Day Off - Tuesday

Our day off didn't start quite the way we had planned. Just when we think we've got Isaac figured out, he changes. The last few nights, he hasn't slept well at all - which means that Heidi doesn't get to sleep, either. So we were up quite early with the I-man, but decided to just have a family morning around the house.

Heidi sorted through a big bag of clothes we have for Isaac. We received so many clothes between our eBay purchases and the surprise showers we had that everything bigger than "newborn" got put away. Besides, when we brought him home at under 6lbs, everything looked enormous. Now that he's up over 12lbs, things are looking a little more reasonable. So the small stuff is getting donated and the bigger stuff is coming out. Must be nice to have new clothes!!! (We're not really too fashion conscious here, so we're not buying much new for ourselves... it's not like they have clothes in Matt's size, anyway)

Little Roy and his mother Christina came by the house to get Roy's weight checked. He put on three ounces in four days - just about what we were told to expect with Isaac. YAY!

Just before lunchtime, we packed up and headed for Guatemala City. There's a construction zone between Los Encuentros and Chimaltenango that we like to try to get through during lunchtime, as you can get stuck there for up to two hours. We arrived at the Mazda dealership about 3:30pm. The truck was ready (three days before the original estimate) and actually cost a bit less than they told us to expect (that's a first for a car dealership, right?) It still wasn't a very cheap visit (well over $2,000) but a few Quetzales less than we had feared.

From there it was to HiperPaiz (think Walmart) to do some grocery shopping. Then to the hotel to let Isaac stretch out a little. He's also starting to outgrow his ability to sleep all the way through each car ride. That's actually pretty bad news, seeing as how we have to drive a lot for this "job".

While Heidi and Isaac were at the hotel, Matt ran to the Guatemala City airport to get some things from the Fickers' hangar there. It ain't exactly like O'Hare. You simply flash your best gringo grin, tell them what hangar number you want to go to and they let you drive right onto the taxiway. (There's only one runway at the airport, so Cessnas and 737s share the whole thing!) If Matt had been a little younger and more adventurous (read: stupid), he probably could have driven right onto the main runway in the Toyota. Scary!

Speaking of broken plans, the idea was to have a nice relaxing dinner at TGIFridays (a nice American treat for us). Isaac had other ideas. He screamed basically the whole time. We took turns walking him around and eating. It's the only time we've ever seen a waitress there actually act like she was in a hurry when we asked for our check. Apparently she didn't like his screaming much either! And Heidi was up basically all night with him again.

This morning, we had our happy, smiley boy back again (go figure), so we went to McDonald's for breakfast, did some more shopping at PriceMart (think Sam's Club) and headed back to Chichi so Heidi could operate this afternoon.

When Matt got home in Quiche, our little patient Diego (the one with the hydrocephaly) was waiting. Their appointment in Guatemala City is tomorrow and we hope that he'll get operated on this week. We gave them Q400 (about $50) for the lab tests they got for him and Q50 for their Chicken Bus tickets. They were supposed to get his surgery a few weeks ago but when the doc asked them if the baby had a cough, they answered YES. (Background: every single mother in this country thinks that her kid has a cough. The truth is, everyone coughs once in a while, even when they're not sick. The parents don't understand that the question is really "is your child sick". We explained that to Dad.) So when Matt asked them this afternoon if Diego has a cough, they said NO. His lungs and throat were clear, too, so it seems as though he'll be healthy enough for his surgery.

At the time of this writing, Heidi had just called to say that both of her hysterectomies are done and she's headed home. One patient had had two prior c-sections and was really scarred up inside, so the decision to go with an abdominal surgery was a good one. The other patient was a suspect for cancer, but on opening her up, they discovered that her cancer is much more advanced than they thought. Heidi and Dr. Hoak did the best they could with the limited resources they have (i.e. no blood bank), but the patient probably doesn't have much time left.

So please pray for little Roy, little Diego, both of Heidi's patients today, and for Heidi and Isaac (to both get some sleep tonight).

We have clinic tomorrow at ASELSI. One patient called us tonight to say that they can't come tomorrow because they're sick. Matt tried to explain that when you're sick, that's a pretty good time to go see a doctor. No luck. A few minutes later, our friend Regina called and asked if she could bring in a little baby who isn't eating and the baby's mom, who is supposedly quite sick. We're not really supposed to give out numbers that way, but we've seen a lot of starving babies lately, someone had just called to cancel their appointment, and it seemed like God was really pointing to an opportunity, so we'll give her a number (she can't get to ASELSI early enough to get a number because the first chicken bus doesn't leave her village until 6am). Hope nobody yells at us!! ;)

Oh, in the picture below, you can see a very happy boy at our favorite lunch spot on the trip to and from Guatemala City. No, he's not always that happy, but it's when we feel the most like taking pictures!