The morning devotional was from John 17- we were encouraged to “submit our will to God’s and let Him work through us.” With that thought in mind, we headed to the hospital early to round on the patients who had surgery yesterday and prepare the patients who will have surgery today. The physical therapist had a busy day working with those who had surgery yesterday.
Today the team had another successful day in the operating room. This day running a little more smoothly than yesterday thanks those who organized the surgery schedules and operating rooms.
I spent much of my day following PT around, watching them work one on one with patients.
Adela, a 73 year old woman was seen by Dr. Au in the clinic on Sunday. Yesterday he performed a total knee replacement on her. Today I was able to chat with her while she was working with the physical therapist. She has been suffering from knee pain for over 25 years. She just dealt with the pain because she didn’t think there were any other options for her. A few years ago she went to a clinic for an eye exam. Someone there noticed the way she walked and told her she should see a doctor to fix her leg. At that time she was unable to see a doctor. Then just three months ago she had heard about surgery in a hospital and prayed that she would be able to see a doctor. On Sunday she arrived at the clinic but forgot to bring her x-rays. When she met with Dr. Au he told her she needed to get an x-ray before he could see her and do any type of surgery. She was devastated that she had forgotten the x-rays. Adela is very poor and she only brought enough money for her and her daughter to ride the bus back to her home which is two hours aways. She did not have any extra money to get a new x-ray. She and her daughter decided that it was more important to get the x-ray than to ride the bus home. They used their money to get new x-rays then went back to see Dr. Au. He was able to schedule her for surgery the next day. Adele and her daughter weren’t sure what to do now that they had no money to get home. As they were discussing their dilemma someone at the clinic had overheard them talking. He lived close to them and offered to give them a ride home. She knew this was an answer to her prayers. When it was time for her to come back to the hospital for her surgery she had no money for the bus. Her neighbors all got together and pitched in the money for her to get her surgery. She knew this was another miracle from God and was so grateful to her neighbors for helping her. Today, a day after her surgery Adela was already walking better than she had walked in over 25 years. She couldn’t stop saying how grateful she was to be able to finally get her leg fixed. She knew that God had made it possible for this miracle to happen.
After speaking with Dr. Au, he said Adela’s surgery was very challenging due to the deformity that developed over 25 years, yet he was able to perform it successfully with the help of an amazing team. It is stories like this that reaffirm that this medical mission truly makes a difference in the lives of these wonderful Guatemalan people.
This is just one of many miracles that we witnessed this week.
-Anna Au
