Day at clinic and more surgeries

This morning we headed out to clinic and the surgery team started early.  I wanted to come out to Rio Bravo to visit Marlene.  She was a patient back in August and we have stayed in touch since then.

Assembling clinic in Rio Bravo..........who is that man behind the curtain????

It is Jeff and his talented assistant, Chloe!

We saw a couple of patients and then Marlene arrived.  She later returned with her son :)

Jeff and I were invited to visit Marlene's home.  We enjoyed our visit as we met her sister, one of her brothers and her mom.

Kenia and her mom waiting as the patients come out of surgery.

This is Eleazor only a few minutes out of surgery.  His mom is really pleased.

The swelling and discoloration is normal.  In a few days, it will look much better.

This is Randy just a few minutes before his surgery.

Eber comes out of surgery and is placed in his mother's arms.

Randy when his surgery is completed.

Jose Luiz after his palate repair.

It was a busy day.........and a long one but we are very thankful. 

It was good to see Marlene and meet more of her family.  All of the surgeries went well and the parents are very excited.

Tomorrow, we will have another fantastic day :)

Carlos Baptied Carlos!

This morning, we all headed across the street for worship.  At the end of the service, they announced that we would have a baptism in the river. I thought the name sounded familiar but could not remember until I saw Linda..........Carlos is her ABC child.  She has sponsored him for many years and usually spends some time with him and his family each February, when she visits.

We slowly made our way to the river.  One of the first people to pop out of the jungle was Sara. This is Sara's first trip to Guatemala and we are excited to have her!

Out pops Amy and it is also her first time here.  She will be translating for the patients this week.

Carlos prepares to baptize Carlos as he is teaching him.  It is a moment that we will always remember.............

as the angles also rejoice with us.

The children from the congregation sitting on the rocks and watching the baptism.

When we finished, we regrouped for a quick meeting, lunch and then the surgeries started.

Clinic for the babies!

I met the babies down in Montellano this afternoon.

This is Eber Jeremia.  He will have his palate repaired on Monday and his surgery is being sponsored by Nancy and her congregation.  Several of them are here this week so that is a special bonus for them!

This is Eleazor Geraldo.  His surgery will also be on Monday and Danny from Morganton will be sponsoring this surgery.

This is Jose Luis and his mom.  He will also have surgery on Monday and his surgery will be sponsored by Don and Jessie from Morganton.

I could not find Randy.  He and his mom have been making the rounds today and they are hard to catch up with. Randy will have his lip surgery on Monday and is sponsored Terry.

This is Kenia and she will have her lip repaired again on Tuesday. Her surgery will be sponsored by Kory.

It is going to be a busy week but a good one. The group is a combination of many who have been volunteering for years in February and we also have some new people.

The group is being led by Julie and will be ready to bounce into action tomorrow after worship and a quick lunch.

Clinic in Chichi

The clinic in Chichi was today and there were a variety of patients.  There were 23 medical patients and 12 dental patients.

There is a gentleman that is a regular patient in the clinic and he returned today with postive results for tubercuolosis.  He is a diabetic and has several struggles.  I know that he would appreciate your prayers.

For those of you who have stayed with our promoter, Manuel, you will remember his daughter, Roxanna.  She was at the clinic today waiting for Manuel.  Her grandmother is positioning her neice on her back and then they were off walking around.

There were several diabetics in clinic today and some had made some improvment.  One lady recently found out that she was diabetic.  Her first blood surgar was 356 but today, she was 92.  She has really worked on controlling her tortilla intake.  She told me that she use to eat 10-15 tortillas at each meal!  That is a lot of tortillas!! Now, she is trying to eat more protein so we will see how she does in the future.

Clinic in Warm San Jorge

San Jorge was wonderful today!  We have been quite chilly in Chichi so the warmth of San Jorge was nice.  We were able to shed some of the coats and enjoy the sun.

Dental had a great clinic with 12 patients but the medical side was a little slow.  This is very unusal  but sometimes, it just happens.

This is a crop of onions on the side of the clinic.  You can see the irrigation system that they use in the center of the photo.

The mountain area is dry and they will be looking for some rain soon. The river was very low when we passed over it.

While dental was working, we sat in the shade and had some interesting conversation about Celebration Recovery, the work of the Holy Spirit and our role in helping others.  It is alway good to refocus, examine our work and how we can better it........while realizing that it is not what we are doing, but how God and The Spirit can work through us.

For lunch we went to a restaurant that was described as, "Bonita, Buena y Barrata."  Meaning, pretty, good and cheap!  I can handle that.  It held true to all Bs."  We had grilled steak, rice, salad, tortillas and wonderful salsa with beverage for 20Q or $2.66........yes, you read correctly!

We will see what tomorrow holds :)

Clinic in Chutzurob

Today, we had 2 trucks that headed out to Chutzurob.

We were concerned with Cecy and her family.  Her grandmother had surgery yesterday so she was not with us.  I called her later in the day and her grandmother was awake and doing better. I know that she would appreciate your prayers for her family.

Chutzurob was busy and we loved it.  Later, Mitch told me it was one of his favorite days.  He had a great day in clinic and then later he and Manuel did some things in Chichicastenango.

We had 22 patients.  Since Cecy was not with us, I did the vital signs and labs.  Manuel later told me that he had two dental cleanings and asked if I would do the pharmacy while he did the cleanings.  "Sure!"  I responded.

I was real pleased when a lady returned to the clinic since I had been concerned about her daughter.  I had talked to Lisa about this last week so it was kind of ironic that the mother was there today.

In December, she brought her daughter in because her stomach was larger than normal.  The neighbors had questioned if the daughter was pregnant.  I asked her to get an ultrasound but she never returned to clinic.  When I asked the members of the church about her, they told me that the ultra sound was normal and everything was ok. Today, the mother told me that she had visited a surgeon in Chichi and he had removed the mass in January.  I am thankful that the mother followed-up in Chichi and that he daughter received the care that she needed.

Tomorrow, I will head to San Jorge with Sarah, Aura and the other team members.

Remember This Patient??

This morning, many of us headed out to Caris for clinic and we had a busy day.  There were 22 medical paients and Sandra was busy with her dental patients.

I received a call yesterday from this mom.  Her son, Anderson Joel, had his lip surgery 2 years ago and last year had his palate repaired.  She continues to be thankful for the surgery and the work that Health Talents does in this area. 

It is nice to have former patients come by for a visit!

The next plastic team will arrive on February the 7th.  Please pray that they will have safe travels and that we will be able to provide physical and spiritual care.