Katri

I went with Lidya and her husband Ayub to visit Ibu Katri. She has
breast cancer. The lump is the size of a softball. She's had it for
about a year now. It's swollen and, five months ago, it broke
through the skin. It's opened about an inch wide. I can see the
inside. Yet, when I saw her face, her smile is big and beaming! I
could she she was in pain and wanted to cry. But yet, how does she
still have hope and this joy?

Thanks Lori, Mom, and Lisa for the vaseline/non-stick gauze pads. I
received them towards the very end of my healing process, so I had
many left over. It worked out because I could give these and the
tape to Ibu Katri. She definitely needs it more than the trouble of
having made my own. When I finally saw her yesterday, they've
already used up all of the gauze. The gauze they have now is
basically like a cotton ball. It's painful for her to wear a shirt,
but keeping it covered with even a little gauze keeps it a whole lot
cleaner.

Lidya said before it was leaking puss and smelled badly. But
yesterday, ibu cleaned it right before we came. So there was no puss
nor smell. Hopefully keeping it covered helps.

Her son is scared to go back to the RT (village head) to ask for a
letter to go to the clinic. They don't have insurance here. He went
once and was turned down. The RT man is rich. He has his own car.
He's seen her situation. And all he said was that they could use the
car, but he did nothing else to help.

Hoping the son will have courage to go back to ask again, soon. And
hoping that this leader will be a lot more proactive to get her an
operation... at least to have a good doctor look at it.

2 and a half hours (one way): 30 minutes on the ankot, hour and a
half on the bus and another 30 minutes on the motorcycle - through
the rain and paddies. We were only with her for about 30 minutes.
And I didn't even have words to encourage her. All I could do was
hold her hand, smile and hope. It was a good Sunday afternoon.