Almost at the finishing line...

By Wednesday, the mission is progressing like a well oiled machine. Most of the little hiccups we encountered the first couple of days we were at the hospital have sorted themselves out. I am still spending most of my time in the kitchen cleaning instruments or at the admin desk attending to the numerous requests that come my way. We had a busy day today. 3 Peds cases and 4 adult cases. Little Jeremy and baby Scarleth also came to get their legs recasted today. 

 

Baby Scarleth with a fresh cast. We'll see her again on Friday.

 

Sandra Henkel (our blogger) and I taking a breather.

 

 

Every morning, (as part of my lay person duties), I do an inventory of all the scrubs, towels, bed sheets and wrappers that have to be laundered. The clean ones are brought back as dirty ones are collected. Very messy business. Thursday, was a shorter than usual day; only 2 adults and 2 peds cases. One of the kids being operated on is 8 and a half year old Galo Cordova. A lot of work is being done on him, 5 different procedures in total!  He can't walk and is slightly mentally challenged so he is probably not aware of what he is about to undergo. His mum is anxious but also relieved that her son is finally getting help. She just wants him to have as normal a life as possible.

 

Counting clean laundry

 

 

 

In the kitchen cleaning OR instruments. People take a course to do this!

 

 

OR Nurse, Melanie carrying Galo to to prep for his surgery.

 

 

In the evening, we headed to the Canadian Ambassador's residence for cocktails. She has a very lovely home and is only 2 months into the job. Much as I appreciated and loved being there, I really just wanted to get back to the hotel and crash. These long days are a killer!

 

With April (left) and Wendy (right) at the ambassador's residence

Friday is a beautiful day! The sun is out and I finally get to take some nice pictures on the way to the hospital. (See below). It is also the last day for team one surgeries but there is still a lot to do. Team two (which left for Quito early Friday morning) will take over on Sunday morning. The transition is expected to be smooth (hopefully!). 16 patients have already been discharged and 2 more are expected to be discharged today. We have 1 adult case and 2 peds cases today. Teodora Pazmino's surgery, had to be cancelled because they discovered she has serious heart problems and it would be too dangerous for her to undergo an operation. The disappointment on her face was heartbreaking. On the bright side, they discovered something no one knew she had and she will be seeing a cardiologist right away.

 

One of the many statues around Quito. A few years ago, the Ecuadorian government committed 10% of their budget to art and culture projects. How cool is that!

 

 

View from the bus while stuck in morning traffic.

 

 

A guardian angel perched on top of a hill looking over Quito city.

58 year old Ramona (the dancing lady) had a Total Hip Replacement (THR) on Tuesday and was discharged on Thursday. She was in tears when she was told it's time to leave because she fell in love with her nurses and didn't want to leave them yet! It amazes me how quickly the patients are ready to go home. They barely take pain meds (Tylenol 3 at most) and the physiotherapy team usually has them up exercising the very day they are out of surgery. I figured that the adults, having lived with pain most of their lives, the pain of undergoing major surgery to replace a hip is no big deal. They are just happy to finally be getting help. Next time I complain of a backache, I will try not to do it so loudly!

 

Ramona with Nurse Marina and Translator Lucina in the recovery room post operation

To read more about this mission, check out our official blog at https://camta.com/blog.