Weekend Stuff

The weekend started out rather typically, but took a turn for the... well... unexpected right away. We were about an hour down the road towards Canilla (13.8 miles) when traffic came to an abrupt stop. Matt walked down the road and around the bend to investigate and came upon a gasoline tanker that had failed to completely round a curve. (This is all off-road driving, mind you.) Its right rear wheels had falled off the edge of the cliff (down) on the right and its front left tire was nearly touching the cliff (up) on the left, completely blocking the road.

Pastor Rodi was the first vehicle in the line coming the other way, so Matt and Rodi talked for a few minutes in which we determined that there was no way that truck was moving any time soon. Heidi and Isaac had a flight to catch, so we turned around and went back an hour to Quiche, then drove nearly two hours to Canilla on the other road (which is significantly worse - thank God for the new Toyota!)

So a two hour drive turned into nearly four. Heidi and Isaac's plane to Guatemala City left about 20 minutes after we arrived in Canilla. So clinic was with Leslie, Katie, Annie, and Beth. They saw about 70 patients. There were a couple of kids with pneumonia, one complicated with a hint of asthma, some prenatal patients, and lots of families.

Matt worked with the guys, including a trip into the mountains to fetch a flatbed load of firewood, and a visit to Roscoe's old place in Chijoj.

This morning, Annie and Beth got to attend to a man who showed up at the gate with a sore foot (that's what happens when you're the "new guy").

Clinic in San Andres was relatively routine, with around 100 patients. There was a little boy who the family said had been to a doctor for something in his ear and can no longer hear. He no longer speaks, either, so he's been pulled out of school. One side was pretty impacted with wax and the other side looked like it had incurred some damage and scarred over. With the lack of speech, a hearing test was somewhat difficult but he reacted like he could hear some. Sadly, there's not really a whole lot that can be done other than to help with the wax impaction.

Another sad story involves a young woman whose parents brought her in with a pretty classic description of schizophrenia. There's not much that can be done for her, either, except a lot of prayer.

Heidi and Isaac were safely on the ground in North Carolina, so Heidi was consulted by phone on a couple of obstetrics patients (it's a small world, afterall).

Actually, we were rather lucky that we had some extra room in the truck (with Heidi and Isaac being gone) because we ended up giving a ride back to the hospital to an 11-year-old boy and his dad. The boy came in in some respiratory distress and some rather disconcerting torso pains. By the time he got to the hospital, he looked a little better (maybe it was Matt's driving) but the doctors here were very nice and said they'd take a look at him. Neither the boy nor his dad speak Spanish but it was very nice to see a dad who was so openly affectionate and concerned for his son. (Mayans aren't typically very demonstrative towards their children.)

Construction on the fence continued on Saturday and should be completed by the end of this week. It's going to be very nice to have a place to secure the vehicles and all of the construction materials that will start to arrive for the building of the new addition.

Tomorrow morning, we'll meet with the builder for a status update, then head to Panajachel for the day. In the afternoon, we'll leave for Antigua where we'll spend the night. Tuesday will be a tourist day in Antigua. Wednesday morning we'll head to Guatemala City, pick up some supplies, then meet Heidi and Isaac at the airport.