Coca Patients Arrive

Alejandra arrived today with 2 busloads of patients from Coca at 5am.  Some of the patients walked 1 hour then drove 2 hours to get on the bus for their 8 hour journey to Quito.  Others had a 2-3 hour drive before they jumped on the bus but all of the patients were too tired to jump off the bus!  Most of the patients are repeat patients and all of them will stay through Saturday for clinic.

This was a long and difficult day for the team.  The facility is being shared with local surgeons and because it is a new facility for the doctors, there was a lot of negotiating about shoe covers, which are not necessary in the US. The team was unsuccessful and must wear shoe covers but they did manage to turn a storage room into a 4th operating room.  These Ecuadorian surgeons have their way of doing things.  The team treaded lightly and hopefully the rest of the week will be a symbiotic relationship for both the Ecuadorians and the Americans.

Not only was adjusting to the new facility trying but we had 3 difficult cases.  The first patient of the day for Dr. Janice Lalikos was Antonio.  Antonio’s cleft palate was so wide that he will see a drastic improvement once he heals.  Securing Antonio’s airway was a challenge and this surgery was off to a slow start.  The second difficult patient was Dr. Stephen Pap’s patient, Jairon, who was born with an extra finger and required a skin graft.  Last but not least is Christian who turned 21 today.  His birthday wish was new ears and Dr. Kathy Nitta, once again, tried to reconstruct his ears because the cartilage curled up after his last surgery.  The team worked well together even though they spent 12 hours in surgery.  These are long days and some of the crew are getting sick but I guess if you’re going to get sick, it’s best to have it happen when you are surrounded by doctors and medicine 🙂

The Post Op team brings presents every year.  Mary Ellen brings hats that were knitted and blessed by her friends at church!  Pete brought a soccer shirt with the #1 world cup soccer player’s name on it, Lionel Messi.  Oddrun brought soccer shoes.   As it turned out, Pete got to talking to one of the patients, and the boy is a big soccer fan only he cannot wear shoes because he has an extra toe.  When this boy wakes up, not only will he have a foot that will fit into his new shoes but he will have a soccer shirt with the world’s biggest soccer star’s name on it!