Today was our final day at Hilario Galindo.
I think one of my favorite moments was when Emily walked into the break room with a big blue bucket of bananas. She watched a woman carry it into the hospital on her head, and the woman brought it right over to her. She was a family member of one of our patients, gifting us bananas for caring for her family!
Every day this week, we’ve seen rain. Most of us are from the Pacific Northwest, so you’d think we’d be used to rain by now – but this storm was crazier than anything I’d ever seen. We saw lighting right through the break room window, and there was booming thunder that shook the hospital. We could see rain water was gushing through the downspouts and off the corrugated roof of the ‘tienda’ in the parking lot. The Guatemalans seemed indifferent about the weather. Smiling at our reactions and reminding us to breath. The car alarm for a parked van out front would go off every time there was a big boom of thunder – I counted five different times. Within an hour, the power went out twice in the hospital, including active ORs, and each time for a few seconds. Back-up generators kicked in almost immediately. Everything was fine but definitely something we hadn’t experienced before.
The day went well, but there were a few changes and challenges that came our way. By the end of the day, we had to split up the group because the final surgery was taking longer than expected. Half of the team stayed back to support the surgeon, others stayed to recover the patient and the rest stayed to pack and prep our trunks for travel or for next year.
Looking back on our surgeries this week, the team feels great about our week here. No major complications or problems, some surgeries were just more complex than others. Feeling so blessed and thankful the week went well.
