Feb. 2 – Close Call

We woke up this morning only to learn that one of the anesthesiologists was stung by a flying red ant that is venomous. He spent the night in the hospital on IVs and although one almost landed on me today, it wasn’t the size of a squirrel, which is what he said it felt like.

Day 3 seems to be the day that the newbies start to feel the effects and 3 people had to go on IVs. Thankfully they have an armory of drugs to get the team up to speed. Today 2 anesthesiologists were down and Ross, my camera guy, needed a little boost. Everyone seems fine now.

The border between the film crew and Hands Across The World seems to be getting smaller as we all learn about one another. The film crew – Ross, Tom, and I – went with a driver, Alexandria, the angel social worker, and Patricia, who is another doctor from Quito who translates for us to see the sights of Ecuador. We did not want to get away from the hospital for too long because Jason, a beautiful and unusually tall Ecuadorian was going to have surgery in the afternoon. He had reached for a toy while his mother was cooking and when the mother returned boiling water had poured all over his neck and back.  If that doesn’t sound bad enough, wait til you see the scars and surgery in the film. Such a tragedy.

The countryside reminds me of Hawai?i, but it is so poor. We stopped at another burn patient’s house in the community of 29th of October (I find that odd but it must have been an important date!).  She lives with her single mom, brother, his wife, his wife’s mother and another brother, yes, all in the same house.  A very simple house and more family just a few doors down.  The country houses are even more primitive as they are made out of bamboo, thatched roofs, strips of bamboo flooring, and plastic trash bags dividing the rooms. Cooking is all done on open fires just under the thatched roof and plastic toys are laying too close for comfort. The very young couple already had 3 children and one had parasites so bad her belly looked ready to burst. They lived off the land with sugar, papaya, and some kind of root growing close by. Unfortunately, the nearest water was quite a hike. They were experts with the machete and the wife cut the roots up in minutes.  All the Ecuadorians are so kind and want to give even though they have nothing. They are very strong people who have smiles that will light up the world. The Quechua people seem to be more serious or perhaps more cautious, while the Ecuadorians are warm and friendly.

So many operations today that I don’t know where to start except to say that we did not leave the hospital until 9:30 and only when we had finished the rounds. Matilda is doing well but because she lives in the country growing coca and coffee, they will not let her leave. Her neck seems to feel better but the skin graph seems to be gushing and she will need to rest longer which would not be possible at home.  Jason is not a happy boy.  They had to remove so much tissue under his arms, I cannot imagine how much pain he must be in. The cleft palates of various types are still a mystery to me but apparently some of these cases require scraping of the throat which would be 100x worse than having your tonsils removed and by the looks of these kids, they are so hearty that they begin to eat right away. This would never fly in the U.S.  So much of what we see here is congenital, skin tags on a brother and sister who were pleasantly drugged, cleft this or that with the mother, brother, sister, etc. which leads you to believe that is it environmentally caused or undernourished or it could be a combination. I’m getting so curious about all the surgeries that I must have my face in every operation  A man came in complaining about an old surgery (there’s no surprise there) where they put in a plate in his hand. Dr. Pap opened his hand up and removed the 5 screws and a cyst as well as loosened up some nerves.  If he had the tools, he would have removed the plate. The first screw was my gift and I was tempted to take it as it’s titanium but would leave that ugly cyst on the table. Unfortunately the patient was upset that the plate was still inside, but there’s only so much the doctor’s can do.  It’s amazing how some people come in and want a simple scar removed and then others want so much work done with damage that was done such a long time ago, even in the best of conditions with the best doctor, it wouldn’t be possible.  It seems as though we will have another 14 hour day until we depart because we have too many patients to see.

Do you see how I have crossed the border here? I’m not the one operating – yet I now seem to think I can deduce who needs surgery and who does not or what the after care should be. I’ve immersed myself so much that it’s hard to keep the names with the patients and they become the microtia, or cleft palate or …..

Buenos Noches.