Slow Start

The weekend did not start well. We planned to drive to the Fickers' in Canilla on Saturday morning to do clinic and help out with the dozen or so nursing students who had come down to help out for a week.

We had gifts. Wood is very hard to come by here and there were some packaging materials from the container that we were going to give to the Fickers. Included were four big pieces of plywood and some nice new 2x4s. No, not very exciting in the land of Lowe's and Builders Square, but those stores don't exist here.

We also had a generator that had been donated by some friends in the US. We don't really need it, but the Fickers do.

Also piled into the back of the truck were all of Heidi's clinic supplies, several of her medical books (that had just come down on the container - they were for helping to teach the nurses), around 1,000 prenatal vitamins, some games, some parts for Craig's motorcycle, etc. You know, gifts.

About 1/3 of the way to Canilla, we saw that our tailgate latch had broken on the truck due to the bad roads and that we were spreading our precious possessions all over the road. We quickly turned around to go back and found some folks loading Heidi's medical books into their truck. We got those back but nothing else. By the time we made it back to wherever that stuff fell out, it was already gone.

Missing is Heidi's clinic vest, her odoscope, two blood pressure cuffs, a pulse-ox meter, her stethoscope (a Valentine's present from Matt), all of the vitamins, two glucose monitors, her doctor bag with all of her minor procedure tools in it (anesthesia, needles, scalpels, etc.), and a ton of other stuff we'll really have to work hard to replace. All because of a broken latch on the tailgate. Not a good morning.

As they always do, though, the Fickers made it a whole lot better. It's very, very hard to lose things that have sentimental value, but it's nice to know you're not the only one who ever has. And one of the nursing students was kind enough to donate her blood pressure cuff to us.

Plus, clinic went great and we sat down to a nice lunch with all of the students. (See the picture below).

In the afternoon, the guys went out to the airport to pull the clutch from one of the Fickers' trucks - it almost went out on them on their trip to The City to pick up the team. It took a bit longer than expected and pushed our return trip home into the dark hours (we usually stay in Canilla, but the house was a little more crowded than usual).

As usual, God had a plan. As we were finally getting ready to leave, a woman came to the gate with severe abdominal pain. Heidi, with the help of our ultrasound, was able to determine that she had some free fluid in her belly and really needed to go to the hospital. Everything happens for a reason.

Today was considerably better. We met everyone for clinic in San Andres and saw about 80 patients. Heidi, Leslie, Katie, and Hannah all got to do some teaching, and the students all did great. It's very hard to be out of your comfort zone and without most of the tools you're used to using (let alone trying to practice medicine in a language you don't speak). They all had great attitudes, were very helpful and knowledgeable. Good job, girls!

Tomorrow we're off to Nueva Santa Catarina. Then Tuesday we take Matt's parents back to Guatemala City after a great week's visit.

Here are some pics... It's a long story, but we're not sure what order they'll be in. Obviously, one is of 24 of us eating lunch at the Ficker house. Another is of Heidi and Matt giving a "consulta" in the street outside clinc while waiting for the others to arrive. Another is of some of the girls in the waiting area outside clinic after a long day. And the last is of Leslie, Hannah, and Heidi in the doorway to the clinic room...