Our Friend Juan

Hello everyone and blessings during this wonderful season to celebrate Jesus' birthday! As most of you know, Joe and I had the incredible opportunity to be in Central America for the past 4 months doing different types of mission/volunteer work. We spent the majority of our time in Granada, Nicaragua working with missionaries from our home church in Charlottesville. While there, we pioneered a hospital mission project. The hospital in Granada in a public, free hospital funded by the Japanese. Let's just say you get what you pay for here. There are usually a shortage of necessary medicine, doctors, etc but an excess of stray dogs and cats running in and out of patients rooms. Joe and I went 2 days a week to the hospital and visited, prayed, sang, etc with the patients who were waiting patiently for healing. They were a captive audience considering the boredom and waiting but through Jesus we developed some great relationships in the 2 months we were there. On of these patients, Juan, was there the first day we began at the hospital and was still there 2 months later when we left, just waiting for the correct antibiotics for his leg. His story is this...Since birth Juan was unable to walk. He had these huge bulbous bones spurs (for lack of a better term) that inhibited him from walking. He would try but only fell. So, thirteen years ago he had a surgery to remove the spurs. His left leg healed up fine, but his right never healed. He has been in and out of the hospital since then with this incredible festering infection. He learned to walk. He relies heavily on a cane. He just turned 28 last month.


Joe and I didn't know the severity of his infection until one of the last days we were in the hospital. A doctor came by to clean his wound (which is deep to the bone) and was talking about his antibiotic therapy. At that point I put on my pharmacist hat and realized the huge problem in what was going on. From day to day the hospital literally doesn't know what medications they will have in stock and thus give patients whatever they have...which equals increased resistance for infections and lack of healing. We had seen some miracles of healing before this to another patient that totally made me realize how much bigger God was than our American, researched, expensive medicine. When I heard how wrong (in American standards) Juan's care was, I thought to myself...well God is in control and is the ultimate healer no matter what medications he is or is not receiving. We went on and just prayed about the situation and later were discussing this with some friends of ours from California that have moved for 5 months to Granada and have totally served this community in so many ways. This family, because of a sickness Dione (the wife/mom) had while being in Granada know of a doctor that worked in the best hospital in Nicaragua which is about 45 minutes away. They had also raised some money to help give their neighbors Christmas presents and everyday needs such as beds, foods, etc but had some money leftover from all of they generous supporters. They offered to get in contact with the doctor they knew and see what he could do for Juan. Long story short, Troy (the husband/father) took Juan to the hospital on Friday and everyone was blown away by his leg. Here is what Troy said of the trip to the hospital on Friday
"Dr. Baurios, was absolutely fantastic. He was very caring and careful and thorough. Everyone who saw Juan’s wound was profoundly effected. I had to walk into another room because I was teary. Juan definitely has Osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone). They took an x-ray of the bone to measure the damage. They also took cultures of the five eruptions where the infection is coming through the skin (one honestly looks like an upside down volcano straight to the bone). They also took a blood draw to see if the infection has spread to his blood or anywhere else in his body. On Tuesday we will get all of the culture and blood results back. Today the x-rays showed that the bone has not been damaged by the infection which is fairly miraculous. Dr. Baurios is also going to show the films to an orthopedist to be thorough. So, hopefully Tuesday we will know the plan for treatment. It will most likely include being admitted to the hospital for at least two weeks of intensive antibiotic treatment. After the infection has cleared enough, they will surgically clean the infected area and remove old scar tissue, etc. "

Juan lives with his mom and dad and his little 9 year old daughter (the mom is not in the picture). He has the best attitude and knows there is a plan for him thru the Lord. He really wants to get back to work (which is physical work) to provide for his daughter and help his mom and dad out as well. For 13 years, Juan has not received appropriate care and has spent tremendous amounts of time in the hospital. We are hopeful that this time is different and he will be healed after proper treatment but most importantly, God's healing. You all have been so gracious to Joe and I to support us financially and prayerfully as we have been away but we are going to throw this out there now. It cost about $100/day for treatment at the hospital and Juan needs weeks-months of treatment. It's not cheap! Please join us in praying for Juan and if you feel led please make a donation in Juan's name to help him receive proper care. Our friends, Troy and Dione, have created a paypal account on their blog. Just click on the link below to go directly to the paypal link or if you have problems you can visit their blog at
www.thehickersons.com

Thank you so much for your time, heart, joy, etc. We are heading to Bolivia January 7th for another 3 months and would love for you to follow us at www.kiddsinlatinamerica.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas!!!
Julie and Joe Kidd



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Home Sweet Home!

We arrived safely to DC last night where Joe's sweet parents were there to pick us up and take us to Broadway. We woke up today to snow covered woods which continued the entire day...such a treat and truly beautiful! It was great fun to build snowmen, sled, peg each other with snowballs with our family. The weather has been a bit shocking considering we lost around 40 degrees from our flight from Panama to DC yesterday...crazy! But we are excited to be home and spend time with our friends and family, have good home-cooked non beans and rice food, sleep in clean beds (Joe got attacked by bed bugs one of our last nights in Panama), take hot showers, have more than a 2 shirt option of what we will wear each day, and most importantly sing Christmas music. Thank you all for all of your support, prayers, thoughts, etc for us while we were in Central America and we will return to the blogging world in early January when we go back South for another adventure in South America. Happy Holidays and Happy Birthday Jesus!


Julie and Joe