Stats

It's only the fourth day that we've been here working and we've screened 178 patients for surgery and more walk in every day. We've completed about 45 surgeries so far and if we were here for 5 years straight, working at this pace everyday we would not even make a dent in the amount of need there is here in this country. It is really heartbreaking to see how many people need help with various kinds of plastic surgeries.

We've seen all kinds of mild to severe cleft lip and palate cases, a suprising number of burn cases, plenty of congential defect situations and even a lady who has one finger fused to her hand and another finger missing all because of a snake bite. By the time we leave here, she will have use of three remaining fingers and a funtional hand.

The giant brown eyes of all these little kids are like bowls of pudding and are filled with such hope and desparation. When they leave us, the parents eyes are filled with complete and total gratitude. I'm honored to be a part of this project and to be able to help this beautiful culture in even the smallest way.

I work every day in the recovery room area (PACU or Post Anesthesia Care Unit) and it's like grand central station in there! We had a couple of tough cases yesterday with complications. It was incredible to watch this team of people work together like we've worked together for 25+ years. Amazing stuff.

It makes me cry a few times every day to be sitting with a child just waking from anesthesia and looking across the recovering room seeing one of my friends also cuddling and soothing another small child waking after surgery.

Tomorrow is our only day off for the trip and we are headed into town for the day. Should be a nice and very much needed break for everyone. The days are long here (I have the cankles to prove it!), but oh-so-rewarding. Monday is a holiday here (Independance Day) and as I know it the Indian's sure do know how to have a holiday! The hospital is closed on Monday, but we will be working. That will be a PERFECT day for me to go into the OR and watch. It will be quiet in there since all the local Indian students and interns will be off that day.

**To explain why so many students and interns are here, we are working in a teaching hospital setting. It's part of Rotaplast's mission to teach locals how to perform these surgeries successfully and completely on their own. The goal is to not have to come here any more! So, that means the OR's are full of local people observing most of the time.**

The weather here is way more comfortable than I expected. It is still warm and muggy most of the time, especially indoors but it does cool down at night when we are outside unwinding from the day.

Time for bed...I'll post again in a couple days.

Love to all...hope all is well on the other side of the world!

xoxoxo