We enjoyed a good night’s rest and started our day with a short walk to the hospital. We passed many street vendors selling everything from chewing gum to diapers to fresh boiled eggs.
As we arrived at the hospital, patients were waiting for us and the chance to see Dr. Paley. It is heart breaking to see some of these patients with the problems they have, knowing that if they were born in the USA, their conditions would never have progressed to the level it is.
Tom Davis holding his little angel Lauri
Here in Haiti, the hospital staff is limited, so each team member has pitched in to do whatever is necessary to insure all the cases of the day flow smoothly. One little girl stole my heart. I was asked to transport or literally carry a young six year old girl named Lauri into the operating room. She was scared and crying as I picked her up in my arms to take her back for surgery. There was a short delay before her case started that allowed me to bond with her. She kept repeating to me “chic o let, chic o let,” but I didn’t not understand what she wanted. When I was able, I asked the translator what it meant, he told me that she wanted gum. I would have given her a suitcase full of gum if I could have.
The team performed as a well oiled machine today in spite of the difficult challenges we faced today. We were unable to repair theC-arm even with the diligent efforts of Dr. Nelson and Dr. Deitrich. John and Servando each filled in as scrub techs to assist Dr. Paley and Dr. Fougere. Mark did an incredible job which included wrapping a beautiful, post surgical, hot pink cast for a visiting Opthalmologist who tore his achilles tendon. Aviva Paley won the hearts of many Haitian children today as she visited them in clinic and gave them peel off animal stickers. There were many smiles on the faces of young children today. She also organized all the sutures in the O.R. to make them easier to be pulled for the surgeons.
As I write this at 12:00 midnight, the team is still in surgery with the Blounts case Dr. Paley mentioned in yesterday’s post. Dr. Paley, Dr. Fougere and Dr. Nelson, John Servando and Mark are all still working.
Clinical updates to follow tomorrow………..
Tom Davis
Guest contributor
Dr Paley always has his way of making kids smile
