Dr. Juoquin Palmac called us into the operating room for the second day, and as we stood and watched in awe as they begin operating on the spine of a six-day-old boy, I remarked to Jessica how I wanted to add helping out with an operation is one my bucket list for this trip. She told me to pray to God about it, and I did, and immediately after Dr. Juoquin barked at me to go sanitize my arms and join them!
I immediately jumped at the opportunity.
Instant gratification in the healthiest way.
During this operation I was honored to join in as a nurse. I handed the surgeons scalpels and other various tools, and they had me help move the spine with my fingers of the young boy. Apparently in Santa Cruz del Quiche, malnutrition is super common and a cause of a lot of the infant mortalities and abnormalities. The young boy we were operating on’s spine wouldn’t close on its own and he was probably going to be paralyzed with a huge growth on his lower lumbar. It was such an amazing experience that I would never be able to have again without years of medical training. I thought maybe at first it was careless to have me join, but the doctors were very careful and observant in teaching me what to do. They put on rock music for me because they knew I liked heavy metal and were very fun to be with.
Another aspect that we were able to see was all of the equipment we had been repairing and cleaning being put into action and use. It felt as if what we were tediously doing in what we perceived as just busy work was a tangible change. The doctors remarked that every other World Race group that had been there before just cleaned and remained in the painting area, while our team was very gregarious and intentional about making connections with doctors and patients. Dr. Juoquin commented later in an interview for the documentary that as a result of their appreciation for our hard work, they treated us to be apart of the surgery process.
During the last two days I was able to see a total of 4 Caesarian sections, 1 hernia operation and 1 neural-spinal surgery. I was planning previously on helping out at a clinic on Monday, but Dr. Juoquin beckoned me to come join them for another day.
We learned in an interview with him that the entire hospital is paid for by the state, and all patients there are freely taken care of. Dr. Juoquin was originally at the country’s capital, Guatemala City (aka Guat), and left to pursue humanitarian work at a small city. His children aren’t the biggest fan but he can make a bigger difference in a more impoverished area. He joined medicine because his nephew was very ill at a young age and he wanted to make a difference.
He told us two stories. One of a young boy who had been burned very badly on his arms, an 18 month old, who he over three months befriended and was able to treat to full health. He stays in contact with the boys family and sees the boy often. The boy was very frightened at first until he befriend Juoquin. The latter story he told us was of a darker tale. He slowed his speech and took deeper breaths as he discussed the tragedy. A young boy fell out of a two story window and his parents brought him into the E.R. As the doctors rushed to work on the young child, the father began to be verbally abusive against the mother: screaming at her of her fault in the matter at hand. The doctors took the boy into the operating room. The boy had a large split on his head. Juoquin stopped to recall all the blood he so. “So much blood.” They managed to stop the bleeding for a few minutes, the boy flatlined. They resuscitated the young lad and he came back to life until the bleeding continued and the young boy died in his arms. He cried out to Father God that this wasn’t possible and everyone in that wing of the hospital were so hurt and torn by the tragedy.
He knows his own son has the same possibility as this young boy. He wants to serve in the lesser hospital to give and serve his time to the less fortunate.
Thank you, Doctor for your serving heart and hard work. You are a great man and I hope to be half the man you are one day.
With love and respect,
-J
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