Friends and Family,
Our Doctor, Ever, usually sees 30 patients daily. Numbers are given at 6am and usually before the half hour there are no numbers for medical consult. We have an auxiliar nurse who triages patients and also gives medication for minor illnesses; she also manages the women's clinic. Our emergency room sees two or three emergencies daily. Many patients come for hydration and we are able to transfuse patients when ordered by our doctor. Our laboratory, now with more complete diagnostic equipment, is a very busy service. The lab does all the tuberculosis slides for the local government clinic and this disease is becoming more prevalent.
Yesterday our doctor saw in consult a 12 yr old youth from one of the mountain villages. Manuel was having some respiratory difficulties and weakness; he is a junior hi student in Asuncion, our parish secondary school. Our doctor detected a mass in his nasal passage. We send him immediately with one of our workers to the neighboring city, where we knew a specialist from city was having private consult this day. The child was diagnosed with a nasal pharangeal tumor, hopefully benign, and will be referred to Guatemala City National Hospital. The father will bring him back to our clinic today and we will begin to make plans for his care.
Manuel's mother died when he was a child. His father is absent from the home, possibly in the United States, so his grandparents have been involved in his home life. He is a child of extreme poverty and we ask for your prayers in his care and also financial assistance to make possible his followup and diagnostic tests.
Donations can be sent on line to www.diocesehelena.org and note for Clinica Maxena.
or also donations can be mailed to
Diocese of Helena
Guatemala Mission
PO Box 1729
Helena, Montana
59624
Note for Clinica Maxena; for medical expense for Manuel Tum; 12 yr old child
THANK YOU!
We will accompany Manuel in his treatment and consult. He now has an appointment for Monday with the chief Pediatric Surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital in the city.
