Good Sunday Morning. We are enjoying a relaxing beautiful morning and getting ready to go to worship. I (Lisa) had my last call on pediatrics on Friday and enjoyed a good long 5 hour nap yesterday morning. Kemmel took the opportunity to enjoy a round of golf (yes he has found a place that he can play so will enjoy for the next few months). I have been working in the Labor and Delivery on my call nights this month--receiving and stablizing babies. Friday we had 31 deliveries between 3:30 pm and 8:00am Saturday. It was a fast and furious night, but gracias a Dios every one did fine. At one time, we had 2-3 mother-baby pairs in each delivery room. So I would run back and forth, making sure each baby was crying and pink and run off to the next one. Then start back at the first one trying to get measurments and exam written up. Just when the 7th one had been born, the OBs told me they were taking in a 32 week for c-section. So I called my supervising resident for backup. That gave me a little break to get my other babies processed. Just when I finished that, I was walking by the labor rooms and overheard that the lady with preterm labor at 26 weeks gestation was complete (dilated and ready to deliver), despite the attempt to stop the contractions. So I called my resident to be ready to intubate and she said she would be there quickly but was intubating a patient on one of the floors. :( When the baby was born, it was tiny (2 lbs 9 oz), but breathing and very active. I held off on intubating and the resident got there and we decided it was older than predicted (34 weeks by exam), so he got to be admitted to the hospital to grow and develop a little before heading home. At 4:00 in the AM we had a little break in the craziness, so I sat down and had a delicious slice of cold pizza-it was pretty good!
It is hard to believe that 2 months have gone by. I am learning a lot about the way things are done here and getting good clinical experience as well. Although I feel pretty old (everyone is about 23-25 years old) I think I am holding up. Next week I start a month of OB. Should be a good month and the residents are nice there.
Today we will go to worship and enjoy the day together. We thank God for his faithfulness and pray that he bless each of you on this Lord's Day.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Blessed
Well, it has been awhile since we posted a blog. It is strange but we do not feel the excitement of posting a blog while here in the city. Anyway, we do want to let all of our friends and family know we are doing great. In thinking about what to blog about all we can think is we are blessed beyond what we deserve. Although we are in a stage that is not so easy, we have not wanted or needed for anything and God continues to take care of us.
This last week was Holy Week which is a week highly revered here in Guatemala as well it should be as it is a commemoration of what Christ has suffered for us. The only thing sad we experience each year is that all of the emphasis is on Jesus's suffering and there is not much emphasis on the miracle of His resurrection. For many the weeks reflection bascially ends on Good Friday and then the remainder of the weekend is more focused on vacationing during which time the pilgramage is to the beach. Here is a picture of one of the beaches. Not sure I would find much fun in that, but others wonder why would anyone want to golf!
As Lisa is an intern, she did not get the week off as other medical school students; however, she did get off early on Wednesday and then went on call on Thursday. The good in this is that she got off early Friday and then had the remainder of the weekend off. Thus, we decided to pamper ourselves and stay at a hotel with a pool Friday and Saturday night. We also got to enjoy the pasttime of channel surfing which we are glad we do not get to enjoy all of the time. One of the best decisions I think we have made is not having cable. It has allowed us to get much closer in our relationship with each other and allowed more time for reading, etc. Now we do get bored sometimes but living in Guatemala that is a good thing as life is a little slower in some ways and that has been a good thing. Then of course we do still need our fix of Law and Order which we have some DVD's of. Not sure why we are hooked on a show about criminal activity but we are. :)
Recent news - we purchased a different vehicle. The Suzuki is great but is just kind of small for traveling, especially when we have groups in town. So we purchased a 1999 Nissan Pathfinder that does not look to beat up and is in pretty good condition. So far we just put some routine maintenance into it and it runs great and the mechanics are giving it a thumbs up so we will continue to pray that it runs good. You just never know purchasing a used vehicle, especially here since most are wrecked vehicles brought from the states to here. We will continue to use the Suzuki here in the city as it is awesome for the city - small, can park anywhere and lives up to its name of "buggie, buggie". The students that drove it for a month on the back roads of Chichi would probably not think of it much as a buggie buggie! More bumpy, bumpy! Plentyo f headaches caused from crushing your skull on the ceiling of the jeep when hitting a big bump. Once we leave the city we will sell it which will be a sad day.
Yesterday I headed to Chichi for a visit. The house still stands and it does not appear anyone is trying to breakin - great news! I had a chance to visit with everyone Monday and Tuesday which was great. The fact of being withdrawn continues to be the hardest part of the time in the city. Everyone in Chichi seems to be doing well and the clinic ministries continue to grow in most areas. Today was the 3rd class for all of the volunteer health promoters. We have now clocked about 10 hours of training in different topics such as when to go to the hospital, basic first aide, have to give an injection, emergency preparedness, medicines, etc. Today the topic with dentistry taught by Marcos Lux. I did not get to be part of the class as I was trying to rush what I needed to do and then head back to the city, but they had a good turn out with about 15-20 promoters. As we mentioned blessed, we still cannot explain how blessed we are to be working with this group of people.
Sheri returned from the US today after a week of vacation and everyone starts clinics tomorrow. Monday we also had clinic in Lemoa and the clinic continues to grow providing more oppurtunities to share with those who visit us. We now have some "regulars" who we also get to see improvements in their lives. Marcos had a visit from a local school the other day to perform a dental exam on each student and make recommendations for the parents.
We want to thank each person who follows our blogs and who continues to keep us in your prayers. Blessings and grace continue to abound in our lives and we are truly grateful. God bless.
This last week was Holy Week which is a week highly revered here in Guatemala as well it should be as it is a commemoration of what Christ has suffered for us. The only thing sad we experience each year is that all of the emphasis is on Jesus's suffering and there is not much emphasis on the miracle of His resurrection. For many the weeks reflection bascially ends on Good Friday and then the remainder of the weekend is more focused on vacationing during which time the pilgramage is to the beach. Here is a picture of one of the beaches. Not sure I would find much fun in that, but others wonder why would anyone want to golf!
There are some more articles and pictures in the local paper.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2008/marzo/23/index.html
As Lisa is an intern, she did not get the week off as other medical school students; however, she did get off early on Wednesday and then went on call on Thursday. The good in this is that she got off early Friday and then had the remainder of the weekend off. Thus, we decided to pamper ourselves and stay at a hotel with a pool Friday and Saturday night. We also got to enjoy the pasttime of channel surfing which we are glad we do not get to enjoy all of the time. One of the best decisions I think we have made is not having cable. It has allowed us to get much closer in our relationship with each other and allowed more time for reading, etc. Now we do get bored sometimes but living in Guatemala that is a good thing as life is a little slower in some ways and that has been a good thing. Then of course we do still need our fix of Law and Order which we have some DVD's of. Not sure why we are hooked on a show about criminal activity but we are. :)
Recent news - we purchased a different vehicle. The Suzuki is great but is just kind of small for traveling, especially when we have groups in town. So we purchased a 1999 Nissan Pathfinder that does not look to beat up and is in pretty good condition. So far we just put some routine maintenance into it and it runs great and the mechanics are giving it a thumbs up so we will continue to pray that it runs good. You just never know purchasing a used vehicle, especially here since most are wrecked vehicles brought from the states to here. We will continue to use the Suzuki here in the city as it is awesome for the city - small, can park anywhere and lives up to its name of "buggie, buggie". The students that drove it for a month on the back roads of Chichi would probably not think of it much as a buggie buggie! More bumpy, bumpy! Plentyo f headaches caused from crushing your skull on the ceiling of the jeep when hitting a big bump. Once we leave the city we will sell it which will be a sad day.
Yesterday I headed to Chichi for a visit. The house still stands and it does not appear anyone is trying to breakin - great news! I had a chance to visit with everyone Monday and Tuesday which was great. The fact of being withdrawn continues to be the hardest part of the time in the city. Everyone in Chichi seems to be doing well and the clinic ministries continue to grow in most areas. Today was the 3rd class for all of the volunteer health promoters. We have now clocked about 10 hours of training in different topics such as when to go to the hospital, basic first aide, have to give an injection, emergency preparedness, medicines, etc. Today the topic with dentistry taught by Marcos Lux. I did not get to be part of the class as I was trying to rush what I needed to do and then head back to the city, but they had a good turn out with about 15-20 promoters. As we mentioned blessed, we still cannot explain how blessed we are to be working with this group of people.
Sheri returned from the US today after a week of vacation and everyone starts clinics tomorrow. Monday we also had clinic in Lemoa and the clinic continues to grow providing more oppurtunities to share with those who visit us. We now have some "regulars" who we also get to see improvements in their lives. Marcos had a visit from a local school the other day to perform a dental exam on each student and make recommendations for the parents.
We want to thank each person who follows our blogs and who continues to keep us in your prayers. Blessings and grace continue to abound in our lives and we are truly grateful. God bless.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Wendy's and the G Factor
We have come up with a term since living in Guatemala that we use to distinguish things that are different in this culture. We call it the G Factor. These are things that we find hard to understand in our way of thinking - they probably make perfect sense to those that live here so this is no way is to make fun or ridicule, just our way of identifying differences. I
am sure we would have plenty of U Factors (US differences if one was not from there) in the US as well .
So anyway, now that I have tried to protect myself from anyone thinking we are writing this to make fun or ridicule, here is what we experienced today. Lisa was on call last night and actually had a pretty hard call, but more on that later. She was getting off at 1pm so I made an effort to return from Chichi in time to pick her up and go to lunch and then home so she could rest. We went to Wendy's, one of the perks of living in the city. Picture this - we are pulling into the parking lot and 2 armed men get out of a car and take their posts as they watch a Toyota Land Cruiser, which is bullet-proof, back into the parking space. These men also have the wires in the ears, etc. Then 2 other men get out of another vehicle while the doors of the Land Cruiser open and a family gets out - mid 50's husband and wife and there daughter and grand children. Then they walk them to the door of Wendy's so they can enjoy some lunch. Once in Wendy's they are stationed around the restaurant and at each entrance. This is what we call the G Factor - not something we would see in the US, especially someone with that importance going to Wendy's for lunch. If we ever need that kind of surveillance we will have to rethink our lives, not sure we could handle that!
So back to what is going on. Lisa started a new rotation in the children's clinic and it is pretty sweet. Mainly well children checkups, break at 10am, done at noon. This gives her time to study after the afternoon class so she is pretty pleased. She also started a new rotation when she is on call and it is being the pediatrician for Labor and Delivery. Sounds like a great job, but last night they had 28 births and she was the pediatrician. So she heard nurses and other physicians calling "Pedriata" all night and was non-stop. Did not even get a chance to sit and rest. The good news is she made it through it, all baby's alive and well and she got off at 1pm.
I went to Chichi yesterday to meet up with the mobile clinics and the group from Pepperdine University that is visiting to experience another culture, get a glimpse at medical missions, support us by ministering to our patients in prayer, taking time with the children and just being with our patients and churches that we work with. This time of fellowship is a great experience to be a part of. Yesterday evening after clinic they went to play soccer with the HTI staff and all had a great time. The star of the show was our health promoter Juan who scored at least 6 goals, so we named him "El Conejo" since he would just not stop. Conejo is rabbit, like the energizer bunny. Another one from the Pepperdine group was a high scorer as well.
I met up with the group in Pacaja Xesic where the patient load started out slow and ended up with 20 or so medical patients and 20 or so dental patients. It was also Anja's (one of the members of the Pepperdine group) birthday, so after an excellent lunch of grilled steak, beans and guacamole we had some fun with the pinata with the hosts from the church and the patients that were still around. I also had the opportunity to speak with Anastascio Alvarez one of the church leaders and we had a good conversation about the clinic and the church. Also, I got to spend some time with a local teacher who expressed his gratitude for the service that we provide to his community. All in all a great day and we continue to pray that our patients will continue to receive healing both physically and spiritually.
Today the teams have mobile clinics in Mactzul 6 and San Jorge Sacapulas and we are expecting good turn outs of patients. Both of these locations have started to announce via radio which helps spread the word better. I went to Mactzul 6 in the morning and spent some time with Pedro Calel who lost his 16 year old son last month. He and his wife are doing better than they expected and he knows it is due to all of the prayers that have been offered on their behalf. I also got to talk to his other son some and you could tell he was still sad - he is about 12 or 13. We got him involved with the students and it started to perk him up. Please continue to pray for this family.
As always, please check Sheri's blog for more news on the clinics and photos! www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com
am sure we would have plenty of U Factors (US differences if one was not from there) in the US as well .
So anyway, now that I have tried to protect myself from anyone thinking we are writing this to make fun or ridicule, here is what we experienced today. Lisa was on call last night and actually had a pretty hard call, but more on that later. She was getting off at 1pm so I made an effort to return from Chichi in time to pick her up and go to lunch and then home so she could rest. We went to Wendy's, one of the perks of living in the city. Picture this - we are pulling into the parking lot and 2 armed men get out of a car and take their posts as they watch a Toyota Land Cruiser, which is bullet-proof, back into the parking space. These men also have the wires in the ears, etc. Then 2 other men get out of another vehicle while the doors of the Land Cruiser open and a family gets out - mid 50's husband and wife and there daughter and grand children. Then they walk them to the door of Wendy's so they can enjoy some lunch. Once in Wendy's they are stationed around the restaurant and at each entrance. This is what we call the G Factor - not something we would see in the US, especially someone with that importance going to Wendy's for lunch. If we ever need that kind of surveillance we will have to rethink our lives, not sure we could handle that!
So back to what is going on. Lisa started a new rotation in the children's clinic and it is pretty sweet. Mainly well children checkups, break at 10am, done at noon. This gives her time to study after the afternoon class so she is pretty pleased. She also started a new rotation when she is on call and it is being the pediatrician for Labor and Delivery. Sounds like a great job, but last night they had 28 births and she was the pediatrician. So she heard nurses and other physicians calling "Pedriata" all night and was non-stop. Did not even get a chance to sit and rest. The good news is she made it through it, all baby's alive and well and she got off at 1pm.
I went to Chichi yesterday to meet up with the mobile clinics and the group from Pepperdine University that is visiting to experience another culture, get a glimpse at medical missions, support us by ministering to our patients in prayer, taking time with the children and just being with our patients and churches that we work with. This time of fellowship is a great experience to be a part of. Yesterday evening after clinic they went to play soccer with the HTI staff and all had a great time. The star of the show was our health promoter Juan who scored at least 6 goals, so we named him "El Conejo" since he would just not stop. Conejo is rabbit, like the energizer bunny. Another one from the Pepperdine group was a high scorer as well.
I met up with the group in Pacaja Xesic where the patient load started out slow and ended up with 20 or so medical patients and 20 or so dental patients. It was also Anja's (one of the members of the Pepperdine group) birthday, so after an excellent lunch of grilled steak, beans and guacamole we had some fun with the pinata with the hosts from the church and the patients that were still around. I also had the opportunity to speak with Anastascio Alvarez one of the church leaders and we had a good conversation about the clinic and the church. Also, I got to spend some time with a local teacher who expressed his gratitude for the service that we provide to his community. All in all a great day and we continue to pray that our patients will continue to receive healing both physically and spiritually.
Today the teams have mobile clinics in Mactzul 6 and San Jorge Sacapulas and we are expecting good turn outs of patients. Both of these locations have started to announce via radio which helps spread the word better. I went to Mactzul 6 in the morning and spent some time with Pedro Calel who lost his 16 year old son last month. He and his wife are doing better than they expected and he knows it is due to all of the prayers that have been offered on their behalf. I also got to talk to his other son some and you could tell he was still sad - he is about 12 or 13. We got him involved with the students and it started to perk him up. Please continue to pray for this family.
As always, please check Sheri's blog for more news on the clinics and photos! www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Good news!
Yesterday was Lisa's last day on her current rotation and she made it through. They took their test yesterday and she made a 91 so she was pretty delighted with that. Also, and this is the best news, she was assigned to the "Clinica Ninos Sanos" for the next month. This is the external consult for children, so basically an outpatient clinic where they also see patients who come in to be referred to a specialist or that need surgery, extra services, etc. This is excellent news for her as this is the environment that she prefers. Plus, not to mention that she heard they get off work by 1 or 2 pm each day. We will not so much keep our fingers crossed for that, but 4pm would be a good improvement. She will continue to be on call every 4th night.
She was speaking with another one of the interns who informed her that the attending physicians are extremely pleased with her work as she is very compassionate and responsible in the care she provides. Another plus for her.
Just to continue our posts of 80's music which is so popular here, we enjoyed eating breakfast today accompanied by Survivor, Peter ... (lead singer from Chicago) and Pat Benatar. The other day the big one was Air Supply and the Bee Gees.
Please continue to see Sheri's blogs regarding the clinics - www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com. Dr. Josefina also has a rotation of clinics and all clinics seem to be doing well, minus some small ones that we still struggle with. We are in the process of starting a radio announcement, so hopefully that will start this week. We have had some incidences of increased violence in the Chichi area with 3 murders in the last month, so please pray for peace and security in the area. We are going to change some of our schedules so that our office assistant, Mauri, spends less time in the clinic alone to ensure some additional precautions. This is just to ask for your prayers, overall this is still an extremely safe place to live, just every once in awhile you have something like this occur.
Also on a sad note, last week the son of a good friend, Pedro Calel from Mactzul 6, died. We are not sure of the cause but it was unexpected so maybe some type of tumor or strange occurrence. He was 15 or 16 years old. Pedro is one of the leaders of the churches of the area and is one of the most compassionate people we know. He is always around to pray with patients and to greet us with a warm smile.
On the side of good news, I spoke with the father of Tomasa Chicoj Salvador yesterday. She is the child with the eye tumor or actually, the child that had the eye tumor - this is one of the small miracles God has let us observe. Her progress has been great and the physicians indicated to them that all is well and she will have another checkup in June. We will be contacting the physician to see what exactly "well" means, but to be off treatment for 6 months is pretty good! We also saw Tomasa and she looks great, just did not have my camera with me. She is growing hair again and looks pretty happy. Please continue to keep that family in your prayers.
Still no photos, hard to carry a camera around in the city and once you have seen a photo of the apartment, not much else to get excited about. :)
Today we receive a group from Pepperdine who will work with Sheri and Josefina for this next week. We are excited for the opportunity and we have all worked as a team to get prepared. Some of the group will be students returning from last year. Well, better run as I need to purchase some items before they arrive.
Have a good weekend. Our weekend will start after Lisa wakes up this afternoon.
She was speaking with another one of the interns who informed her that the attending physicians are extremely pleased with her work as she is very compassionate and responsible in the care she provides. Another plus for her.
Just to continue our posts of 80's music which is so popular here, we enjoyed eating breakfast today accompanied by Survivor, Peter ... (lead singer from Chicago) and Pat Benatar. The other day the big one was Air Supply and the Bee Gees.
Please continue to see Sheri's blogs regarding the clinics - www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com. Dr. Josefina also has a rotation of clinics and all clinics seem to be doing well, minus some small ones that we still struggle with. We are in the process of starting a radio announcement, so hopefully that will start this week. We have had some incidences of increased violence in the Chichi area with 3 murders in the last month, so please pray for peace and security in the area. We are going to change some of our schedules so that our office assistant, Mauri, spends less time in the clinic alone to ensure some additional precautions. This is just to ask for your prayers, overall this is still an extremely safe place to live, just every once in awhile you have something like this occur.
Also on a sad note, last week the son of a good friend, Pedro Calel from Mactzul 6, died. We are not sure of the cause but it was unexpected so maybe some type of tumor or strange occurrence. He was 15 or 16 years old. Pedro is one of the leaders of the churches of the area and is one of the most compassionate people we know. He is always around to pray with patients and to greet us with a warm smile.
On the side of good news, I spoke with the father of Tomasa Chicoj Salvador yesterday. She is the child with the eye tumor or actually, the child that had the eye tumor - this is one of the small miracles God has let us observe. Her progress has been great and the physicians indicated to them that all is well and she will have another checkup in June. We will be contacting the physician to see what exactly "well" means, but to be off treatment for 6 months is pretty good! We also saw Tomasa and she looks great, just did not have my camera with me. She is growing hair again and looks pretty happy. Please continue to keep that family in your prayers.
Still no photos, hard to carry a camera around in the city and once you have seen a photo of the apartment, not much else to get excited about. :)
Today we receive a group from Pepperdine who will work with Sheri and Josefina for this next week. We are excited for the opportunity and we have all worked as a team to get prepared. Some of the group will be students returning from last year. Well, better run as I need to purchase some items before they arrive.
Have a good weekend. Our weekend will start after Lisa wakes up this afternoon.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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
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
Friday, February 1, 2008
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!
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.
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.
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