A Suprise

I wanted to share with you the surprise I had when I went to turn on my anesthesia machine the other day. I was the first one in the OR. I was getting things ready for the day. I turned on the anesthesia machine and then turned to my left to attach the breathing circuit and this little fellow was attached to the monitoring cables. I was needless to say VERY surprised but contrary to what you may read on Facebook I did not scream like a girl. I found out later that he is known as a Jesus lizard because he can walk on water. He was apparently cold from the air conditioning. Once he was released outside he warmed up and was running on his hind legs. This was not the interaction with Jesus I came to Nicaragua for.

These are pictures of a few of the patients we served last week. I cannot begin to tell you how great it feels to be given the opportunity to have touched their lives.  The final total was 50 procedures in the OR and another 100 procedures in the Ditzel clinic. I am not sure of the breakdown in type of procedure but we must have done around 15 or more cleft lip and or palate surgeries.
The whole team worked great together or this never would have happened. I am proud to work with a great group of proud Christians who are willing to take their time and talents to go to Nicaragua to serve the Lord and his children.
I am sure the rest of the team will want to share some of their thoughts and I don't want to 'steal their thunder.'  We have lots more pictures. If you ever want to hear more or want a presentation for a group or organization we are always happy to talk about this trip.

It is already Thursday, unbelievable!  We have been working so hard and such long days we just haven't had a chance to blog much.  I was lucky and got to come "home" tonight at 5:30 so I could try and touch base with you all and get some important emails off to some other villages for Suzie.
I just can't explain how great things are...we are organized, calm and SO VERY lucky to have the most amazing, generous and God-fearing docs to work with.  The outcomes are truly beautiful.  We have been told that their expertise accomplishes almost perfect results in only 3 surgeries compared to 7 that it takes in the USA.  I believe it!!  All of our spirits are high and the only tears shed thus far are from joy.  These pictures were taken by Dean...1) Karl, RJ and Keveta 2) Sondra the other anesthetist 3)Scarleth and her new 1month old baby, she helped Carolyn and me last year 4) Mrs Rigsby's granddaughter.
I hope that the rest of the crew can share tonight or tomorrow...thanks for all the prayers, encouragement and support. 
Tamra

I will try again.

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged. So far this thing has eaten 3 of my posts. I am sure it is NOT MY FAULT. We have had 2 long surgery days doing cleft lips, cleft palates and a couple of combination lip and palates. We have also done some ENT, plastic surgery and general surgery. The people of this ethnicity tend to form keloids where there skin has been cut or damaged. For those of you who do not know what a keloid is. it is an over growth of scar tissue (Google it). We have done a lot of scar revisions in the OR on children and Tamra has done a lot of keloid removal and injections in what we call the Ditzel Clinic on older patients. We have seen a lot of children who have been burned in cooking accidents or house fires etc. and formed some terrible scars. We are really seeing the poor of the poor this year.  Suzi and Sarah came down a few days early and went into the villages and found patients. Dr. Carstens arrived today from Managua. We have been waiting for him for the patients with the large cleft palates, bad cleft lips etc. He did an ear reconstruction tonight after he got to the hospital. The next three days won't be any shorter than the last two. Sue has been working hard in the OR. Keveta has returned but is trusting Sue and one of the new members from CA to do a great share of the work. I tend to get the babies on my bed. Those of you that know me well, know I love (not really) giving anesthesia to small children. It is very stressful but very rewarding to see these beautiful children's lives changed. We have a RULE that we don't do any kids younger than 10 months or smaller than 10 kilograms. That lasted until our first patient. She was 7 months and 9 kilograms but we called her Kid too Cute. Meaning she was too cute not to do. We have had several Kid too Cutes in the 5 years we have been doing this. Karl and RJ (Suzi's husband) have been running the town to supply us as well as other projects. I am going to close this and try to get some sleep. Sleep never comes easy for me on these trips but without Carolyn along it is even more rare. Hopefully this will not get eaten before I get it published. Please forgive all spelling and punctuation errors.
Dean

Sunday AM

Well after many starts and stops (including not being smart enough to log onto the blog) things are beginning to flow. We had a great clinic yesterday. No one can keep track of how many people we saw but it was several hundred. Everyone worked together to make for a very smooth day. Tamra and Sue were the main triage nurses working with Mary Alena (a local RN) to find out what the person's chief complaint was and getting them directed to the correct doctor's table. Then Suzi and I would get them scheduled for a surgery date if it was a problem we could help. We have 10 or so cleft lips and 6 or 8 either cleft palates or combined lip and palate.  We also have numerous ENT cases as well as some general surgery cases. We got to see a few of the patients we have been privileged to have touched on previous trips. It is a blessing to see them and how their lives have been changed. It is great working with our other half from CA. I feel we have truly melded into one team. The return of our Nicaragua Doc's has been great. They serve with a humble spirit and feel they have been sent here by God just like the rest of us. Karl and RJ have an ever enlarging list of things to fix or build. The supplies arrived some time during the night after a 24 hour cross country road trip. I will try to add some pictures after church but you know I am technologically challenged. Carolyn we all miss you. All the locals have asked about you and send their greetings. I hopes this finds all of our USA support team (that is YOU if you are reading this) well.
Greetings from the rest of the team. We are well and excited for what comes next.
Dean

Good Morning Managua!!!  It was a tough day yesterday spending 10 hours in the Houston airport.  We had clean and comfortable accommodations last night and a tasty breakfast today.  We are off to La Costena to get ready for our flight to Puerto Cabezas - praying for a smooth flight...we will keep in touch!  Tam

Even though we are no longer part of the Forward Edge Organization...this is a video that shows some of our team members that we are blessed to work with.  This is the hospital we work at and the people we are honored to serve.

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped make our Spaghetti Feed a success despite the cold weather.  We couldn't  have done it without your time, donations and support.

God Bless you ALL!

Tamra Boettcher

Nicaragua 2014

We're happy to report that our mission team has hit the ground running & is busy planning for the next trip in February.  We've had a couple meetings & are working on fundraising, planning our spaghetti feed & gathering supplies & equipment that will be taken to Nicaragua. 

Our spaghetti feed will be held Sunday, December 8th from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at the First United Methodist Church   2710 14th St. in Columbus.  We will also have a Christmas bake sale which will have various homemade goodies & treats & baked goods. 

We would like to thank the Barilla pasta company for their donation of all the spaghetti & sauce as well as Cargill for their donation of the hamburger.  These 2 companies have been so generous with their donations for the last few years & we are so blessed to have their support. 

Team members this year include Sue & Karl Tillinghast, Tamra Boettcher, and Dean & Carolyn Athey.  It is a great group of hard working individuals who are all committed to continuing with the mission work that is very dear to our hearts.  This will be the 5th trip to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and we are so blessed that we are still being invited to return to help those in need. 

Grandbabies aren't always known for their arrivals to be at convenient times for everyone, so I will not be going in Feb. with Sue & Karl, Tamra & Dean.  I will be in Michigan for the arrival of a new granddaughter but will also be with everyone in Nicaragua in spirit.  I will miss everyone but fully expect to return next year.  I am trying to help as much as possible in preparation for their trip so feel good that I can still contribute in other ways.  I'm the non-traveling team member this year!

Please keep the team in your prayers & on Dec. 8th after church, stop on over at the Methodist for some spaghetti! 

Carolyn Athey