Started our day with more inspiration and some breakfast, as the former seems to have become what everyone is seeking more of, and the latter a mere necessity.
In Mr. Dean’s devotional this morning, we were reminded of Mathew 13:16 and that “blessed be our eyes because they see, and ears because they hear. For truly, many prophets and righteous people have longed to see what we have seen but did not see, and to hear what have heard but did not hear.”
Today, the work at Obras began with surgeons and their teams making rounds through the recovery rooms, checking on their day one surgeries. To most, we had simply been the voices that soothed them to sleep, then back awake, but I was personally in awe at the way their faces lit up when the teams walked into the rooms…further amazed that they recognized most of the team from only what they could see in their eyes and hear in their voices.
Our Patita Bonita was doing well, recovering, as the team visited her and her mother. She is still shy and not sure of what the last few days have been, but we hope she remembers us, because we will certainly remember her.
New stories start to develop, including a young teenage girl with a tongue cist, removed by Dr. Wani and his team. Eating had been a daily challenge for her, constantly biting and inflaming it at nearly every meal. Can’t wait to see her tomorrow in recovery, as we have (if by design) seemed to have captured many of the patients in our photos from Triage Day to Casa de Fe, able to follow them from start to finish.
This misplaced architect sat in with Dr. Chimenti and his team to clear sinus polyps in a young girl, in total…equivalent to nearly the size of a golfball. Because of environmental conditions, they will likely return, but for today, she breathed deeply with the ladies in the PACU for the first time in years.
Dr. Ayyar and his team had the heaviest load of the day, including over a half dozen lumpectomies of different types, on patients ranging in age from under 7 to over 70. Working together through the afternoon, the teams kept their promise to the staff at Obras…to be done with enough time left in the day for them to make their own long bus rides home.
Back to back in the morning, Dr. Brown and his team repaired hernias in two brothers (3 and 7), one on the right side, the other on the left. Smiling in the pre-op area and smiling again in the PACU, we expect them to be smiling still in the morning…even as we know from talking to their mother that they both walk to school many miles each day and their father makes less than $8 per day, when he can find work.
Todays shout out is to our pharmacists (Robyn and Brigetta) who work with what they have, not always what they need, but always finding a way to get the anesthesia team what they require.
Another busy day tomorrow!
-Erin Joseph Machac
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