Guatemala Mission Trip

Wow. What an experience.  I am still trying to process all that I experienced during my 8 day mission trip to Guatemala with Faith in Practice. It was so incredible and has changed me forever.  I feel so lucky to have gotten to be a part of this fantastic, talented team and for getting to meet these lovely Guatemalan people.  We did 56 orthopedic surgeries in 4 days of operating. Knees, hips, feet and trauma.  In some situations these people drove 10+ hours from their villages for an opportunity for surgery.  The injuries and x-rays were profound.  They wait all day to be triaged, and never complain. I could not believe that some of the people were able to walk and endure what they had. They were so gracious and were the best patients.  After a knee replacement surgery they were  only given tramadol and Tylenol for pain, yet they never complained or refused therapy.  So humbling to witness. And then there were the babies and the children.......  I am still not able to talk about that experience without crying. I got to spend a lot of time loving on babies who get very little attention and love.  I also got to hold a few babies who were in their last few hours of life. Heartbreaking and unimaginable. I will never forget any of them and my outlook on life is forever changed.

At the airport, nervous and excited.

A view from one of the gardens where we stayed.
It was beautiful.

My awesome roommate- Suz!
We had so much fun and shared so many amazing experiences together.
She left her 9 year old quadruplets to come!

First walk to the hospital

Such a great group of people.

We were so excited to start seeing patients!

Los Obras Sociales- the hospital

The tiny area that I assisted Dr. Pond with pre-op assessment
and surgery scheduling.

Roof top drinks at Sky Bar
Where we ended many long days.

Observing one of the lent processions.

Drea and Meeka were so much fun

One of many strong, Guatemalan mommas that I saw.

Sweaty after one of my many 4:45 a.m. workout's
 with Dr. Woolf's wife, Debbie

Relaxing in the hammack

One of the many cathedrals I toured.
SO amazing!

The front of our gorgeous hotel.

Chris Miller, one of the anesthesiologists, was a lot of fun!

Father Dominique did our devotionals every morning.
He was so funny too!

Dr. Pond visiting one of his patients post-op.

One of the post-op wards.
Up to 12 patients in one room.
No HIPPA and they share one bed pan.

Where the babies and children are kept.
 Some are very sick and some are just malnourished or have CP, or a cleft palate.
They get very little time outside of these cribs and they do not get to go outside at all.

Sweet Lillian

Yennifer- she smiled every time I talked to her or held her.

Rosalinda has been at the hospital for over a year.
Her only issue is malnourishment from Celiac's disease.
Her mom has not been to see her in over a hear.

My first patient to see post-op.

She was so happy to have her new knee!

Larry and Veronica were the other two PT's on our team.
They came from Houston.

I spent an afternoon in the OR watching surgeries.

Dr. Heinrich and Dr. Parsley doing a difficult hip replacement.

Dr. Woolf and Dr. Pond doing a total knee replacement.

They do such a good job!

Dereck (our chef) , me and Suz out to dinner with "the Woolf Pack"

An isolation patient's bathroom.
Dirty, unlevel, unsafe and jam packed with junk.

An isolation patient is shut away in a room all by themselves.
No window, no t.v. and behind two doors. 

The patients loved doing group therapy and getting their pictures taken.

The Faith in Practice PT's with Otto and Jessica, who are the PT's at Obras.
We made a great team!

Sky Bar!

A view of one of the many volcanoes.
Fuego was active and you could hear him "burping" all of the time.

The doctors relaxing after a long day.

Another view of the volcano
It was so hazy since it was active so I didn't get any clear pictures of it.

Love her!

Paul and Barb were married internal medicine doctors from Colorado.
They were two of my favorite people on the trip!

Such a great team!

Evening fun at our hotel bar.

We played lots of Uno and ping pong!

This 80 year old man said he was looking for a girl friend!

He kept me laughing.

Roberto with the sweetest eyes.

Smiley Yennifer and Franco

I never got his name but I held him a lot.
He loved when I would sing to him.

Sweet, happy boys loved peek-a-boo

Nan helping with a feeding.
We got to feed a lot of babies, some who had a lot of trouble
swallowing and aspirating. It was stressful.

This is Dennis. He has microcephaly from Zika.
It took me over 30 minutes to get 1.5 ounces in him.
He loves to be held, but is in ICU.

I tried so hard to get it in him!

Sweey, sweet boy.

Dressed up for our celebration dinner!

Headed to dinner.

BOSHA girls and Andrea from Austin

The entire BOSHA team
Andrea, Dereck, Margie, Sheila, Dr. Woolf, Debbie Woolf,
 Dr. Pond, myself, Meeka, K and Bill

Barb, Dr,. Parsley, Paul and myself

I got a kick out of Paul!

I got to FaceTime the kids every day.

Chris too!

Polly on the tramp!

Enjoying my last night in Guatemala.

Headed to the airport.

So happy to see my kids!

Home sweet home.
Chris did an amazing job running the show at home for 8 days.