Long Clinic Day!

What a great-- but LONG-- day today!

Started off with market around 8 a.m., which Carrie got to experience for the first time but Pat's an old pro at by now! We then headed up to Church with the other local missionaries at 10, where we heard an amazing sermon on suffering and God's ultimate plan based on the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Then a quick (but really yummy!) lunch at a local restaurant that Pat has been talking about since the last time she left I think...

Then we ran over to the hospital to start seeing patients... 16 total came in, and we scheduled 5 surgeries for this week as well as some that want to come back later in the year for surgery. It's always wonderful to see patients back for a final post-op visit, so picture number one is a lady that I did a vaginal hysterectomy on back in November who is doing GREAT! Please pray for her, though, as she has not accepted Christ as of yet despite her family's efforts to convert her. She is in good health overall but getting on in years and I fear we are running out of time... It was nice to see her back to be able to show her some more of God's love for her today, though, and we just keep praying that our seeds we are planting will one day grow in to a beautiful relationship for her. She is pictured with her daughter. Her name is Manuela.


The next picture is just of me getting ready to start for the day, but it shows our trusty little clinic room, which is actually decently well-equipped with an exam table, light, and lots of supplies we have brought in over the years. Thanks to Carrie for being my photographer today; hopefully tomorrow we'll get some pictures of her and Pat up!



We also saw an assortment of ladies needing hysterectomies, or who needed reassurance that they did NOT need surgery for their tiny ovarian cysts that some of the local doctors want to make money off of. That is an unfortunately common thing here. We also saw a lady with a 10 centimeter ovarian mass that DOES need to come out (pray it's not cancer!), a lady who needed follow-up on an abnormal pap smear which we were able to help with, and a couple of ladies with pains that we aren't really able to explain. At least we were able to offer reassurance that they don't have anything terribly wrong with their uterus or ovaries, though!

After we had seen about 10 of our 16 patients, the local doctor called to see if we could help in the emergency room because there was a breech baby they were trying to deliver! So Carrie and I rushed over to see what we could do... Unfortunately, the young girl had tried to deliver at home and the baby's body had been delivered for quite some time before she arrived at the hospital. We were able to get the baby delivered safely for mom, but it was obvious that the baby was not alive at all even upon arrival to the hospital. How amazingly sad to have to tell a teenage girl that her first baby is a stillborn... and all for lack of delivering where there is a doctor trained to help! I don't even know the young lady's name, but I'm sure God will know who you are talking about if you send up prayers for Him to help heal her heart from the ache it must be feeling tonight.

Tomorrow we will operate on at least two ladies who need vaginal hysterectomies, and see what else God sends us! Hopefully we will get a good night's sleep tonight and be ready to go tomorrow... There are also currently 2 surgeries scheduled on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. I'm sure others will show up, though!