El Pericon, Nicaragua 2015

This past week I had the privilege of being with the VanHulzen team serving the people of El Pericon. It was about a 6 hour bus ride north of Managua (the capital of Nicaragua) to get to the village. This was the first BMDMI team that I was able to go on this year and my first team with BMDMI doing ultrasound! I saw about 92 patients in 3 days this past week. One of the women was about 3 months pregnant with twins and she didn't know until the ultrasound that she was having twins! She was pretty surprised to say the least! The last pregnancy I had that week was pretty sad. She told me that she was 3-4 months pregnant but when I did her ultrasound her baby only measured 8 weeks and I couldn't find a heartbeat. I found one of the doctors and we told her that her baby died and to follow up at a health clinic if she doesn't have a miscarriage naturally. She didn't have much of a reaction at first but once she asked for prayer she started crying. We were able to pray with her and leave her in God's hands. One of the local pastors found her later on that afternoon and was able to take her to the hospital to be seen and taken care of. I didn't just see babies this week though. I did ultrasounds of the gallbladder, liver, veins to check for a DVT, uterus and ovaries. It was a busy week but so good! I look forward to growing in my Spanish to be able to talk more with the people I do get to see with ultrasound. I am also excited to see how God will grow and use this ministry for His Kingdom and glory!

My favorite testimony of the week though was one that Omar told us. One of the local men was in the hospital a few years ago and he was dying. He ended up having surgery on his head and, praise God, he lived. After he left the hospital he started praying that God would bring a medical team to his village to help his people. Once he started telling people that he was asking God to bring a medical team there, the people started mocking him. They told him that no North Americans would come there and they thought the surgery made him crazy. Well, we were the second medical team that came to that village! God worked through the prayers and faith of one man to change the lives of thousands! It was so humbling and encouraging to hear his testimony.

Here are some pictures from the week! :-) Enjoy!

"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16

"La oracion del justo es ponderosa y eficaz." Santiago 5:16

 

Part of the beautiful view we had from the medical clinic!

This was where we had the medical clinic and pharmacy.

Ultrasound!

She has the most beautiful smile!

This was one of the medical students that was with us this past week. She, her fiancé and her friend are graduating in May and starting residency this summer! They will make amazing doctors!

My little corner of the room for ultrasound!

The other side of the room! They were doing pap smears and checking for signs of cervical cancer. They used cryo to treat any patients that showed signs of HPV.

Ambulance

Someone ran out of paper and started writing ultrasound referrals on tounge depressors!