Chichicastenango and More

This morning was our clinic day in Chichicastenango at ASELSI. As always, this was a tremendous experience. Due to a dozen crazy reasons, this was really our first full clinic there. We have a few folks for you to pray for, too. One person's name is Laura Hernandez. We saw her as a prenatal patient in our hyper-speed clinic last week and her ultrasound did not look right. The ultrasound at ASELSI doesn't have quite the clarity of picture that ours does, though, so we told her to come back this week and we'd bring our machine. This morning, Heidi diagnosed a "molar pregnancy", which is really more of a tumor than a pregnancy, and we asked her to come to the hospital here in Quiche. We drove her and her husband here and took her to the ER. The local doctor agreed with Heidi's diagnosis and has scheduled Laura for a procedure tomorrow morning to remove the mole. If she had not been diagnosed, she could have had some severe problems.

Another person to pray for is a 21-day-old baby who weighs 3lbs 13oz. He weighed 4.5lbs at birth (born at home at 34 weeks) and his mother brought him to clinic today because he's still losing weight. She was asking for some extra milk (ASELSI has a milk program for underweight kids). She's giving good milk, though, and we encouraged her to feed him breast milk. Formula really isn't the answer, especially since there's no guarantee on the quality of water she'll make it with. Please pray for this baby. He's on the jagged edge in this country. One case of diarrhea could kill him.

Also on our prayer list for today is Jose Larios. He's an eight year old boy who has had two heart surgeries in the capital for a mitral valve insufficiency. Jim had initially found this boy and shepherded the family through the process of getting the surgeries he needed (along with providing some money). He is recovering well and the family is still dealing with some bills (that we will probably help with) but he is definitely on the mend. The second picture below is that family on our couch! (The first picture is Heidi studying the manual for the ultrasound on the sofa we temporarily placed on the patio to take advantage of a beautiful day.)

Next on our prayer list is a beautiful four year old girl who weighs 22 lbs. (She's in the third picture on Heidi's lap.) Her family says she just doesn't want to eat. Her skin, hair, and nails don't really show evidence of malnutrition, but she is VERY small. We'll do what we can to help her, though most of our guesses are little more than stabs in the dark. Her parents look healthy and she has a younger sister who is "normal sized", so it's probably not a condition of not having food in the house. We're hoping to see her on a regular basis over the next few months to monitor her progress.

The last picture is really for Heidi's brother. Daryl, come visit. They have bike teams here. We have proof. Hope you don't mind mountains!!!!

Oh, for dinner tonight, we met some American missionaries who live in Chichi. Their names are Kemmel and Lisa Dunham and they are wonderful people. We very much enjoyed meeting them and sharing observations. She is a family practicioner who we will spend some time with in the next few weeks to further solidify some of the things we've learned from Jim and Kathleen, Leslie, and Dra. Karin. We feel like we have a much better handle on the FP side of things than we did a month ago, but we will NOT be turning down opportunities to learn from experienced people here in Guatemala!!!!

That's it for today. Please keep the folks we mentioned in your prayers, as well as Isabel Solorsano, one last patient we're following up on from the team that was here earlier this month. She is improving, so keep those prayers coming!