Weekend in the Country

We were out in the country for our normal clinic weekend with the Ficker family. We brought all three students with us and had a wonderful time. Katie is in the U.S. for a few weeks to take care of some errands but Hannah is here for a month, which is wonderful!

Clinic in Canilla was great, as usual - about 70 or so patients. We got a lot of opportunities to teach students as well as treat patients. All three students have now done ultrasound exams on pregnant women, have all gotten to interact with patients, and Dr. Tammy (she's two weeks short of finishing medical school) has even gotten to do some surgical work (assisted on a hysterectomy, did a post-partum repair, and worked with Heidi to treat an abscess on the patient you'll see in the picture below).

Yesterday afternoon, Heidi, Tammy, Steve, and Justin worked with Leslie and Hannah to start preparing for the big trip we're taking into the jungles of Zona Reyna later this month. We talked to the mayor of the village we're going to and over 1,100 people have already signed up for consults!!!!! We have no idea how we're going to see or provide medicine for all these people, but we will do our best.

As usual, we spent the night with the Fickers in Canilla and today we did clinic in San Andres and saw another 70 or so patients. Again, the students were very helpful and got to see and learn a bunch more.

Tomorrow we have clinic in Chinique with Pastor Roy Espinosa. Afterwards, assuming we get out at a decent hour, we're going to run down to Panajachel, a beautiful tourist town on the shores of Lake Atitlan. We'll cruise the tourist market there, maybe grab dinner, then drive back home, probably in the evening. Then we'll get up in the morning on Tuesday and go to Guatemala City to run some errands (buy groceries, submit medical license forms for the surgical team coming in June, and have Heidi's OB visit).

Sorry there aren't more pictures right now, but the students took most of the pictures on their cameras and, at press time, they're all sleeping or exercising. We'll post more later!

Here's one of Tammy and Heidi working on a kid who came into clinic today with a large abscess under his arm. They drained it, which was apparently very painful for this little boy, but he was very brave and should feel a lot better very soon!