Today, three of us were working on inventory at the clinic and I thought of all the amazing people that I had the pleasure to work with last week. Nurse practitioners students & teachers from Case Western, pre-med students from Oklahoma and Florida, and quite possibly a quarter of the population from Dalhart, Texas. Medical volunteers brought their friends and family members to share in the missionary experience. Thankful for those that cleaned instruments and made sure our patients had their lab work done. There were surgeons fixing clubfeet and hernias, volunteers passing out toys to children, others painting or counting pills- each person was a blessing from God. Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Blessing from God
As I sat down in the recovery room for the first time (at least it felt like it) to rest my tired feet, Teodoro, one of the patients was getting up from the stretcher. One of the nurses, Tessa, was helping him make a lap around the recovery room following his gallbladder surgery earlier that day. I had met him in the pre-op room and as his nurse escorted him into the chilly operating room for his surgery. Teodoro was a frail older man, in his 70s, that suffered with gallstones for a long time and most likely other health conditions that come with age. He was short, with a rounded back, and a head and mustache of gray hair- your typical Guatemalan abuelo (grandpa). We all fell in love with Teodoro because of his smile that never left his face despite communication barriers (our Spanglish versus his Guatemalan dialect Spanish). Teodoro went home the day after surgery, most likely a rough ride on the road through San Raymundo, still with a smile on his face. A few days passed and news traveled quickly, that Abuelo Teodoro was back at the clinic, very ill. Thankfully, we had amazing doctors and nurses that worked together to take care of Teodoro. As we packed up the clinic on Friday, he was transferred to a local hospital for more observation. The group of volunteers spent the weekend in Antigua and we all talked about Teodoro wondering how he was doing. So when I arrived back in San Raymundo on Monday morning, my priority was to find out how our beloved patient was doing. With a few phone calls, Edy, our translator, told us Teodoro recovered fully from his surgery and went home on Sunday. I think back to the day in recovery as Teodoro was resting on the side of his bed, he smiled and scanned the room with his hand and told us with the help of a translator that we were all "blessings from God".
Today, three of us were working on inventory at the clinic and I thought of all the amazing people that I had the pleasure to work with last week. Nurse practitioners students & teachers from Case Western, pre-med students from Oklahoma and Florida, and quite possibly a quarter of the population from Dalhart, Texas. Medical volunteers brought their friends and family members to share in the missionary experience. Thankful for those that cleaned instruments and made sure our patients had their lab work done. There were surgeons fixing clubfeet and hernias, volunteers passing out toys to children, others painting or counting pills- each person was a blessing from God.
Today, three of us were working on inventory at the clinic and I thought of all the amazing people that I had the pleasure to work with last week. Nurse practitioners students & teachers from Case Western, pre-med students from Oklahoma and Florida, and quite possibly a quarter of the population from Dalhart, Texas. Medical volunteers brought their friends and family members to share in the missionary experience. Thankful for those that cleaned instruments and made sure our patients had their lab work done. There were surgeons fixing clubfeet and hernias, volunteers passing out toys to children, others painting or counting pills- each person was a blessing from God. 
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Hello Nurse Missionary, so good to know you through your profile on the blogger. I was glad to stop by your blog and know how passionate you are to be a Nurse Missionary. I am in the Pastoral ministry for last 33 yrs in the great city of Mumbai a city with great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the broken hearted and to give them new hope, future, purpose and life. We also encourage young people like you as well as adults from the West to come on a short term missions trip to work with us. I would love to have you come with your friends to work with us either for a longer term or for a short term. My email id is : dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. I will also write you on your email id.
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