February 2011 Trip

It's really weird to be here in Guatemala without Heidi (Dr. Bell) but here we are. She's back in North Carolina working very hard to grow a "baby in her tummy" (Isaac's description).

Here in Guatemala, we are Dr. Kris DeLuca, med students Victoria, Kent, and Brandi, and your humble correspondent.

We flew in on Saturday, uneventfully (yay) and drove up the mountain to Chichicastenango, where we found our accomodations with no trouble at all. We were exhausted, so sleep came pretty easy.

Sunday morning was Gringo Church, Market, and then 15 patients. The first was a real downer - one that Heidi had seen before. She is a 30 year old woman with Stage IV cervical cancer that has spread to her uterus and abdomen. She can no longer pee, so we tried to insert a catheter, but it turns out that her bladder is empty - her kidneys have either shut down or been obstructed from all the swelling - she looks like a balloon... She's a mother of four (the youngest is 2) and will very likely not see Christmas. As you might expect, she was not terribly encouraged by our report that there's nothing we can really do for her except give her some pain meds. She is in a good church and we prayed with her and her family.

The rest of the day was a little more encouraging for us, though. We scheduled three "vag-a-thons" (vaginal hysterectomy with anterior and posterior repair) and an endometrial biopsy. We were also able to reassure a few very scared women that there is nothing wrong with them, despite the diagnoses of some local doctors.

We were even able to get out of clinic in time to catch the second half of the Super Bowl with a bunch of local missionaries.

Today, Dr. Kris and company did two vag-a-thons and saw another eight or so patients. Matt took the opportunity to run up to Quiche and check on the facial plastics team that is there now. While in Quiche, he got to see our good friend Malachi Courtney, who will probably come down to help out tomorrow.

We're all done for the day now and headed out to grab a bite to eat. I'll have to post pictures when I get back to the US since I'm on a borrowed computer, or you can check our Dr. DeLuca's facebook page for some pictures now...

Hasta manana!