More Road Work

The day started out with a misty fog again, and we drove through the clouds to to our clinic sites of Paxot II and Mactzul II. Thankfully the sun peeked out and it began to warm up and clear away the clouds, leaving us with a great day for hosting large crowds of people.

Long hard day at the office!

My sidekick Sarah Stanley

We saw 98 dental and 35 medical in Paxot, with a busy physical therapy department as well. In Mactzul there were over 200 children screened at the school with a class on Trust and Confidence. In clinic they saw 70 medical and 80 dental patients. The church members were out in full force to help out and provide reception/secretary services, lunch and help out in translating. It was a long, busy but very fun day of fellowship and service.




It seems like sometimes we see large crowds of people and I feel myself cringing inside thinking, "how will we get through them all?" But, I have been praying specifically lately asking God to give me patience and a joyful endurance when we have days that are hectic. I think it is getting easier sometimes, although we always have our frustrations and hectic moments, I keep praying for us to be more like Jesus when he saw the crowds and had compassion on them.

Hittin' the Road

Well, we have a group visiting us right now--several from Alabama, Arkansas and also Texas and Colorado. We hit the road today like a caravan of circus clowns crammed in to a bus and 6 trucks. I'm not sure how we all squeezed in, but thankfully we didn't have too far to go. One team was with us in central clinic where we offered general medical and dental consults and physical therapy. Our physical therapist even made a home visit to a local man with partial paralysis from the waist down but with signs of some recovery of function. He left some excercises and we will be sending Sheri and Juan out each week to check his progress.

Another group went to a local school and did well child checks and an educational video and activity on Respect. It was a hit and the teachers were very pleased with the service, asking when we could come back.

Finally, the Xatinap group landed at their destination, and after sending out an announcement party, pulled in a net full of patients for medical and dental. They left kind of late but made it in without trouble.

Now we are sitting around the hotel checking internet, sipping coffee and tea and trying to ward off the cold dampness from the rain. Tomorrow we're off to Paxot II and Mactzul II for more fun. Wish you were here!

Clinic in Saquilla

Clinic in was held in Saquilla today in the home of one of the members of the Xepocol church because the road was closed for repairs. I thought there would be a low turnout due to site change, but despite the low number of Xepocol folks, we had a bunch of new patients from Saquilla. One lady, a very young newly diagnosed diabetic (24) came back with her blood sugars still running high despite maxing out one medication and her claiming to be watching her diet carefully. Unfortunately, I believe her, as she only weighs 98 pounds and was able to recite to me what she had been eating the last few days. We talked about the possiblity of Type I or juvenile diabetes and sent her for some blood work. Be praying for her, as this would be a very difficult disease to manage around here if she needed insulin therapy.

We also saw a 3-week old for a check up and is doing well. I couldn't resist a quick picture of mom and baby. This is the third child but 1st daughter for Rosalia--YEA! She really appreciated the newborn gift we gave her from Health Talents.

Rosalia and "Baby Girl". We don't have a name yet, poor thing!

On another up note, we saw two prenatal patients--both brought in by the same midwife. I am starting to really respect this woman (she has good taste in doctors!) because she advises her patients to come in for check ups and even brought me one today who was only 6 weeks along, but had had a miscarriage with the last pregnancy. We confirmed the pregnancy, reminding her that the baby was too small to detect on physical exam. The midwife chimed in, "Yeah, the baby is about the size of a bean right now. At 3 months it will be about as big as a large avacado!" I tried out my new fetoscope that Dr. Lesca Hadley sent me and was able to detect good heart sounds on the other 31-weeker.

Tomorrow is Mactzul 6 and should be a good day too!

Dr. Marcos and his 3 Musketeer friends tying up the equipment in the back of the truck.

Happy Independence Day!

We had a great 4th of July yesterday. It started out as a normal work day, specifically an education day for our team. Sheri and I (Lisa) tried out some new material from the Community Health Evangelism program (www.lifewind.org ). This is some of the curriculum we are trying to incorporate into our education program aimed at out staff, church volunteers, and communities. It was a little bit different approach to teaching, but fun and encourages participation. I taught about diarrhea and Sheri did dehydration. It was interesting how our health promoters would try to give the "right" answers to the questions (talking about bacterias, parasites and viruses) , but had trouble coming up with simple definitions for diarrhea and dehydration and concepts of fecal contamination. This gave us a lot of insight into how to tailor our approach and things to focus on when we get out into the community education.

After work we came home and prepared a yummy 4th of July dinner with Sheri. There were barbecue pork sandwiches, potato salad and veggies and of course, Diet Coke and lemonade! We wrapped it up with rice krispi treats (a little on the stale side--don't use reduced-fat margarine!). As we sat around chatting and planning our takeover of the world, we heard some nearby fireworks. It was a festive way to end the evening.

We hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend, and remembers and cherishes the freedoms we are guaranteed as U.S. citizens.

Happy Birthday Drew!

Happy Birthday tomorrow to my brother Drew. You still look good for an old guy! We love you.

Occupational Hazards

Well, we had a lot of extra help in Clinica Caris today when Josefina, Manuel and Tomas showed up around 9:30 this morning after running into a massive mudslide on the way to Panajxit clinic. They couldn't see any good way around it without risking life and limb and decided to come on back. The rain has been pretty intense the last few days and is supposed to continue for a while. So far no hurricanes on the horizon, but when you wake up to rain every morning you know something is cooking.

We made good use of the together time, seeing all the patients quickly and spending time together getting organized for our team of volunteers coming next week. We have a team of 29 people coming to offer medical and dental consults and well child check ups in the nearby school, so it's worth the effort to have a good master plan in place, making for a smooth trip. Of course we always hope that there are no mudslides to contend with!

Celebrate Good Times

This weekend was busy, mostly celebrating (code for too much good food). We celebrated my (Lisa's) birthday (Sushi lunch, Peruvian ceviche for dinner), went to Carlos and Silvia's wedding(wedding food, and nachos at Mono Loco), and celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary (traditional fajitas--this time at Chili's, where we ran into our friends, Don and Heather Logan, and they picked up our tab--very sweet!) It's hard to believe we have been married that long--we both feel so blessed to have each other.

We also saw off our MET students, although we were sad to see them go. They were a great group to have and we can see what a blessing they are to the Lord's church already.

Also, we made another advance in the medical license saga--I now have an I.D. card from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, although I don't get my actual license for another week or so (still worthy of a celebratory meal--McDonalds!). After that, its to the National Registry office to get added to the books, and then to the "narcotics-prescription-writing-permission-givers (Guatemala's version of the DEA). Ahhh.....so close!