Cutting it close, Delpinator #teamzapato #helpdelp

“Cutting it close, Delpinator.” That’s the text I received when I wasn’t even home from work yet…but Mark had arrived at my house, ready for Dorothy to come and drive us to the airport. I was pulling my typical MO: work the same night that we need to head to the airport. And of course I still needed to stop to get a few last minute items to pack. I just laughed when I got that text and said, “I’m on my way home. We have time.” I finished my last minute packing, while Mark was pacing in my house. It was quite amusing to see how excited he was to go to Guatemala for the first time…getting his first stamp in his passport period. That was hilarious at immigration in Guatemala to be honest. I thought for sure he was going to try to crawl over the counter to watch the guy put a stamp in his passport. We arrived to Guatemala to be greeted by Deb and Peter. Everyone was exhausted, but so relieved and excited to be there. Once we arrived to Palin, we visited an elderly woman who was short of breath, had a distended abdomen, was dizzy, and was nauseated. We went to the pharmacy and got her some medications to try to help her. That night, we had the youth kids come for the evening. We were beyond exhausted by that point. I found everything amusing and Mark was in his hyper-tired mode. While playing beach volleyball, the ball kept getting caught in the tree. Mark used his awesome Spanish skills, took off his shoe, and yelled, “ZAPATO!!!!” and then would throw his shoe in the tree to try to knock the ball down. I was losing my crap at this point. Laughing so hard, I was crying. The kids thought it was absolutely hysterical and started calling Mark “zapato.” At one point, this one kid took Mark’s shoe and threw it straight up in the tree…but it was dark by this point and he didn’t see the shoe until the last second as it was coming straight for his face. That kid hit the ground so fast in an attempt to get out of the way! That whole scenario started the #teamzapato. Later that night, we played apples to apples the Spanish version. Mark won that easily. Nailed it! Lo clavaste! (The day Mark yelled ‘nailed it’ in Spanish, Peter’s mom laughed so hard. It was hysterical). I had warned Peter before we came that I didn’t think he knew what he was getting into with Deb and I together and then throw Mark in the mix….whew, buddy. I think he figured it out quickly on night one of us being there.

The next days were a blur of events. So much happened. We bought meds for our clinics, sorted everything out that we had all brought down for clinics (honestly, it was like Christmas! Especially for everything Deb brought down!!! ), serenaded by Mark playing the guitar…and singing for Frank the gecko, went to Antigua, picked up Yelsi to help translate, ran 2 clinics, got clotheslined by a tiny bag on a string like a kite (that kid screamed, thinking I killed her kite. Peter and I laughed so hard the whole way back to the house), taught Peter how to put in an IV (I volunteered to be poked and Deb volunteered to let me put an 18g in her to show him how to do it…but apparently I went too fast. No one at Reading would be surprised by that comment), played games, did activities with the neighborhood kids who live on the railroad tracks, and made amazing food (and Deb wore Mark’s sneakers just to walk to the other house and Peter’s mom laughed so hard once she found out that Deb…who wears like a size 6 shoe was wearing about a size 14 shoe), and had a birthday party for our October birthdays. And we all laughed…a lot! The random one liners that were said…absolutely hysterical. I think Deb won with having the most on the quote sheet we had.

We set up clinics in churches in 2 different villages closer to the sugarcane fields where it was pretty humid. We put out coloring pages and crayons for the kids and set up everything on tables or pews depending on what was available. It’s funny. Before we went, we had bought meds for it. Went down the list of meds that seemed pretty popular especially for the 3 months that I was there: meds for pneumonia, diarrhea, and fever. Those were the main things that pretty much every patient needed. So we bought plenty of meds to cover that. We came home and realized that we didn’t buy cough medicine. Later, Peter remembered they had meds left over at his mom’s house from previous medical teams/clinics. I went over and sorted through them: mostly cough medicine, liquid antibiotics, diabetic, gastritis, and allergy meds. We packed it, along with the meds we just bought. Both clinics: we went through that cough, diabetic, gastritis, and allergy medicine like crazy. God provides! I remember when I was working at the dump and resources were pretty limited and just when I was certain I was out of a medicine that I needed, I would find some more and would have just the right amount by the end of the day. I also bought a special ear wash thing and brought it down with me since Reyna was the queen of ear washes the whole time we did our medical team in March. We did a few ear washes this trip and since Reyna wasn’t here…I became the ear wash queen. Deb and Mark did awesome at adjusting to limited resources compared to the States, seeing different ailments than we do in the States, and banging them out. Reading taught us well how to keep it moving! At the end of the first clinic day, Mark took a picture of the empting out church as Deb and I finished up with the last patients. His comment: Deb and Donna cleaning out the waiting room like old times! Peter and Yelsi are amazing translators and sure know how to kick butt with medical teams! We just need to clone them. End of story.

There were a couple patients who really stuck out to me. Deb may have more to add to this…she was so self-sufficient as usual; she didn’t really need me to help get meds or assist with any triages. She was all over it as usual! This is why she could run the ED pretty much herself. (Miss working with you, FYI!!). We had a 12 ish yr old boy who had fever, RUQ pain, chest pain, vomiting, and just looked like crap. We gave him some meds and followed up with him a few days later to set up an appointment for an ultrasound if needed and he was feeling better. We had quite a few kids who saw us for the usual: fever, cough, some with diarrhea. This one kid was screaming bloody murder for Mark. It was amusing since when I came over, she stopped crying immediately. Mark was like, “Oh. Of course. Stops for Delp.” There were quite a few patients who came and were newly diagnosed with diabetes or didn’t have the correct medication to keep it controlled. So we provided them with some meds and diabetic teaching. After the first clinic, we went to the house of a family who had mentioned that the brother-in-law was urinating blood and couldn’t get out of bed because of having a stroke recently and really weak on one side. When we arrived, he’s in the hammock, unable to get up, has been urinating blood and having burning with urination. We provided him with antibiotics for a urine infection and then prayed with him. That was a special moment praying with him and his family. Peter’s mom prayed and most of us were teary by the end of it. He was so grateful for our help and being willing to come and see him.

There was a woman in her 30’s. Married and has 3 daughters. She had come to us because she had pain in her throat, short of breath, chest pain, dizziness, and looked like crap. She was pale, diaphoretic (sweaty). Heart rate was 120’s. We thankfully had some IV supplies with us and a liter of fluid. So we took her in the back room where there was a bed and conveniently a nail in the wall to hold up the bottle of fluids. I put in an 18g in her arm and we ran the fluids in as a bolus. It helped her heart rate greatly and she was down in the 70-80’s, but irregular and she was still really short of breath. She was telling me about how her husband had be laid off from work recently, didn’t have a source of income, has been to the doctor recently for this and given some anti-anxiety meds and a heart medication, but none of which were helping and she felt like she was just getting worse. We took her to a local public hospital, which we were warned wasn’t exactly the best. But it was the best we could do at that time. The previous night, Mark had showed us a TED talk about healthcare and how within the first 14 seconds on average, a patient will be cut off from what they are trying to say. Well, we arrived at this hospital and she went back to talk to a medic. She still had the IV in her arm and within 3 seconds of her and/or her husband trying to speak, the medic cut her off and didn’t let her explain why she was there/what was going on. Meanwhile, I’m standing there super annoyed at this point and then they put her out in the waiting room…IV still in arm…no vital signs taken…just to hang out and wait while she is continuing to struggle to breathe. We gave the husband some money to use for the tests since you have to pay up front to get anything done and we had to go back to where we had clinic set up. While trying to find where our driver went, Mark insisted on buying chicken that was made along the street. That boy sure loves his chicken! Meanwhile, Peter’s mom, Yelsi, and Deb had it all under control at clinic. They had cleaned house. Although, when I walked in, Deb shot me a look and I knew exactly what was going on. I know Deb’s facial expressions. She was trying to wrap it up with this one mother and she kept adding ailments for her son who wasn’t really complaining of anything. We finished up and debriefed about the medical system in Guatemala. That woman didn’t really get any medical treatment while at the hospital. Since we came back to the States, she has had labs, ultrasounds, and a chest xray done. She’s still really sick, short of breath, diaphoretic, now possibly has a fever intermittently, has been vomiting and unable to keep anything down for days, and is pretty weak. Continue to pray for her and her family. For those of you who have donated and been praying for her, thank you so much! Thank you doesn’t even seem like enough. But please know that you are making a huge impact in their lives and it’s greatly appreciated!! You are helping to pay for her medical bills so that she can have the labs and imaging done, paying for food for her and her family, and paying for her medications that we have been buying for her. So thank you so much!!

On Saturday, between clinic days, we had the kids from the railroad tracks at the house for Sunday school. We played games, sang songs, talked about a Bible story and did a craft with them making fish out of plates and letting them decorate them. It was so great to work with them again! They are great kids! So many have a pretty tough life. But that day and when we walked down to the tracks where they live and you can see for yourself where they live, you can see how poor of a community it is, but the kids are resilient and can have fun no matter what they have or don’t have. We watched some of the kids play marbles in the dirt and Mark made a comment, “Now that is how kids are supposed to play. Not with 8000 electronics in hand 24/7.” Plus, on the days we do activities with them, for many, it is their only time they can be just what they are: a KID. They don’t have to take care of their family while their parents are working or whatever else they are responsible for. But instead, can be a kid, take a break from their hard lives, and learn about how they are so loved by God.

On our last day together before Deb and Mark had to go back to the States, we hiked Pacaya, an active volcano. Peter was a beast and walked the whole thing. The rest of us were getting over our lovely coughs and had some help by going up majority of the way on horseback. Even though it was a cloudy day, it was still an amazing view. Most of us wore shorts and t-shirts. By the time we reached as high as we’re allowed to go, we could see our breath. Deb was so excited to finally be in Alaska spring weather! There was a shop near the top with jewelry made from lava and the guys there were awesome. They explained everything about Pacaya and then were really interested in our medical team and what all we had been doing on this trip. There were 2 dogs that live up there in a cave and one mother just had 8 puppies. We walked the rest of the way, on top of rock that was over lava. We were able to roast marshmallows in some of the holes that had steam coming up from the lava. We picked up some of the lava rocks to warm up our hands too since it was windy up there. That night, a girl who I helped while I was there on my 3 month trip came to the house to color and eat some food. She is such a sweet kid. She has been handed the raw end of the deal of life, but can still smile. Love that girl! I of course snuck her a piece of the no bake brownies we had made earlier in the week.

This is just the start of everything. Peter and I have discussed having medical teams come down and it finally happened! Huge thank you to Deb and Mark for being the guinea pigs and being the first ones to come down for our own clinics!! Thank you to those who have put so much time, effort, money, and prayers into this so far! If you would like to donate to help pay for meds, stuff to keep doing activities for the kids, food for people who don’t have any, etc….the list goes on honestly, here’s the link: cten.org/donnadelp

All donations are tax deductible. You guys truly are making a huge difference and we couldn’t do this without your help. Honestly. Thanks to Conner for giving us the idea for this hashtag…Mark for making the push to actually do it, and Deb for being the first one to use it officially: #helpdelp. Enjoy some more pictures from clinic, kids from the tracks, and hiking Pacaya!

We need help…but you REALLY need help!

Thanks, Peter. That was a quote from him on my last full day in Guatemala. I laughed hysterically of course and he just said between laughing, “That came out all wrong!” Honestly, it’s kind of true. Ok, more than kind of. So the end of my trip consisted of a lot of goodbyes/see you in a few months when you come back on vacation for a bit. And then the whirlwind events happened going from Guatemala, to Miami, to Baltimore, to Lancaster, to Reading hospital to say hi to some coworkers for few minutes, to Lancaster, to Lititz, to Baltimore, to Chicago, to Oklahoma all within a little over 24 hours. I had a great time in Oklahoma and happy to say I didn’t have to snuggle in a bathtub to hide from a tornado…just in a bathroom with about 100 others while it down poured. We left Oklahoma 8 days later (after seeing some awesome games!) around 4am and by 10 pm that night, I was at my parent’s farm for the weekend.

This past Monday marked my first night back to work and my coworkers have been amazing at helping me adjust and get right back into it. Again thank you for all of your help and for the party you guys had for my homecoming. You guys stuck by my side throughout my 6.5 years of working there and especially over this past year which just downright sucked. You all have been supportive and continue to help me grow. I ended my week by going to Kaylee's (my niece) softball game, and a Phillies game with Leah. Happy birthday to her and welcome home to me! 

Today at church, we sang a song about how God is always faithful and then had a guy from our church talked about what his family has been doing while being missionaries in Thailand. So after that, it seemed like a perfect time for this blog post. And now for what most of you have been expecting (or even telling me for years): I’m moving to Guatemala. The plan is quit working at Reading in February and make the move. I’m going to be working with Drew and Cindy Metcalf’s ministry (We Help Children) and with Peter’s family’s ministry (Pitman Ministries). We’re going to start providing medical care to Palin and surrounding villages/towns, host medical teams, and continue working with the kids. So now the reason why I’ll need help…well, I always did, but even more so now: I need support. I’m not going to have an income when I’m down there. So I’m going to need some help in that area. So if you feel led to help me financially, that would be absolutely amazing! You can give monthly or a one-time gift, whatever you would like. A friend of mine is working on a website for me which will have donate tab on there that will link to an account for me. And as always, prayers are much appreciated and needed! I will keep you all informed as to where and how to donate if you’d like and when we plan on having medical trips. I need you guys in order to make this all happen! Help make a huge difference in so many lives. Thank you again for everything! 

Down to my last days in Guatemala...and Honduras

Well peeps (2 updates in a row I was able to work that in. You guys should be proud), I’m down to less than a week. In some ways, I feel like I just got here, but on the other hand, I feel like I’ve lived here for years. I guess every time I left, my heart stayed down here. So in some ways, it is like I’ve been here for years. I know certain people have been begging me to come live here for a long time and people in the States have been saying for a while that I’m just going to end up down here. I just can’t say thank you enough or even describe how amazing this trip has been, how awesome my friends are down here, and how incredible my friends and family are in the States to give me up to come down here. The doors that are being opened are just one right after the other. When I first started this blog back in February, I was a complete wreck (well, better than I was in Aug. but not by much), needed to get a break, a change of pace. I got just that. I had mentioned before about how God was putting together connections way better than I could ever imagine and that has just been continuing left and right. I honestly can’t even keep up. So I know I sound like a freaking broken record, but thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey: for listening to me ramble about everything that has happened this past year, being there when grief hit, hanging out and having so much fun, putting together camp for the kids, translating for me at clinics, listening to me vent, having long talks, helping to allow my dreams to grow for how to help in the future, getting medical teams set up, allowing me to be a part of the medical team the first week I was here, Belize, and now Honduras. The list goes on and this post is already turning into a beast, so I’ll chill. So much has happened while here and I know my blog posts tend to be on the longer end, but I swear, I’m leaving out so much. But I will tell you this: I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. They all know down here now about how I laugh when I’m tired, I can find about anything amusing in some way, shape, or form, and I may or may not get ridiculously red when laughing really hard.

Last Friday at clinic, Peter and I saw a bunch of kids with fever, diarrhea, cough, and sore throats. There was a doctor visiting from Canada who is thinking of moving to Guatemala and we put him to work. Clinic was busy that day with 47 patients. Afterwards, we went on a house visit to one of the elderly women in the village. When we got there, she had crawled out into the sun. That was the first time I had seen her outside on her own. But because of some grief she gets from others, she doesn’t like to use her walker, wheelchair, or bedside commode. We changed her bedsheets, swept out her house, and plugged some holes on the roof. I went outside and knelt on the ground to put cream on her arms and feet for her arthritis and then we helped her walk back inside, rather than making her crawl on the hard dirt ground. In the afternoon, Yelsi, Peter, and I walked around town, got some gifts for people in the States, and hung out at a coffee shop until we had church that night. That coffee shop had some pretty good hot chocolate.

Yelsi and I had a lazy Saturday. We have been so on the run since I got here over 2 months ago that we haven’t had much time to take a day to do not a lot of anything. But even then, I still got a lot figured out with Peter for our medical trip in October (as long as we can all take some nights off at the same time. New ED building…excellent). Sunday consisted of going to church, dropping Peter off to pick up the truck at the mechanic, dropping off a friend at home who came with us to church, grocery shopping for dinner, and then going to Peter’s house for our last big group get together. We had a great time hanging out, pigging out on food (I may have gone overboard: 2 pizzas, orange salad, potato wedges, chicken, pico de gallo, guacamole, nachos, and brownies), messing around with guitar, and watching a movie.

Not every day you see a dog in a pila just chilling 

Monday was my last day at clinic. Feels so weird to not be going back for a while. We had a bunch of kids with the same symptoms: fever, cough, and diarrhea. Afterwards, we went to the same woman’s house that we went to on Friday, along with some people who were on a mission trip with the feeding center that was down the road. We prayed with her, put on lidocaine patches for her pain, and brought more Tylenol for her. She is such a sweet woman, even despite some crap that she gets from people around her since it’s not socially “normal” to use a walker, wheelchair, or bedside commode. I have really enjoyed helping to care for her over the past few months. That afternoon, Yelsi, Peter, and I went down to his hometown to try to get some things set up for a team that is coming from the States in a few weeks and to make sure that the one kid who had his appendix removed was going back to school, despite the doctors saying he shouldn’t go until 2 months post op. And of course, his mom is amazing and fed us mangos. Winner in my book. On the way home, we went to Antigua for some amazing food. First, we stopped at one restaurant, started talking about another one, and since we didn’t want to be completely rude, we ordered some hot chocolate. And Yelsi and I were apparently tired since we couldn’t stop laughing. We thought for sure we’d get kicked out for being too loud. After we chugged our drinks, we went to the other restaurant that had amazing crepes. I keep talking about Tomcat Café and Yelsi has been there and keeps agreeing that everyone needs to go. I pulled up the menu and convinced Peter that he really needs to get his butt up to PA to eat at Tomcat.

Tuesday morning, we went to Antigua to pick up some things to prepare for our trip to Honduras. This shop we stopped at had some sweet chocolate combinations. Cindy said they’re amazing. So I accidentally bought quite a few to bring home with me. That afternoon, Cindy, Jenny, and I went to a building where a guy gets shipments of Sunday school material and Bibles once or twice a year. They had skids full to the ceiling with so much stuff! It was insane. We got some stuff for Peter’s family ministry and Jenny went nuts with what all she got! The Jeep was jammed packed with boxes of Bible tracts, books for kids and youth, Kids Action Bibles, Sunday school materials, and I don’t know what all we loaded into the Jeep. Just when we thought we were done loading up, she would find something else to take with us. It was amazing and this ministry that this guy is doing is incredible! I thought we were going to be paying for this stuff. But when we went to leave, I said, “Oh. It’s free?” Cindy said, “Yup. That’s his ministry.” What an amazing blessing and gift for these people! Isaiah and I also worked on a fort out of tree branches and pine.

Wednesday morning, I baked up a storm for our trip and for dinner that night. I made blueberry muffins, gluten free m&m muffins (didn’t have any more chocolate chips), rolls, pizza dough (for Jenny and Carla to make a pizza while we’re gone…they’re not fans of cooking), slow cooked southwest chicken, and shoofly cake. I finally cracked down that afternoon and packed for our trip to Honduras. At 3am on Thursday morning, we packed up the van and started our trip. 4 different seats, a few pit stops, almost passing right by Guatemalan immigration without stopping (legit tiny office on the side of the road), stopping to find a map of Honduras…3 times (with no success. No one sells maps?), we arrived to our destination in Honduras: Siguatepeque (which once again, we were corrected on the pronunciation of the word…it’s like the town in Belize all over again). Earlier on Wednesday night, I was trying to say Sacatepequez (in Guatemala) and it pretty much sounded like sack of potatoes.

In Honduras, we were pleasantly surprised that we were higher in the mountains. So it’s much cooler and not nearly as humid as we were expecting. The hotel is beautiful. There is a conference being held at this hotel for other people working with children who are “in the system” of foster care, orphanages, children’s home, etc who have been traumatized or abused. I have been helping to watch the kids during the conference on Friday and Saturday. We played a bunch of games, including soccer and apples to apples…which Moses kicked my butt. Like I said before, don’t underestimate a 4 year old who can’t read much yet. Playing soccer in a skirt on Saturday was quite the entertainment. I may end up with a bruised shin from kicking at the same time another kid did. Let’s just say we’re both competitive. While we were playing phase 10 on Friday, Moses came in and vomited all over the floor…and then the bathroom. I was barefoot and walked right through it to get him out of it and to the bathroom. Meanwhile, while I was helping Moses in the bathroom, I heard Yelsi walk into the room. She had stopped right in the middle of the vomit and didn’t even notice. I peeked my head out of the bathroom and told her she didn’t want to stand there. As she was half spinning in it, she asked why. I told her and she proceeded to dry heave. I cleaned Moses up, the floor, and the bathroom, and got him settled in bed. That afternoon, I went to a session about traumatized children. So much great information that makes a lot a sense about a lot of the children that we come into contact with. It explains a lot as to why just asking them to put their shoes away, may lead to them having a complete meltdown for hours. The speaker also explained why a lot of these kids come to us and they may be 12 years old, but behave on a 3 year old level. They had CT scans of the difference between a normal brain and one of a neglected 3 year old. That night, we went out to eat at this local place that had picnic tables set up in the back. Such amazing plantain chips, salad, and meat. Yelsi and I sat at the kids table, played blink, and laughed over not much of anything. At one point, the one boy was explaining that I was a lot like his grandmother and his brother said, “She’s not like our grandma! She doesn’t have metal knees!” Mo has since started with some nasty diarrhea and is now on antibiotics for that and we’ve just been having a relaxing Saturday, watching soccer, played some soccer, phase 10, and dutch blitz. And I now have a great-great grandson. Yelsi has adopted Noah as her child. So the family tree keeps on growing! This is what happens when I am in charge of kids...the family tree expands.

Tomorrow we head back to Guatemala and then on Monday, I say my final goodbyes to people. My trip back to the States starts early Tuesday morning and then I’m heading to Oklahoma for softball. Like I have said before and I’m sorry to repeat myself so much and probably bore the crap out of most of you, but thank you to everyone who has supported me and pushed me to do this trip. I needed it more than I realized until I got down here. God has used so many of you to get me to this point of healing and peace in my life. I’m so excited about what’s to come and how each of you can be a part of it in the future! Here are some more pictures of our trip from Honduras:

Mine

Moses kicked my butt!