Days 4 and 5

Day 4---We had a 3 hour bus ride to the Copan Ruins. These are huge Mayan ruins and it was very fascinating. There were lots of Macaw parrots there and some weird rodents that look like nutria. We also learned a lot about Mayan history. We were told to prepare for chilly weather since we´d be at a higher altitude, but it was actually sunny and quite warm. It was the first time here that I haven´t been cold and I even broke a sweat. We ate dinner in a quaint little town and then had time to roam and shop. There was some really nice jewelry and interesting things to look at. Then the long 3 hour bus ride home where we had to pull over when one of the team got sick and had to vomit on the side of the road. There was also the incident of driving the bus through a washed out dirt road (we didn´t get stuck) and when we were going about 50mph and our driver slammed on the brakes because there was a random horse in the road. The drive was absolutely beautiful though. I didn´t realize that Honduras was so mountainous. It is also very green and lush, so we´d drive through mountains covered with greenery and flowers and rivers flowing through. Santa Rosa, the town we are in, and the town we went to are like Honduran versions of San Francisco with the hilly, winding streets.

Day 5-The official start of surgery. We only had to plastic surgeons (should have 5) because the other Honduran doctors decided not to come. Yes, lovely. We should have had 4 operating tables with a floater, so instead we had 2...and 4 anesthesiologists. One of them told me that there were basically 4 anesthesiologists inducing each child. Way too many nurses too, since we usually do 20-25 kids per day and we only did 9 with general anesthesia and 4 with local. I was bored out of my head. Usually there is one speech pathologist (SLP) on a mission and we have two. The other is Honduran and she is bilingual. She actually got her B.S. and M.S. at Baylor and came back to Honduras. There are only 4 SLPs in all of Honduras and they have no degree program here. So, since there is another SLP, she knows the culture, and she speaks Spanish, then there is really no need for me here. Generally there is additional scut work to do which I don´t mind doing, but since the whole mission is over-staffed, there isn´t even that. I did work with one teenager today and even tried to get him into surgery for a pharyngeal flap, but they said that he is likely to be a bleeder and they´d rather catch him on the next mission in San Pedro Sula in February. Michelle, the other SLP, is really great and has tried to include me. She wanted me to give the post-op education for a few pts. and she was the translator, but that´s just kind of redundant because she could just go ahead and do the whole thing herself. So I just hung out most of the day and shivered.

It´s been in the 50s-60s almost every day except for yesterday, overcast, and today a constant drizzle so it is a damp bone chilling cold where I just can´t get warm. Our towels never dry and my clothes feel damp when I put them on. Plus, I´m having to re-wear the few long sleeves that I bought, so everything is just icky.

A few cool stories about the kids. There is a little boy named Hernando de Jesus who is 6 years old. He looks about 2.5. He is as smart as a whip, but doesn´t go to 1st grade because his mom is worried about him being bullied. However, I found out today that she is not his mom. He was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and his mother left him at the house of this older couple who are raising him. His ¨dad¨ brought him tonight for pre-op and he´ll have surgery tomorrow. The kids are sleeping 2-3 to a bed and the parents have no place even to sit. Pray for the parents and kids...lots of waiting, lots of crying, lots of worry, and no sleep.

More info as I am able. We have free internet here, but it is very tempermental and only 2 computers for 44 of us.