First Day of Clinic Down!

Okay, this is going to be a belated post since the internet system that I can usually rely on is down for the week.  The good news with that is that I finally found someone that knew to tell me that instead of just trying to sell me more minutes for the service ;-)  I’m not sure if it is MORE or LESS frustrating when I deal with “first world problems” like the internet being down while I’m actually in a third world country.  That’s perhaps an essay question for the students on the trip if they ever complain of being bored… hee.hee.hee. 

So in clinic Sunday we saw 18 patients and scheduled six for surgery, which is a pretty good ratio in general.  We have a great mix of surgeries scheduled—two abdominal hysterectomies, one vaginal hysterectomy, and three prolapse surgeries (which we affectionately refer to as “vag-a-thons” around here given the long duration of vaginal surgery that it requires).  I’m excited that Stephen Patrick is coming up tomorrow night to help with two of the prolapse surgeries on Wednesday!  It will be great to have his help and mentorship again.

Some of the really fun stuff that happened in clinic yesterday – let’s see…

We did get to tell our cook here (“Chiky” for those who know her) that her grandson will be born in about a month—we did an ultrasound on her daughter-in-law back in May but weren’t sure about the sex.  I told her I was “95% sure” it was a girl, so when I clearly saw that it was a boy, I sheepishly asked what color of clothes they had already bought!  Fortunately, they said “white and yellow”, so we’re in the clear!  They were so excited about the news and knowing for sure.

One classic little Guatemalan lady was seen here by another doctor last year when she was “33” years old.  By Sunday when we saw her, though, she had turned 37!!  I know it was a long wait to see us, but that seems a little exaggerated even so!

We have a great picture of one of our patients using our Guatemalan “changing room”, which consists of two of us holding up a sheet for them to change behind.  Hopefully we’ll find some internet fast enough to upload it for you this week.

Another one of my favorite pictures is the one I took of Carol, Stephanie, Maria, and Judy ALL four examining a patient on the exam table at the same time!  I really do mean it when I say that consults down here are a team event!   It’s fun to have lots of laughs and entertainment during the day, and these are the moments that really keep me going! 

With Dr. Tom Hoak gone this week, the hospital looks like a ghost town!  There are very few patients waiting to be seen in the courtyard and hardly any admitted.  Our admissions will hopefully help liven the place up some.  But at least since we weren’t busy in clinic this morning we had a chance to play with bubbles and crayons and balloons and candy and…. and… and… with all the cute waiting kids and their parents!  That always makes for fun pictures if we can manage to post them.  (How bad of a tease am I, right?!) 

Anyway, thanks to you all for reading and praying with us this week.  It’s been awesome so far and hopefully will stay that way!  We will tell you more about our surgical patients as we get to know them better this week.

(OK, here I am a little later at the internet cafe, shocked and happy to learn that I can upload photos in under an hour ;)  So here are a few to get you started... Maria with the world´s sweetest baby, her mother and big brother.  Then Carol and Stephanie ready to operate today, and some of our courtyard fun with bubbles!