Wild Weekend

First and foremost, we'd like to make a special request for healing prayers going up for Aaron Ficker, who was burned this week in a gas and electrical fire at home. He is okay and should recover quickly, but we know how scary and painful these incidents can be first-hand!

Well, where to start covering the rest… I guess with clinic on Saturday morning. Several interesting patients to pray for, please! One is a young girl (By young, I mean 14…) who missed her period this month. Her pregnancy test was positive, but we couldn’t see her pregnancy in her uterus on ultrasound. This can mean lots of things (Heidi’s OB friends are holding their breath right now…), but what we need to pray that it does NOT mean is that there is a dangerous pregnancy outside of this young girl’s uterus which could mean emergency surgery or internal hemorrhage any time soon. Her name is Joselyn.

At the same time, Charlie was examining a little girl (By little girl, I mean 7!) with a mass in her belly. By ultrasound and on physical exam, it looks like this little girl has an ovarian tumor about the size of a grapefruit! We are praying hard and will be calling for guidance on this one, but right now the plan that Heidi has the most peace with is scheduling her for surgery at Buen Samaritano on the 26th of this month. We are asking for LOTS of prayer coverage on this, as it is ordinarily way outside of her comfort zone. So far that seems to be the plan that God is placing on her heart, and the family really wants it to happen that way. This young lady is named Maria.

The very next patient, Juanita, was on the ultrasound table by then—and Leslie was concerned because she couldn’t see any fluid around the baby. Heidi confirmed this on ultrasound, then tried to determine if this lady’s water had broken or if there was something genetically wrong with the baby to cause the problem. Either way (and we still don’t have a clear answer), the baby is only about 28 weeks along and unlikely to survive if some new fluid doesn’t soon collect around it to give it room to grow. Please then also pray for Juanita and her baby—and special prayers for us to have clear guidance and boldness in our dealings with her as she does not yet know our Lord and Savior.

The next patient—Now already in the room and being seen by Katie—is pregnant near term with a blood pressure of 180/120, headaches, lots of protein in her urine, and other reasons for Heidi’s OB friends to be panicking right along with her at this point… For the rest of us, let’s just say—this lady was SICK and in grave danger of seizing at any point until this baby is delivered! Matt and Katie drove her home because we couldn’t get her husband by cell phone, and the town’s ambulance is currently (and indefinitely) out of commission. We were at least assured by the family that they had access to a vehicle and would get her to the hospital immediately. Pray that she and her baby are doing well by now; we will try to check on them tomorrow.

The rest of clinic, thankfully, was fairly calm… We weren’t sure how much more excitement we could handle!

Today in San Andres was better, but not by much. One of our earliest patients was a 3-month old baby with very severe pneumonia who we sent to the hospital in an ambulance—a feat that is by no means as easy as it should be! Leslie had to go find the mayor to ask permission to dispatch the ambulance, which she and Charlie did on foot while Katie tended to the baby until they found him. The ambulance (really, a pick-up truck… that the family and sick usually ride in the open bed of!) then came and picked them up, for which we were very grateful.

Another little boy was dehydrated but doing better after we bought him some water and a bottle with some oral rehydration salts. We thought we might have some excitement when the husband of a breech pregnancy we have been following came in and announced he would be bringing us his wife who has been in labor since Friday! We waited around for her, of course, but she showed up a little differently than advertised. She was having some occasional contractions, but was nowhere close to delivery, so they were going to go ahead and bring her here to the hospital for a cesarean section since the baby is really in a dangerous position for vaginal delivery.

So that about sums it up, thankfully. Now we are all packed up for clinic in Chicabracan tomorrow, but will need to hit our knees hard in the meantime for all of these patients who do not have the gift and blessing of good health that we enjoy. Please join with us… People need our help!

Oh wait… the pics for today remind me that I left out two of the best parts… Charlie—our hero!—removing our ex-roommate from the clinic in San Andres, and the six HOUR old baby with the double cleft lip and palate that the family brought in to us Saturday morning at the end of clinic! The third picture is Leslie patiently explaining how to feed this baby, mix formula, use a breast pump, and sterilize all of the baby’s bottles to the aunt and grandfather (since mom is still home recovering from delivery) Another one to add to the list for surgery when we can get it done… and to the prayer list.

Last picture is just for fun... Heidi and Isaac helping Charlie do an ultrasound in clinic! Don't ask about the blood pressure cuff attached (loosely! I promise!) to his leg... It kept him quiet for a few minutes of exploration while Daddy had to go take that patient home. ;-)