Day 4 - Monday (Feb. 13) – Surgical Team

The surgical team was able to help two victims from car accidents where they inserted tissue expanders to help with scar repairs, repaired brow lines, repaired noses to help with breathing, and performed skin grafts.

There were a total of 17 cases treated today that included: tubes for ears, tonsillectomies, scar revisions, cleft palate & cleft lip repairs, fixing noses so that people can breath, eyelid repair (for an 11 year old who suffered from a gunshot wound), removal of masses, mole & cyst removal and other procedures.

Day 4 - Monday (Feb. 13) – Construction

The construction crew had made enough progress with their project that they were able to split into two groups to work on a new project. The first group stayed in San Victor to complete the work they had started.

The other group went to the Good Shepard church where they painted the building and re-routed some water downspouts to keep the moisture away from the walls. The pastor here was a man who had been rescued from addiction to alcohol. Now he gives back to his community through the power of Christ. He has had many experiences where families needed food (as they literally were starving) and the Lord would miraculously provide the funds to feed them. And he shared many other stories of God's provision in his life and his community that powerfully touched the construction crew.

Updated Previous Posts

I wanted to make you aware that as I receive additional stories and pictures, I update both the posts and the daily slideshows. So you may want to scan over earlier posts and slideshows to see if any changes have been made.

Hope you are enjoying the blog!

Bret

Day 4 - Monday (Feb. 13) – Village Medical Clinic

The VMC traveled to Patchakan today. The trip started out in a most interesting way... We were going to pick up the translators at the local church. Being guided by our fearless leader, we confidently drove a "special way" to get there. After having several people honk and wave to us (we thought they were so very friendly) we realized we were going the wrong way on a one way street. Nothing like three large vans going down the wrong way to garner some attention. And, sure enough, a policeman very quickly approached our vans. We thought we might have to bail John out of prison, but the policeman helped us out of this hazardous situation. It certainly was an interesting way to start the day!

Once we made it safely to Patchakan, we treated 215 people. Over 400? pharmaceutical scripts were filled for antibiotics, blood pressure, diabetes, GI, vitamins, pain killers, and other medicines. The very first person to be helped today was a 98 year old woman who had served as the mid-wife for the village for most of her life.

The Ear Wash station was very busy and helped over 90? people. In order to get things started off, John Kirby volunteered to have his ears cleaned out. When the children saw that John was okay after his experience, they joined in to get their ears cleaned, as well.

Once again, we were able to give away 78 reading glasses, 147 sunglasses and 22 Spanish Bibles.

For lunch, we were served galnachos (similar to a tostado) which is a flat corn tortilla with black beans, chicken, cheese, cabbage, and a tomato. After digesting lunch, a couple of us went out to play "monkey in the middle" with the kids in the village. It's a good thing the weather was so nice or I think the doctors might have had to resuscitate us "old guys".

Day 4 - Monday (Feb. 13)

Well it was another gorgeous morning in Belize. I certainly don't want to rub anything in to our fellow Cincinnatians, but the weather here has been outstanding. In fact, I am hearing from some of the team members who have been here multiple years, that this is the best weather this mission trip has ever experienced. Temperatures have been in the mid 70's and low 80's with a cool breeze. And on top of that, we understand that we avoided snow and freezing temperatures in Cincinnati while we were here. And that when we return it should be back in the 40's in Cincinnati. Well, I guess we are living the good life down here. ;-)

This morning (at 6:30am for some, a little later for others) we enjoyed french toast, bananas and papaya for breakfast. After our hearty breakfast, we had our "Talking Sabbath" devotions, which were adhered to reasonably well. And afterwards, we gathered in the vans and took off for our respective sites: Orange Walk/Northern Regional Hospital for the surgical team, San Victor for the construction crew, and Patchakan for the Village Medical Clinic.

Day 3 - Sunday (Feb. 12) – Surgical Team

The surgical team was able to help a woman who was attacked by machetes and left for dead. They were able to perform numerous scar revisions and repair her ear. However, her chief complaint related to the pain she felt in her jaw and her mismatched bite. Unfortunately, we did not have the equipment (or time) to resolve this. But when she returned on Monday for follow-up, she informed the doctors that after the surgery her pain was gone and she now had a proper bite. The doctors shared with her that they did not do it. It was the Great Physician who healed her, using the intubation process & opening her jaw so wide along with whatever else Christ did.

There were a total of 22 cases treated today that included: tubes for ears; ear lobe repair; tongue repair; tonsillectomies; scar revisions; cleft palate & cleft lip repairs; fixing noses so that people can breath; tumor, cyst & breast mass removal; excision of a lip lesion; and a tear duct repair.

Also, the surgery team arrived at the hospital and enjoyed hearing the children in the school yard across the street singing in both English and Spanish.

Day 3 - Sunday (Feb. 12) – Construction

The Construction crew did a variety of things in addition to the construction work. They had purchased a variety of soft drinks. And when they passed by some field workers who were harvesting the sugar cane, they stopped and offered them a refreshing drink. The workers were grateful and even allowed some of the guys to try out their machetes. (That was probably a frightening experience for most of the field workers!)

In addition to installing more doors and windows, they also got to play some "duck-duck-goose". Although I think they may have renamed it "duct-duct-monkey wrench" or something like that... You will definitely want to check out the picture slideshow to see the construction crew's pictures!