allow us to do many more things.

LEARN TO EDIT OUR STORIES AS A STRATEGY TO LIVE BETTER

EDIT OUR STORIES, We are good ... JPSartre, French philosopher of existentialism, said that we should live with what they did to us ... but it went without saying that what they did to us we can edit and turn less good moments of life into WISDOM, the one that allows us to be more "human" because we can share, serve others. Our protagonist of the photo lost his leg and on uncovered roads of laughter, with one leg going from his house to the store without problem. How many complain about much lesser problems or how many have not learned to turn the pages of their lives and start living today? As Snoopy said, you die once, you live every day .... merry christmas and happy new year hopefully remembering day by day how good we are and sometimes we don't realize ...