Brief Clinic Summary

So we just finished clinic at around 8 this evening, which quite frankly is a minor miracle since we saw 28 patients in just under 11 hours!  Told you Chris and I make a great (and experienced!) team ;-)  We are now exhausted, however, so here’s a quick summary:

First some stats:

·      28 patients

·      9 surgeries scheduled

·      ZERO “vag-a-thons” (so weird)

·      FOUR abdominal surgeries (pretty sure that’s more than I’ve EVER done in one week)

·      Only three that had fully non-gynecologic issues (although in fairness, one was told by both one doctor and one lay “midwife” that her uterus might be the cause of her back pain and leg falling asleep!)

·      A full FIVE patients who were told that they needed surgery by Guatemalan surgeons but had absolutely NO indication for surgery that would have ever been operated on in the US. 

This last problem is a perpetual one and one that makes me crazy.  It’s also a very time-consuming one in clinic, as it takes a very long time to explain to a patient why they do not need a surgery that “everyone” tells them they do.  They feel they are being turned away from what “everyone” recommends to them as a great opportunity to get their surgery from us.  Occasionally it’s a judgment call where it is at least not INadvisable to operate, but unfortunately it’s often something where we would have flunked our oral boards if we had tried to defend the surgical management to our mentors back in the day! 

It’s just so frustrating and saddening and maddening what these patients are up against sometimes.  The tiny little drops in the bucket we make of help while here seem so insignificant, but we continue to trust in God’s plan and goodness, and in the power of prayer and The Gospel to affect real change.

Now back to the lighter side—I did, as always, have a few more “firsts” again today, and here they are:

·      Had to get a patient’s husband on speakerphone during the surgical consent because he has been in the US for the last ten years.  At least he is still involved and sending money!

·      Had a patient’s husband ask if there was anything he did “wrong” during sex that caused her fibroids—such a sweet and concerned guy…

·      Had to wait for one patient to finish her call on her cell phone so we could pray for her.

I'll end with a couple of pics that Chris snuck in during clinic.  One is me giving my pre-clinic shpiel about "please be patient; we won't turn anyone away, and no one needs to be fasting, and Jesus loves you".  One is a super-sweet grandma that we couldn't resist taking a photo of.  Pray that she gets a large mass in her chest taken care of so that we can take care of an uncomfortable gynecologic problem for her in February.