Surgery Week!!

Putting Life Into Perspective 

This coming week is surgery week! Every year, in February, a group of 10-15 doctors come to Opal House Guatemala and perform surgeries for the children of Guatemala. This is the biggest week of the year for all! These doctors are Pediatrists and Orthopedists. The main problems the children and people in Guatemala face are with their feet and their legs. They wear shoes with no support, and the roads are terrible here. They walk far distances, and usually with a lot of weight on their back. Or, they are avocado farmers, and they fall from the trees or get an injury on the job. 

Today was the consult day, where ALL the patients came in to get a check up, and be assessed for surgery. Jackeline and I volunteered to help with this day! We were in charge of checking all 55 of the patients in, and filling out paperwork, and a spreadsheet in the computer. It was quite the task, but we did a great job and had quite an assembly going. I had to fight back tears quite a few times. Here are some of the situations of these children....

* One baby without a femur. Completely missing the bone.

* One boy who is six years old but is the size of a 1-2 year old, with club feet who can barely walk.

* Many children with club feet who cannot walk correctly. 

* A girl who fell from a tree three years ago, who did not get treatment, and now can barely walk.

* Tumors bigger than golf balls in their legs and arms.

* One boy who has an infection so bad in his feet, and the only option is to remove his feet.

* AND MORE...

Needless to say, the doctors are going to be busy! They plan to perform about 40 big surgeries this week. Some children are going to walk for the first time this week. Some children are going to be saved from amputations. It is truly amazing the work that is about to take place. It was beautiful to see how grateful the families were, and some of them were borderline tears as well. 

I feel like a different Maren. I am so confident around all of these doctors who are strangers to me. We have 10 people living here with us at Opal House, and I am so outgoing and chatting it up with all of them daily! I even feel confident speaking Spanish with Jackeline in front of them. I can feel myself changing, I can feel myself growing, and becoming the confident care-free girl I want to be. I am loving these changes, and loving myself more and more every day. 

Because it is big surgery week, it will just be Jackeline and I at the school this week. And Dr. Will and Diane are going to be at the hospital all week with the other doctors. THAT MEANS there is no one to pick up and drop off the kiddos for school in the tuk tuk! Well now, I have a new job at Opal House! Bus driver! But, I can't drive the tuk tuk (rather complicated) But they have a subaru, and we pack in all the kids, and I pick them up and take them home every day. I was able to practice and test this out a couple times this week. No problems! Although it is hard to believe every time I look in the rear mirror and see twenty or more heads bobbing around. Never could happen in the U.S. But here, there are no rules, and really...this is safer than the tuk tuk!