Long Day Today

So it's 10:15 and Tom just started his second-to-the-last case of the night!  Suffice it to say it has been a long day... We had two add-on surgeries in addition to the four major cases we had scheduled, so it really has been one of those days.  God is good, though, and it is a still a privilege to serve here with people who tirelessly continue on anyway!

The first bit of good news is that our patients from yesterday looked great this morning... Here they all are, hanging out in the sun and getting some fresh air on the hospital balcony.  I can't prove it scientifically, but I swear that it must be healthy for healing!  We'll hope so in their cases anyway...

Aaaaaannnd Chris got to visit a bit with Caithlyn also... even for lunch and a consult or two!  I love the "more the merrier" attitude towards everything-- even a medical consult and ultrasound-- here in Guatemala.  They really are a close and loving people, and couldn't be more pleased especially to welcome a cute baby girl in on the action!

The good news in this picture here is that we are doing a successful laparoscopy here in Guatemala!!  The bad news, though, is that the bluish hue you see in the upper right of the TV screen is the radiopaque string of a laparotomy sponge... You medical types will know a bit more about what that means, but suffice it to say we had to go back and fix a boo-boo.  Praise God-- as always!-- for sending such a clear word through the Holy Spirit that we had left the sponge in the first patient as we were operating on the second... and God bless sweet Anastacia's family for being probably less upset about it than we were... Yes, complications happen.  Even mistakes.  Doctors are human-- and I think that goes double for me sometimes.  But thank God-- again-- for the resources to deal with them safely and for recognizing them early.  Didn't help the surgical schedule any, though...

Going to check again on the patients now as Tom finishes up a laparoscopic (!!!) gallbladder, then will see if he needs help with an emergent amputation that came in today.  A young man had some type of unexplained injury while drinking on December 22nd.  His foot was badly injured and there were some fractures in the leg bones.  He spent two weeks at the National Hospital here in Quiche, but then left AMA (against medical advice) when they recommended amputating some of his toes.  He has since tried to go back for treatment, but the clinic has not been open since the doctors have been on strike.  (I'll refrain from offering commentaries on free government healthcare at this point... ;-))  Anyway, he now unfortunately has a completely more-or-less mummified foot that will need to be removed in order to clean the injury to a point that it can be managed and heal!  28 years old.  

We also saw six or seven patients in clinic today, and a little drunk man that approached me in the pharmacy across the street asking for help with some prescriptions.  His wife had a C-section Friday and was discharged with prescriptions from the hospital.  He was "responsible" for getting them, but had apparently drank the money for them at the local watering hole before bothering to pick them up.  What a mess he was!  He is in a Baptist Church here (or was at one point...) and knows The Lord.  He knows he is in sin and needing a change.  We pray that he will bring his wife to see us tomorrow since we gave him a free appointment for her, and that there will be reconciliation in his life and in their marriage.  

Again tonight, we are thankful for so many, many things.  We hope you are, too!