Dr. Laura Sudarsky and Dr. Win Pound pose with patients and their families. Today, Wednesday, was tour last day at the hospital. We checked up on all the patients and changed dressings and distributed medications as needed. All the families were very grateful and all the surgeries turned out great.
Last night, a local couple who used to live in the U.S. had all of the team over for a very nice dinner party to show their thanks. It was amazing and we are very grateful for their hospitality.

In total we operated on about 40 patients and screened about 60. I will post more exact numbers once we get the final counts. Some of the team are returning to Guayaquil today to fly back home while others of us will be spending a few more days in Ecuador at Puerta Lopez.

11/03/09

This is a picture of our patient, Vincente, he suffered burns during a house fire. He was lying in a hammock when the fire began and his parents could not find him. He was only eight months old. Yesterday he underwent major surgery on his face and is now recovering in the hospital with his mom and aunt. He is the sweetest boy and all the other children love him.

We want to let you all know how much we appreciate your support of this trip and thank you to all our sponsors for all the generous donations. We truly appreciate you all giving us so much so that we can help these children who otherwise would not have the means to get the surgeries they need. The parents have loved all of the clothes that we give them and the children always manage to crack a smile when given a stuffed animal or coloring book. Thank you all so much!

Trip pictures

So since we have so many pictures it is difficult to post all of them on the blog so I have created a website with all the pictures if you want to view more of them! Also there is a slide show of pictures from the album I created on photobucket but I am not sure if it loaded correctly with the slow internet connection here.

http://s743.photobucket.com/albums/xx80/HTCEcuador

RN, Denise Nicholson taking care of a recovering patient.

Majid Jamali and pediatrician, Dr. Arthur Buonaspina with our first patient to undergo surgery for lip repair. He was very scared but the pre-op team did a great job of calming him down. The surgery turned out nicely and he is now recovering in the hospital with his Grandma. His favorite activity during recovery time is to take pictures with my digital camera... he's a budding photographer!

Dr. Michael Koch and team working hard in the operating room

Lori Licchi-Capoonigro and Jean Satawa putting a splint they just made on a patient. This patient underwent surgery for severe burns on his neck and arm.

Dr. David Hoffman and chief resident, Majid Jamali perform a cleft lip repair

CRNA, Clare Golden and plastic surgeon and team leader, Dr. Laura Sudarsky with patient, Vincente on screening day. Vincente suffered burns during a house fire when he was 3 months old. He has a great personality and has even entertained the kids that are recovering from surgery by lowing bubbles for him. He is a true sweetheart and is undergoing surgery on Monday.

OR tech, Edna Rueda, and a patient with a cleft lip on screening day

The Front of the hospital in Salinas, Ecuador

RN, Lucy Milton showing off the now kid-friendly PAC-U

Majid Jamali and CRNA, Mike Cogan screening a patient on our first day in Salinas.

This is the entrance to the hospital

Monday, November 2, 2009

Sorry for the lack of updates on the blog we have had poor internet for most of the trip so far so hopefully it will improve so we can upload more pictures. We woke up bright and early on Saturday in order to get to the hospital at 7am to set up the operating rooms. By 8:30 we began our first surgery! So far everything has been going well and the patients are looking great. Dr. David Hoffman with the help of his chief resident, Majid Jamali, has performed numerous cleft palette and lip repairs and they are turning out great. Dr. Win Pound and Dr. Michael Koch have been very busy performing various operations ranging from removing extra toes and fingers to grafting skin on patients with serious burns. While Dr. Sudarsky is working hard to keep all the operations on schedule and scrub in where needed. The whole team is working together so well and producing amazing results.
After patients have undergone surgery they are taken to the recovery room where pediatrician, Dr. Arthur Buonaspina and nurses, Lucy Milton and Denise Nicholson supervise the patient as they wake from the anesthesia. The mothers are brought into the recovery room once the patient is awake and stable and have been intricate in helping calm the nerves of the young kids. The families of all the patients have been so kind to us and so patient with us as they have to wait for surgery. Many of the families have traveled hours in order to receive surgery and are forced to sleep at the crowded hospital because they can't afford any other accommodations. However, none of them have complained and they are always smiling when they see the team enter the hospital each morning. It's been a truly amazing experience and we still have two more days of surgery to go!