Starting off the day with a devotional and a group prayer by Dr. Pond. Personal stories from the day prior are voluntary. These stories are always filled with gratitude and even a little saddened for our last day of surgery. We all have been told “thank you” and most of us have been ‘blessed’ a time or two for this opportunity from the patients and their families. But our team truly are the ones that feel thankful for this opportunity, the patients, and staff at the Obras have impacted each of us. The joy and memories we have gotten out of helping and seeing the look of the patients face, has really been the real blessing. Although they have masks on their face, it is definitely true when they say you can see the smile and joy in their eyes.
We were also so lucky to experience the precession of Corpus Christi, as they had the Obras set up with an array beautiful floral alters and arrangements with a sea of rose petals that led the precession to each station to pray. There were pathways of pine needles, roses, daisies and the air was scented with cardamon incense. The gorgeous sound of the staff and visitors singing hymns echoing through the halls of the Obras. It was truly a remarkable experience to be had, we could feel how sacred it was and how holy this holiday really is.
As the last of the surgeries wind down and our patients start to head to the recovery floors. Our team pack up and start to do an inventory for the next orthopedic team who will arrive in the fall. It’s a bittersweet time. While we still have a few patients in PACU, we remanence over our favorite memories of the week, funny team moments, sweet comments from family members or heartfelt connections that we had between staff and volunteers. So many moments and reasons to be grateful for taking the leap of faith by coming back to Antigua during their COVID pandemic. We will miss our Obras family and friends!! We will cherish you until we see you again!
Love,
Vanessa
