GYN and General Surgical Week

Prior to the surgical trip, we had our first Zoom meeting with nurses. Alice, our vice president, led the meeting after sending out multiple invitations. The goal of this meeting is to improve communication before a team arrives. During the meeting, everyone is encouraged to ask questions and it gives us/me more information to help the week run smoothly.

Elaine, who previously was an HTI president, also participated in the Zoom meeting

First is Isabella. She is a nursing student at Abilene Christian University. In the navy blue is Kerri, who is an RN and this was her first trip with Health Talents. Miranda is also a student at ACU and Ann Cross who has many years with us here in Guatemala. It was great to see Ann again and also have some new people with us!

The week progressed and all went well.  He had sixty five surgeries between GYN and General.

Victor, one of our evangelists, went from bed-to-bed to pray with patients.

 

One night, we needed to give a patient some blood.  We needed three donors and within minutes, we had them!

 

The first donor was Kerri. 

 

The second was Kimmi.

 

Masson completed the third unit.

 

The week flew by fast.  Soon, it was time to be packing up and taking that last photo.

 

We prayed for safe travels to Antigua and that all would go smoothly. We are looking forward to the next time that you will be able to serve with us again!

A New Microscope Arrives!

Today we had a new microscope delivered. Darling, Silvia, Sergio and I were there to welcome our new friend to Ezell, and to understand the general maintenance that it will need to stay comfortable.

The truck parked near the new entrance.

Once they had removed everything to secure it for the transfer, they were able to lower it.

It was like waiting for Christmas.

 

 

Piece-by-piece it was taken inside.......

 

 

and slowly assembled.

 

 

Sergio and Silvia found the manual and started researching.

 

We finally have a finished product! 

 

I am so excited to welcome this piece of equipment to the team! It will serve many people and I hope that it serves HTI for many, many years to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talented Young People

Many people have mentioned how nice and professional the last group of new employees are.  I am so excited that they are now working with us and they are continuing to grow.

I have showed photos of the flowers around Ezell and that primarily is due to Milton and Javier. Milton often preaches for the Montellano church and often lead leads singing in our weekly devotional time.

Sergio, primarily works at the entrance gate. He is great with the public, leads singing and is very electronically minded. When we need him, we have someone cover for him at the gate and he comes running to help.

Another great guy is Luis David or sometimes, I mess around and call him David Luis. This young man continue to grow his resume with us from working in triage, working in dental and helping with the laboratory.

He now has expanded his skills into carpentry.  He took apart a doorway in one of the apartments and replaced it. I am not going to give you his phone number because I know you would call and leer him away from HTI.......just kidding.

Ya have to get started.

 

Then it is looking like there is some hope.

 

Then you have the finished product!

 

We are very fortunate to have young men step up and take ownership and pride in what they are able to do.

They are a blessing for the current and future church.

Sheri is One Year Old

It was just a year ago that Javier and Evelyn had their baby and they named her, Sheri. What an honor. She almost received the name Sherif but Odbulio rushed to the legal office to be sure the spelling was correct.

This afternoon at church, we celebrated her special day.  Of course, every birthday needs a couple of cakes.

 

She liked being around the cakes but when it came time to bite one, not sure that she enjoyed it very much.

Javier, Evelyn and Sheri. 

 

 

Then joined by Lorenzo and Octavia, who are Evelyn's parents.

 

It was a fun evening and a perfect day to celebrate her birthday!

The Ezell Property is Beautiful!

After the July Eye Team left, I had a chance to walk the property and see some new things.

For those who have been here, you know it is beautiful and large. There are basically two guys that maintain it all, Milton and Javier.

The flowers are beautiful.

They are very creative.  I love the wishing well and flowers.

 

They have done a great job of maintaining it.

 

In the distance, you can see the outline of the volcano.

 

We have two weeks to prepare for the next surgical jornada. A large team will arrive on July 22 and we will do GYN and General surgeries.

We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. We continue to pray for the safe travels of the team and for successful surgeries for our patients. Even more important than those two items, is that following the week of the jornada, we all have a closer relationship with our Lord.

 

The Week Continued to Have Surprises!

I had been told twice that my luggage would arrive with me, but it did not. I was told it would be on my plane but it never left Dallas.  When I left the Guatemalan airport, they told me it would arrive on Monday afternoon around 3pm and they would send it to me..........that also never happened. Violeta, gracias a Dios, went to the airport, found my bags and brought them to me on Wednesday!

Now that my travel concerns are over with, I can focus on what really matters.

The first surgical team of July is here and ready to start surgeries. When I arrived, I found out about another change that was going to need to happen. We have had issues with some of our microscopes and they have been infected with fungus.  It is thought to be a great risk to use them at this point, so we will have to cancel all cataract surgeries but will be able to continue with pyterygium surgeries. 

There were sixteen patients waiting for cataract surgery so Alejandra and I went from bed-to-bed talking with each patient about the need of canceling surgery and having them return to us in November. It was not something I enjoyed because these patients had spent time and money to get here and now we have to postpone their surgery.

This is the most touching photo of the week. One son, so thankful that his father returned from surgery. 

 

Sine we were limited on surgeries, we decided to have special eye exams for diabetics, in order to diagnosis diabetic retinopathy.  We saw around 55 patients.  I hope that we will be able to continue this service in the future.

Even though the week is not what we had planned, there were many good things.  Dr, Stevens, May and Abi were able to meet their ABC child this week  The ABC Program is wonderful for students, the church and the communities.

I want to share one more very positive story with you.

Below is Alive (VP of HTI) and a nurse Maria.  This is Maria's first time with us.

 

I was called to translate in the PACU before they moved a young man to his bed.  This nurse, Maria, was getting report. I had not met her, so I asked her if this was her first time with us and she told me it was. I proceeded to ask more questions and the story unfolded.  

Maria lives in Chicacao, which is not too far from Montellano.  When she was eight years old, she had a hernia repair here, at Ezell. Because of that experience with us, she decided that she wanted to be a nurse.  She continued her education, became a nurse and now is working where, her dream began!!

I can not tell you how excited I was to hear this story!

This was the team before they left on Friday morning.

Yes, the week was different that we had planned on so many levels.  At night in our devotionals, we recognized that through it all, God is in control. We prayed for each patient by name and also prayed for those we had to disappoint.......and yet God is in control.  I am very thankful for that!

 

It Is Not the Way That It Was Planned!!

First and foremost, when Sally dropped me off at the airport, I had no idea that I would not see my luggage for 120 hours.  Yes, that is correct.

I was flying back to Guatemala on Friday, to meet a surgical team on Saturday.  I missed my connecting flight in Dallas......and I was not the only one with flight problems.  It looked like the world had shut down and after waiting 4 hours in a line, I was told that I could not have my bags and there was no flight out for Guatemala until Sunday! I found this hard to believe, even after hearing it from two agents.

So, they were ready to push me on!  It was 12:30 am and I went outside to look for a shuttle that would honor the vouchers she had given me for transportation, a meal and a hotel. When I called the hotel, he told me that they had no shuttle to the airport and they did not have a restaurant.

I was told that hotels were filling up quickly and I should decide what to do. One nice couple told me they had a shuttle coming and their app showed there were still 4 more rooms available.  Thank you, my new friends!

Instead of arriving on Friday night, I arrived on Sunday night around midnight. I made reservations to stay at The Barcelo in Guatemala City and then will go to Montellano in the morning.

June Was a Tornado!

 June was fast and furious but it sure was an adventure!

We started June with a GYN, ENT and General Surgeries. It was a great week and a lot was accomplished....Gracias a Dios.

Below is the surgical team that served during the week. What servent-like hearts they have!

It was a great mix among the team. One extra blessing was having Bode's wife, Brenda, with us. She fit right in and provided care for patients and assisted in many ways. I would like to be able to say something about each person, because each used their abilities in special ways.......Thank you!

Before the clinic started on Sunday afternoon, Rigoberto went to pray with the patients. Many have hear me say, it is an honor and a privilege to pray with patients.

Each night, we prayed specifically for patients by their name.  Bode writing down the patients who had surgery that day.

One of our patients who enjoyed playing with the children.
 

What fun they had!

 

Baldemar spending some time with a patient.

 

 

Some of the recovery room staff.

 

 

We had a total of 50 patients for the week.

Silvia and Iris in pre-op, preparing patients for surgery.

 

Thursday afternoon, when all of the surgery is completed, it is time to rest.  Several went to the chocolate farm. For those of us who stayed to care for patients, I ran to Sarita's for ice cream sandwiches. 

 

Katie enjoys a moment to breath, as well as Susan.

 

It was a fantastic week. This photo was taken by someone that shows the beauty of the compound at daybreak.

And the beauty at night.

I went to Antigua with the team, since I flew back to my parents on Saturday. I planned a short trip to Cancun with my mom.  It was a great week, even though both of us had colds and some of the time did not feel well.

I had told mom how much she would like the hammocks in the water......and she sure did!

 

This was my favorite place to chill.......

 

I also visited the South Fork Church of Christ, when I was in the states. They were surprised and I loved seeing them.

On June 30th I had a flight back to Guatemala, to meet another surgical team.

Please stay in tune and continue to follow the adventure!