Clinic in Chajbal

This morning was a real struggle to get to clinic.  Aura, our dentist called early and told us that a tractor trailer had problems and the road was totally blocked in Sepela.  Therefore, we had to totally change plans to get to our clinics.  Lisa picked me up and a few others and we drove to Clinica Caris where Manuel was waiting for us.  The drive was interesting with buses flooring it on the back roads.................we finally made it

Manuel, Maria, Nathan and I headed out to Chajbal, where Enrique and Andrea were waiting for us.
We quickly set up for clinic and started.  We saw eleven medical patients and dental had seven patients.

The concern for the day was a 5 year old boy that had developed diarrhea and fever last night.  He was lethargic and his temperature was 100.9.  The father took him to the hospital when he was not able to drink.  It is sad when parents are so worried over their children and we are limited in what we can do.  I sure hope they received good care.

Jackson was with us again and he worked with dental.  We also had Nathan with us today.  He is studying at Harding University and is planning on beginning a P.A. program.

When it came time to start packing up, Nathan tried his hand hat wrapping up the electrical cords.  He had a little of a struggle but finished.  He took our teasing real well.  Way to go Nathan!

When we had seen all of the patients we headed back to Clinica Caris.  Lisa and Teresa had seen over twenty patients, so we helped them finish up.

It was a great day with the usual challenges and we survived!

Tomorrow, we will be in Carris with a mountain of patients...............we will survive again!

MET Students Arrive

The MET Students have arrived in the Chichi area.  Yesterday, Lisa and Kemmel  brought four students that will be with us for a few weeks.  Then during the remaining weeks of the program, we will have the students that are currently in Montellano.

We headed to Patzite this morning.  I stopped and picked up Martina, Enrique and Aura.  When we arrived in Patzite, Tomas was there with the two students, Jonas and Jackson.

We quickly unloaded the trucks and set up clinic.  Jonas worked in dental, while Jackson worked with the medical area..  He did the vital signs and then sat in on the consults.

This is Jackson doing some of the vital signs.  He is studying chemistry and music.

We finished with fourteen medical patients and dental had seven.

Tomorrow, we will have clinic in Chajbal.  I hope there are two patients in that clinic that we did not have time to see yesterday in Lemoa.  There were so many patients when we arrived, several were asked to attend another clinic.

It was during the MET Program of 2005 that I made my first visit to Guatemala.  I remember it so well.  I had traveled down to spend time with Dr. Jim and Mary Rackley.  Unfortunately, Jim became ill and had to leave early so I was not able to work with him.  Instead, I spent a lot of time with Kemmel and Lisa.  The 12 years has passed very quickly.  I never thought that one day I would be doing a blog about living here.  I appreciate the opportunity to be here and to serve with Health Talents. 

Clinic in Chichi

Today, I grabbed a tuk-tuk to Chichi for clinic.  Tomas and Cesar helped with medical, while Andrea and Maria took care of the dental patients.

There was one very special patient that helped us a lot.  He helped us carry from the first box until we were all done.  From looking at his sweatshirt, you could tell that he was a really special person :) :) :)

We finished out the day with eighteen patients .........tomorrow, we will be in Mactzul I.

Health Talents Seminar

On Monday, we cancelled our normal activities and we traveled to Santiago to have a two day meeting with all of the people that work with Health Talents.  The people from Montellano were there and also the people that work in Guatemala City.

We left Chichi around 0630, so that meant we would have breakfast on the way.  This is where we stopped for breakfast.

This is Lake Atitlan,

The place that we stopped had very pretty flowers and it had just rained.

After a great breakfast we loaded back up.  Maria, a promoter and Nidia, a physician deciding to hop back in the truck.

They were followed by Teresa who is a promoter and Andrea and Aura who are dentists.

Cesar waiting patiently for us........Professor Cesar.

Gaspar, our evangelist and his son, Noe, a physical therapist.

This was the view from our room.  We had 8 people in our room with 4 bunk beds.

Rick, the director of Health Talents was with us and Carlos translated for him.

Noe leading singing on Tuesday morning.

We broke into groups today to discuss topics that are important to the ministry.  One of those is continuing education for medical and dental providers.

Cesar and Manuel shared with us the thoughts from their group.

Lisa and Kemmel always have time to answer questions that we might have.

We had a cake and celebrated Jenny and Micaela's birthdays.

This is the final group photo.

We had heard before we left that some of the main roads might be closed but we did not encounter any problems and we were thankful for that.

Tomorrow, we will start up clinics for the rest of the week.

Clinic in Mactuzl II

On Friday, we had clinic in Mactzul II.  When we finished, we enjoyed the lunch that the ladies had prepared for us.

Below is one of our ABC Children, Gabriela.  She has really grown since I saw her last year.  She is sponsored by Jodi, who has had the opportunity to meet Gabriela and her mom twice. Gabriela has a bright future a head If you are interested  in sponsoring an ABC Child, please let us know..

After clinic, I headed to Antigua. Going through Chimaltenango has become more difficult over the last couple of years due to the amount of traffic.  This man climbed up the ladder on the back right side to get to some of the things that had been stored on top for the ride. Of course, we were still driving at a decent speed and drops of rain were falling.......but that does not matter.

The part that made me the most nervous was the electrical lines he continued to dodge while he crawled under the plastic to untie what he wanted to take down.  My turn to Antigua arrived before he was finished so I did not see him climb down.

Nothing is boring about living in Guatemala.  Everyday is an adventure and you have no idea what is beyond the next curve.

As I was walking in Antigua, I was trying to find one of my favorite restaurants but found out that it had closed. I have taken many people there and they would remember it because they have, "shrimp without tails." I was very sad to find it closed. As I was walking and thinking about where to go, some man approached me and asked, "Do you want a husband?"  So, what do you think I said?

When I returned to Chichi, I made it fairly quickly through Chimaltenango and then as I started to climb to Chichi, one of the semi-tractors had problems and had pulled off to the side.  Where he was, it prevented other trailors from passing. I have seen the road blocked for two days when something like this happens.

Tomorrow, we will have clinic in Mactul I and I hope that we hae several patients.

Diabetic and Baby Follow-up

We had clinic today in Lemoa and we had a busy clinic.  It was busy but we managed well.

Lisa had called me on Friday to let me know that a diabetic patient would be coming to Clinica Caris and that she had already cleaned a foot ulcer that he has.  He was the first in line this morning at clinic and I was pleased with the way his foot had responded to the antibiotic. He told me that he has had this sore for four months.  Also today, his blood sugar had dropped a little.

So I completely trimmed the skin around the outside and cleaned everything real well.  He will return on Thursday to see Lisa again.

It is time to start seeing babies for the August plastic surgery.  Xavier came today with his mom. He is now ready for his palate repair.

This was Xavier before his lip surgery last August.

What a difference one year makes after having surgery.  Ginny and Jack sponsored Xavier last year and will do so again for this surgery.

Tomorrow, we will head to Mactzul II. I hope that we have a ton of patients!

Catching up with Oklahoma, Airpot and Montellano

Yesterday, a few of us from the Oklahoma group went to Antigua to spend the night.  We enjoyed dinner together and then it was time to get some sleep.  It has been a busy week but all went well and we are very thankful for that.

On Saturday morning, I took a shuttle to the Guatemalan Airport to wait for a new group to arrive.  There were 37 that arrived and we traveled to Montellano and started setting up for a surgical clinic.

As I was waiting for the group to arrive, I realized how much the airport has changed since my first visit, in 2005.  This gentleman is dressed in his Mayan attire.  You do not see many men outside of Solola with their native dress.

I remember when I first started coming to Guatemala, we would exit a open-air hanger.  There would be trucks full of Guatemalans, who came to the airport to meet their returning family.  Traveling to The Capital was a huge deal for them. Now, the exit of the airport has changed drastically and there is a huge Samsung screen hanging with various advertisements.

When both flights landed and we accounted for 37 visitors, we took off for Montellano.  They will have a full week, seeing many patients.  Rick usually flieswith the group but his daughter, Julie Ann, graduated today so he will arrive on Sunday.

After worship on Sunday, we had a meeting with Dr. Walter and Rowdy translated for him.  As soon as we had lunch, people started preparing for a week of surgery.

We pray that all goes well and each surgery is a success.  We also are very thankful that the medical staff arrived safely without any issues.

Oklahoma Christian Head to Las Trampas and Caris

We headed to different clinics again today. One group returned to Clinic Caris, while another group of us headed down the main highway to Las Trampas for an ABC Clinic.

Kemmel answering questions and getting everyone going in the right direction.  

The students wondering if they are up for another day of this..........all of the same activities, just another day!

Lisa and Manuel working out a few points.

After about a 45 minute drive, we unloaded the trucks and started seeing patients.

We saw about 23 ABC Children and 7 adults.

Manuel and Jason chilling a little between patients.

Medical consults in the front as dental sees their patients behind.

Brother Dave entertaining a little girl as her family sees the physician.

We had a very good lunch of beef soup and tortillas.

After lunch we finished up seeing a few patients and made a house call.  A lady that is 94 years old has been having a terrible cough and difficulty breathing.  We got her some medicine and hopefully, she will start to feel better soon.

Tomorrow is another day and another adventure.  We will have groups in Charis, Chuchuca and Xejox............some of us will leave at 0600 and head UP, UP, UP the mountain!

Oklahoma Students in Maxtzul VII

A group of us ended up in Mactzul VII today for an ABC Clinic.

Fransica and Anna helped get all of the patients checked in to see the physicians and dentists.

This is the group of Oklahoma Christian Students and they are doing great., 

Dental setting up their area.

Dave and Susan saw the children after their consults and then they had some tattoo art to share with them.

We enjoyed a lunch of beef soup with squash, potatoes, carrot and rice.  We had some excellent, fresh chili and it was potent but had a great flavor.

When we finished, we headed back and look forward to our clinics tomorrow.

Oklahoma Christian University in Guatemala

We quickly ate breakfast this morning and then headed to different locations to have clinics.  I went with a group to our central clinic in Lemoa.  We had a good number waiting for us and we finished seeing twenty-four medical patients.

Praying with all of the patients before clinic starts.

Noe, the physical therapist started seeing his patients right away.  Hartley followed Noe today and learned his routine.

Tomorrow will be another busy day and we will be in four communities.  The Oklahoma students are doing well and are motivated to learn.