Dave's Guatemala Trip (According to Ashley)

I managed to get some details out of Dave about his trip in the few hours we've crossed paths this week. It would be better coming from Dave, but he hasn't quite hopped on the blogging bandwagon quite yet. So I picked my favorite pics and I'll do my best to report about this awesome experience. Most of the pictures do the talking.

If you're sick of hearing about this, sorry, but I know some of you are interested. Plus this is our journal and remember, no one is forcing you to read this!

And again, another warning on the pictures. None are too graphic, but they may tug at your heartstrings!

As I looked through the pictures I feel so humbled. so blessed. so grateful. so guilty. so sad. so happy. so amazed.

Dave in front of the Children's Hospital

Families waiting at the hospital. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, most traveled 8 hours or more to get there, and they stayed in this waiting room all week.

This little baby is one of my favorites! She has a cleft lip and palate. Here she is ready for the operation.

And here she is post-op. Isn't it amazing what the surgeons can do?

Handing her back to her Mother. This picture makes me cry! I can just see the joy and love in her face.

I can only imagine how a mother would feel. So glad to have your baby back safe in your arms. It would be so scary sending your baby off to surgery. So grateful to have your baby healed and able to eat properly and of course SMILE!

Even doctors get sick. This is Dr. Siddiqi hooked up to an IV. Luckily Dave didn't get sick, but many of the volunteers do. (mostly related to the food)

Another patient after surgery with his mother. Don't you think all of the mothers are so beautiful? There just seems to be something in their eyes that shines.

Dave and Dr. Siddiqi with one of the patients. I believe this is the one where they rebuilt her ear.

Another adorable patient healing from an ear reconstruction.

This one is crazy and amazing. It's Dave's favorite and I hope I can explain it correctly. This little boy was wearing a ring on his finger and some how lost his grip from a tree or something and the ring scraped off all of his skin but the bone was still there. I know. Pretty sick, huh. So to keep the bone alive, the surgeons in Guatemala sewed his finger with the bone inside his abdomen. I guess this helps keep the blood flow good or something. So he had to keep it like this for several months until the American doctors came to fix his finger. The circle on his stomach around his finger is where Dave cut the skin to form around the bone. They then just pulled his skin together and sewed up the gap. I can't believe I just typed that. I would have fainted by that four years ago.
And here is the finger post-op. The skin will mold around the bone and will get blood flow since it was kept in the stomach. I don't quite get it. You should probably ask Dave to explain it!

Dave with the little boy after the surgery. I love this picture because I think both little boys are so cute! Doesn't Dave kind of look like a little boy dressed up as a doctor here?

Another patient with her mother post-op.

Another Mom and baby after surgery. Sorry, I'm just realizing how many of these I've posted, but they're my favorite!

If you read my previous post, you saw the girl with the hairy nevus that was removed. Here she is with Dave and her mom. (Her face is bruised from the surgery now, but it will fade soon.) Her mother gave Dave this bag that she made. What a meaningful souvenir that we will treasure!

I have a hard time looking at this one. This man got bit by a mosquito and he got a bacterial infection that ate away his skin and nose. They rebuilt his nose last trip and they did dermabrasion on his skin this time. Dave said it will heal and look better soon. I hope! That looks painful.

The doctors and nurses of Hirsche Smiles (well, one ALMOST doctor)

The Nurses

Those are my favorites of the surgical photos. I seemed to be drawn to the ones with the Mothers in them. I guess because my heart goes out to them so much! I wonder how much they sacrificed to take their children to this hospital. Each story is amazing.

And I'll include a some pics of the surgeons outside of the hospital once they finished. (They did 75 surgeries in 5 days!)

Out to eat at a restaurant that was in a monastery.

A few of the volunteers went to Tikal on Saturday. They flew to this city to experience the ancient Mayan ruins.

They call this the Tree of Life. It looks beautiful.

This shows how huge it is compared to the normal sized man standing in front of it!

Here is one of the Mayan temples.

The group inside the ruins.

Dave standing in front of the temple. This puts the size into perspective.

I am so grateful that Dave could go on this service trip and have this amazing experience. I am in awe of what the team accomplished and for the first time it made me wish I was a nurse so I could go. (Actually, that's not true, when I heard about some of the awesome nurse schedules, I wished I was a nurse then too.)

So if you made it this far, I'll leave you with a few of my favorite images of Dave's observations from Guatemala. They don't need any explanation.