Breakfast sausage??!

So, we are sitting at what would probably be considered a 5 star hotel in Antigua (compliments of HTI as we were with a surgical group who were finishing their week) about to enjoy the breakfast that is offered as a compliment with the room and as we make our way to the buffett line we see that they have "suasages". This gets us a little excited as breakfast sausages are just not available here. We see the sign and then open up the lid and low and behold we have hot dogs. What a let down. Here at a 5 star hotel and we have shriveled up hot dogs claimed as suasages. They lost a star in our book. :)

We continue to see situations that just do not make sense to our culture here and we always find them interesting. Many of them are for the better. For instance, Mcdonalds in the states is really considered just a way to get a quick meal and rarely do you see many business people sitting around discussing something. Here McDonalds has people who open the door for you, clear the table and they have a fancy little coffee bar as well. There are advertisements to have you next executive meeting in the McDonalds conference room. Definitely a change from what we would be used to in the states. We like to take the oppurtunity to have our friends experience this.

Our lives continue to be blessed. Although our situation is not optimum we really do not have too much to complain about. Lisa of course would have more due to the work. The other night while on call she had 7 kids on the respirator. While on call she works the pedi icu, so it mixes the work up for her some. Luckily after midnight when all of the students under leave and she would normally be left alone, her chief resident sent another student from the ER to help her with the respirator patients.

Last week I was able to go visit the group in Chichicastenango and things are going well there. We were able to discuss ongoing clinics, issues and plans for the future. Then we also had time to sit and discuss some small conflicts as a team and then take time to pray together. We have a great team and we are blessed to know there are not many things we need to worry about. The chance I had to just visit with everyone was great. I also had the chance to get the house ready for people to stay in it should any of the missionaries in the area need some extra housing. We may have some guests towards the end of May through July.

Sorry our posts are not as frequent. It seems there is not as much to write about when living in the city and working in the office so we will continue to think of updates we could provide you. This week I get to go load a van with some medical supplies and equipment we are having donated from a ministry who imports these items into the country multiple times per year. The group is Vine International and they continue to provide this service to the missionary community free of charge.

Please take a look at Sheri's blog for information on our clinics - http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/. We have a special prayer request right now for a young man named Pedro. He is from Xejox / Chuchuca and he is suffering from some kind of paralyzing disease that has left he extremely debilitated. The family did take him to the hospital in Santa Cruz; however, his condition continued to worsen so rather than go to the city for continued treatment, the family decided to take him home. This is a hard decision here in Guatemala as the worst that could ever happen would be for someone to die without family and friends closeby. As this disease may eventually stop his breathing this may have been the best decision for the family. I spoke with Lisa about the case and she does not feel that the National Hospital Roosevelt would do much to be able to treat that disease as he would require a large amount of therapy which just does not seem to be available.

God bless and have a great day and week.

Life in Guatemala City

The contrast of cultures between Guatemala City and Chichicastenango is extremely interesting. Partly due to the area in which we live as it is one of the well to do areas. We are very surprised in the quality of vehicles that we see here. In Chichi all are used cars or pickups, here there are many new vehicles, SUV's and what we would consider luxury cars - BMW, Audi, Volvo, etc. There is definitely a growing middle to upper middle class in Guatemala City. Then of course there are always those in the extremely wealthy category. We have started to look for a different vehicle due to increased highway travel and to provide for better guest transportation if the HTI vehicles are not available and we have a hard time finding one that is manual. So automatic vehicles are on the rise here. We have a few vehicles on our possibility list, most with prices way above any kelly blue book values which really do not work here anyway.

We live near a supermarket which is very nice. You forget the convienence these provide, especially when the cook of the family is always working. Yesterday Lisa went for a much needed pedicure and left feeling much better. She is on her feet all day and if on call all night and all day.

Lisa's work is hard but she continues to have a good attitude. The last night on call they had to call in another student to help as they had a patient on renal dialysis and a few on ventilators. The renal dialysis patient was a very difficult patient to care for. So far they have only lost one child to respiratory failure. Her days are getting better now that she has a feel for how to do things and has learned to be a better phlebotomist. Her next day of call will be tomorrow, Wednesday and I will head to Chichi for a couple of days.

As for me, I keep finding tasks to keep me busy in the office, take care of errands for Lisa and HTI, managing the group in Chichi from a distance. We have a great team which makes the management part easy. When Lisa is on call on the weekends, I take long walks, clean house, etc.. This makes me miss the chances to play golf as it is a good time killer. Recently, I also found a place for lap swimming which I have always loved so have started to that as well. Living in the city has its down points but also provides for many more conviences we have always been spoiled with. We will enjoy while we can; however, we still prefer living in the Chichi area and will be ready to go back.

Well thats all for now. We will continue to keep everyone update. Please check in with Sheri for more information on the clinics in Chichi. www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com

First Day at School - Be careful what you ask for

Lisa and I were talking this morning that sometimes we say "sure would be nice to be back in school again". Well, for Lisa that kind of came true, just not what she had in mind. :) Lesson learned - be careful what you ask for!

I dropped Lisa off for her first day of school / work at Hospital Roosevelt today at 6:30am. She was a little nervous last night and some today but not too bad. More nervous about the unknown, working in spanish and of course not working in a hospital for about 10 years. We found out the other day that her first assignment would be a pediatric rotation for 2 months, followed by internal medicine for 2 months, then OB/GYN and surgery for 1 month each. So last night she started to review how to do a lumbar puncture and other procedures in her Harriet Lane manual.

This morning she called and she will be working in the newborn nursery for the month of february. She will be the intern in charge for the month. Her first night of call will be tonight which may be good as she may get to go home ealier in the day on Saturday than she would be able to on a weekday. She has not been able to speak with any of the attending physicians regarding the process of work, completion of orders, etc as they have been in meetings. She is there with 2 other newbees that do not know anything yet, so hopefully they will get their marching orders soon. When she called she had taken a newborn to xray and they were waiting their turn. For those who know the term --- the scut work begins.

That is about all we know so far, so please continue to pray for her.

Here are a few pictures of our apartment. This first one is the building.

Here are a couple of views from the apartment. In this first one you can kind of see the outline of the volcano Pacaya. Then the other is just a bunch of other high rise apartments.

The kicthen actually has cupboards - that was exciting. We also have 2 closets and a central hot water heater. Wow! In Chichi we only had the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink.

This is the living/dining area and we have a small bedroom as well.

This is the statue of the Pope outside of the apartment on Avenida Las Americas.

Thanks for checking in. Also please be praying for Dr. Tom Hoak who also started his work today in another hospital in the city - Hospital San Juan de Dios.