Well, Lisa has survived another week of being "part of the problem". She has been assigned to a Puesto de Salud (Rural Health clinic) in Chuabaj which is a town 20 minutes from Chichicastenango along the highway to Guatemala City. She works with 2 nurses right now but soon will just be one. The one nurse is new and she is being trained by another nurse from the main office of Chichicastenango. So far she has been able to see more than 10 patients per day and yesterday she got to suture a man's finger that he cut off so that was a good day for a physician. Today she had a baby about 3 weeks old with a major case of diaper rash, poor little guy!
Today we were able to present the main health department office of Chichicastenango with some HIV swab tests that will be expiring this month. To our surprise they were very excited to be able to use them as here in Guatemala they have just had a national campaign of immunizations and apparently everyone had there share of needle sticks. As a result, some have been nervous, so in comes the swab test! God even has a plan for HIV tests which are about to expire! So we won some points today which is always good!
So on to the topic for today - we have the Friday night blues - probably started by Kemmel. We used to always have date night with a movie and dinner, in whichever order we felt like doing it that Friday. Well, around here that is kind of hard. These are some of the moments we miss the most, getting away, going on a date and then on Saturday hitting the shopping scene for Lisa or Kemmel hitting the golf course with friends from church. We normally do not get the blues but today it hit us a little more. As they say here "es por la lluvia" - it is because of the rain - it is the answer for all bad things that happen. Anyway enough with the blues for the day.
Tomorrow brings more excitement as we have a group coming for a surgical week down in Montellano at Clinic Ezell. The surgeries this week will be General and GYN so it will be a busy week. We will be with the group until Tuesday morning where we leave early, early to get Lisa to a conference she has to attend Tuesday and Wednesday about 3 hours from Clinic Ezell.
Notes on the clinics - Josefina and Sheri are off to a good start in their individual clinic rotations.
We continue to receive support from the communities and many ask how we are and to let us know they are praying for us. Kemmel has been hanging back from clinics lately to get some things reset back up on the office side and will be heading back out to clinics soon. We hope to start some better education programs in the near future for the promoters and volunteers and patients.
3 comments:
We know what you mean about the blues. Sometimes it is the most random thing that throws us into homesickness. I, too, miss shopping - especially garage-sale-ing. We can shop here, but we can't stomach the prices! I hope you find a replacement for the dinner-and-a-movie package. Perhaps dinner-and-a-donkey ride? (Just kidding, of course!)
Hey Guys! I am glad to see that everything is going well (with your work). As Jenn commented, the blues are tough and can hit at any time. I am sorry that you guys have difficulties going out on dates. Since the rain is so consistent, maybe your date could be playing in it! I don't know - just trying to be helpful.
Thanks for leaving a comment on our blog. You are only the 2nd people to do so in over a year (the first was 2 days ago!)
We will be praying that the "blues" don't last... You all will find something fun to do...
Kemmel, thanks for being a part of our Missions Sunday yesterday. It just keeps getting better and better... Having Kent here to keep those "no timetable" mission committee-types on task is good too ;)
Have a great day...
Post a Comment