So today was a busy but productive clinic day! And I even had another new "first" even in Guatemala-- a rarity these days really... Started the day off with a phone call from Dr. Chris, letting me know that their flight had been cancelled because the Guatemalan airport was apparently CLOSED because of volcanic ash from "Fuego" in Atitlan... So they are rescheduled for tomorrow and it looks as if they will be clear then! Never had a trip delay for a volcano before...
Anyway, we got up and even got a few minutes in the
market before getting started, saw 18 patients (3 more had signed up but left
before we called them even though we were done by 4:30 which is pretty early by
my usual Sunday standards!) So we even
got to get in some hot chocolate with guacamole and a side of great
people-watching as they packed up the market for the day, and a gorgeous dinner
with Tom and Jana.
Today’s patients, as usual, were quite an eclectic mix…
maybe even more than usual today even.
We happily scheduled six surgeries though. (For those interested, four “vag-a-thons” and
two simple vaginal hysterectomies—definitely a theme!) We also saw a couple of young ladies for
cysts and what-not, a middle-aged lady with a mass in her butt cheek (not a
gynecological problem, but who’s keeping track?!), and a sweet little 75 year
old whose family is convinced that all of her problems started when her uterus
“fell out and hit the floor” with the birth of her second son about 50 years
ago… as you can imagine, I had to do a little translating for Brittany on that
story! Other than that she kept up
nicely ;-)
Please pray for our surgical patients for the week: Tomorrow we have Anastacia for a vag-a-thon
(unfortunately caught her with her eyes closed!) Her sweet daughter-in-law was tearful after
our prayer with her and very anxious for her safety! She has 9 children, but they are apparently
all daughters! So yes, definitely pray
for Anastacia… ;-)
Second up will be Micaela, a sweet patient that Leslie sent
that is a “frequent flyer” at their clinic asking for help with her heavy
bleeding. Apparently a few weeks ago she
felt weak from bleeding and called the ambulance. Four hours later when they showed up, they
took her to the health center and gave her a shot of vitamin K which supposedly
helped some. Probably time to go ahead
and get that uterus off her hands, don’t ya think? Please especially pray for her husband, who
is NOT in the Church or willing to go/hear about Christ although she is. As a matter of fact, it was the ladies in the
Church who apparently told her that she definitely needs her uterus out. Occasionally those Church ladies get it right
;-)
We will round out the day with Marina, who Tom has been
seeing for similar problems and who is ready for surgery! Her husband was actually quite sweet trying
to talk her back in to it when she considered backing out, reminding her how
long she’s been miserable with this!
Also remember to pray prayers of Thanksgiving for the lives
that we all have been blessed with—not like Manuela, who only has 3 of her 10
children still living and needs surgery which we will hopefully be able to do
for her in April (her tissues need some preparation and her diabetes needs some
better control first!) Or like the men
and women we watched carrying ridiculously heavy loads after market today—only
to do it again on Thursday and next Sunday to try to make a buck or two. Also pray that Manuela and another patient
with a very similar story will find their way back in April so that we CAN help
them surgically.
The last picture is of our future rising ER doc posing in
the doorway of the “Emergency Room” here at the hospital—it’s actually a single
room equipped mostly with some stretchers and a couple rolls of gauze! Not exactly your level 4 trauma center, but
we do what we can…
Thanks for your prayers. God is good.
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