Frustrating Day

As those of you who have done mission work know, some days are really uplifting and others are just plain exhausting. Today was the latter kind.

Today was our clinic at ASELSI. On our way there, we left the Fickers' truck at the Quiche airstrip. Duane and David flew in and David drove the truck home. In it were some tires for their Ford they'll need tomorrow to make another trip up into Zona Reyna. They went on their dirt bikes last week and spent about 10 hours in "the saddle". With the truck it'll take even longer, but should be a little easier on the hind ends! Sometimes there are hundreds of hours of "hidden" work behind every step forward.

Clinic today was especially frustrating. There was no electricity in Chichicastenango today so we couldn't do any ultrasounds on pregnant patients. Luckily, we didn't have any who really needed one, but it's one tool we're used to having that wasn't available. And there were some genuinely needful patients today who we'll discuss a bit later on, but at least five or six presented with just vague general complaints. How those usually break down is that they're essentially tired of living a hard life and having to struggle for each and every thing. There's nothing physically wrong with them - they just need a vacation. We understand this position pretty well ourselves, but it's hard to really help much in a clinical setting.

One was a man who used to have seizures but hasn't had one since February. His wife "brought" him in and did 99% of the talking. The complaint was that he just didn't want to work. She was hoping we had a pill for that. His normal job is to work with an electric saw but he's not working now (great that an epileptic is working with power tools, right?)

Another was a woman who had "nervios" (nerves). She said that every little thing makes her scared or nervous. She is in a church but we're not really sure how her walk is going. We explained to her that the God who made this entire world cares about her and holds her in His hand. When she's scared, she needs to talk to God about the things that scare her. If He can make mountains, He can surely help with whatever is happening in her life.

Our last patient of the day was a little baby named Julio. He is 6 1/2 months old and weighs 8 lbs. His mother doesn't actually take care of him, his 12 year old sister does. The mother's excuse is that the father doesn't want to work so he's told her that she has to. She sits in the market every day selling a corn drink. Our translators told us that she doesn't really take care of any of her kids. Her other kids have health problems, too, but she won't bring them to get any help. She hasn't been breast feeding, so she doesn't have any milk. The 12 year old is supposedly giving him formula about four times a day, but doesn't really know how much. The milk program at ASELSI doesn't give enough milk for a whole month, so we're guessing that the family is trying to stretch the milk we give them instead of buying some for themselves. We explained very clearly to Mom that she is killing her baby by treating him this way. It is not the 12 year old's responsibility to feed him, it's hers. We'll see him in another week to see how the talk went. If she didn't take it to heart, we'll have to get creative to try to save this kid's life.

After clinic, we met with some folks from the US who are trying to help a little baby with Spina Bifida. The really hard part of their offering is that they have to take the baby to the US for a few months for the surgery and Mom and Dad can't come. The US government will not give visas for parents because too many just disappear once they get inside the US. So Mom and Dad are trying to decide whether to give their baby up for a few months to go to the United States to get a surgery that can't be obtained here in Guatemala. I have to admit, it would be an amazingly hard position to be in. Especially for these parents, as it's their only child. Please pray for them to have wisdom and strength as they make whatever decision they make. We told them we won't be mad either way - we know how hard it is.

Then we had to go to the Hospital Buen Samaritano to check on Heidi's two patients from yesterday. One was a hysterectomy. The other was supposed to be but once they opened her up, they found her full of cancer.

Once we got home, the phone started ringing. One of Heidi's patients from last week is no longer getting urine from her foley catheter. They're showing very little interest in trying to get to the hospital, though. We'll do the best we can to help, but we can only help if we can see the patient.

Also, Jacob called. The green truck is...well...almost ready. The details at the moment are a little sketchy, but we can pick it up tomorrow. We owe a few hundred dollars for the work that's been done so far, but we can't drive it just yet. All of the injectors need to be replaced. They are not available here in Guatemala and it's going to take two weeks to order them from Japan. So we wait.

Oh, and Isaac is back to his old screaming self. It's not really that much - maybe just a few hours a day, but they seem to last for weeks!

The picture below is little Julio... Please pray for him and his family...