Winding down

Today was the last day of clinic for our students.  We went out to Sacapulas, which is our big diabetic clinic.  Josefina and I saw 40 patients and 5 others came for dental cleanings.  We have really tried to work on diabetic education there, taking time to show the patients how to adjust their diets.  The big challenge (other than limiting carbs) is conveying nutrition information (protein, carbohydrate, etc) in verbal and pictoral form for the majority of patients that don't read or speak Spanish.  But it's coming along nicely, and the patients keep referring other friends and neighbors to us.  We also are trying to reach the many non-Christian patients that we have there, praying with them, giving thanks to God when their sugars start coming under better control, and inviting them to worship with the local church.

On the way back I sat in the back of the pickup holding Tomas' new kittens he bought from the family that hosts our clinic there in Sacapulas.  They were tied together and bagged up in a grain bag, with just their head sticking out.  We just kind of vegged together on the 1 1/2 hour ride back, listening to soft hits of yester-year on the radio (think Neil Sedaka and Partridge Family singing in Spanish--the DJ psyched us out with an ABBA song that turned out to be just the intro music to the station identification break). 

Tomorrow Kemmel and I get to take the interns to Antigua and enjoy a long weekend.  Kemmel has graciously offered to take me on the Antigua historical walking tour for my birthday (definitely a sacrifice on his part!).  It will be a good weekend.  We are both ready for a little pampering and rest after a busy month!