Last Days...

Well, yesterday's plans changed when the Fickers called and let us know that a cargo plane had crashed on the runway here in Guatemala City and had the airport closed up for an unknown amount of time.  (I did just now find an internet story that confirmed everyone was OK...)  We had planned to fly out to Canilla to see them and help with clinic this morning.  When we weren't sure when the airport would open back up, we went ahead and hired a car down here to The City and got a hotel room for the night.  Thanks to knowing a LOT of great people here in Guatemala, we are in a really, really nice room for the night that we probably couldn't afford if not for knowing people in the hospitality business here (Thanks, Matt Capehart!)

Before leaving out of Chichi we said goodbye to all of our patients for the week-- Thanks to great anesthesia, Sarah being a great surgeon, and lots of prayers going up, they all looked fantastic and were ready to go home.  Here are a few pictures Sarah shot of us saying goodbye...

And a nice shot of Angelica (the circulating nurse), Don, Marianne, and Alma (the scrub nurse for 27 years at the hospital!)

Today will be another loooooooooonnnng travel day, but it will end in the best part of the trip-- quick kisses to our sleeping babies and husbands!  Then waking up tomorrow morning to the best Mother's Day present ever-- being together with family again.

We will continue to pray for Elias, Juana, Perla, Maria, Oralia, Mikaela, Candelaria, the other Juana, and Marta in their recoveries from surgeries-- many of them had to travel over two hours to their homes, much of it on foot, after discharge yesterday.  This is something I can't imagine doing two days after an abdominal surgery-- You can ask Matt about what a wimp I was just climbing in and out of the minivan on post-op day two!  The difference in "first world problems" and reality for most of the world is astounding... 

Thank you all for your love and support this week.  We will be back on August 11th of this year, and I'm super excited that my friend and colleague Tana Hall will be joining me along with Sandy Williams and her son Jared from Church (Sandy is trained as a midwife but hasn't practiced in a while so we'll be helping her brush up her skills again)  Stay tuned then for more follow-up!  I will try to also keep y'all in the loop as I get pathology reports back-- we are worried about a possible endometrial cancer with Marta and possible cervical cancer with Juana so we are really praying that is not the case. 

When you guys see Sarah Gore, please thank her for her HARD WORK this week and talk to her about her experience-- Can't wait to see some of YOU down here in the future!