Since more protests and road closures were planned today, we hit the road early again and had breakfast at the school. Dr. Miller led devotional and told the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet during the Last Supper. This made the disciples uncomfortable, as this was the job of a servant. Jesus explained: as His followers, we are to serve one another, seeking to build one another up in humility and love. When we have a servant’s heart, the Lord promised we will be greatly blessed. We certainly feel blessed to be here in Momostenango, serving our brothers and sisters of Guatemala.
The first group of patients were eagerly waiting to be seen. All of the clinics were busy today, again seeing both routine and complex cases. As much as we want to resolve every encounter with a positive answer, sometimes we must deliver the difficult news that nothing can be done. It is heartbreaking to watch these patients walk away from us. Thankfully, the positive outcomes greatly outweigh these difficult diagnoses. Today Dr. Janice Smith saw Esmeralda in the GYN clinic. She has been waiting for surgery, but it has been postponed several times due to bleeding and severe anemia. Each time Esmeralda is sent away and told she will have surgery when the bleeding stops, but not much has been done to help that happen. She had a dangerous situation when she lost consciousness due to blood loss and is now terrified something worse will happen before she is able to receive her surgery. Dr. Smith prescribed iron, vitamins, and hormones to get Esmeralda’s hemoglobin back to a healthy enough level to refer her for surgery again, hopefully by an upcoming FIP surgical team. We could see the worry and fear in Esmeralda’s eyes as she wiped tears away. Once again, she was being told she’d need to wait for surgery, but this time there was a good plan in place to get her there. Dr. Smith was very compassionate and reassured her this regimen will help her improve her prognosis. Esmeralda was very grateful and left with renewed hope.
The day continued to run like a well-oiled machine. We needed to pack everything up again, as we were heading to a different village to set up the next day. Everyone worked together and quickly had the trucks packed up. We were actually ahead of schedule…until we hit the roadblock on the way back to the hotel. What should have been an hour ride, took us 3 1/2 hours. We were thankful to pull into the hotel at 8pm to grab dinner and wrap up the day.
Today made us aware of and appreciate the comforts and ease we experience in our daily lives. It was a day filled with humility.
