The rest of the story

When last I wrote, I was not a happy camper. Tuesday and Wednesday were better though. I took over the child life area since we no longer had a Child Life Specialist. That person is responsible for explaining the surgery to the kids and playing with them and keeping them busy while they wait for surgery. I did therapy and post-op instructions while they were waiting and played with them. I was busy all day and had a lot of fun. I got to consult with the surgeon a couple of times about some pharyngeal flaps and palatoplasty so that was cool too. I also went in and saw surgery for awhile in the mid to late afternoon. The ORs are so small and there are 2 tables per room, so by the time you have a scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, and surgeon (or 2) for each table there is not much room so I didnt observe too much because I was in the way. The other room was much bigger, but they were doing skin grafts in there and no craniofacial surgery because it had all been done.

The skin grafts were pretty gruesome. One guy had had a car accident and the skin on his upper right face was missing all the way down to his skull. Yes, I could see bone. They took skin from his groin and patched him up pretty well. The other guy was a mangled mess on his face. He had hit a horse while riding his motorcycle and his face was scabbed, bruised, and bloody and his lower left eyelid had been torn off. They were going to do a skin graft on him but ended up being able to move some of the skin on his face around and take care of things.

Elsa, was a 17 y/o on Wednesday who got surgery. She had a complete unilateral cleft lip and palate and had NEVER had surgery on it. She was so embarrassed of her appearance that she sat all balled up with her hand or jacket pulled over her face at all times. She hated having her picture taken (and everyone was taking them), so waited until she was asleep in surgery. I want to be able to share the transformation. She came out of surgery with a beautiful new lip, but she hasnt quite found her smile yet. Shes still so shy and withdrawn.

Thursday there were just 3 surgeries and then we spent the bulk of the day packing everything up. Thats quite an ordeal!! We finished by mid afternoon and then a group of us went to tour a cigar factory. I wasnt really excited about going and just went for the camaraderie, but I am so glad that I did. It was absolutely fascinating. The cigars are completely handmade and it takes over a year from start to finish. I really enjoyed the tour although we were all coughing and wheezing from the tobacco particles floating in the air. The girls in the sorting room (sort through leaves and categorize by size and color) make $5 a day and the most expensive cigar they produce costs $15 US dollars. They produce over 60,000 cigars a day. $5 a day to produce thousands of cigars worth $15 each...something wrong with that picture, dont you think?

I spent most of today in a bus headed from Santa Rosa to Tegucigalpa. We were all so excited to have a nice hotel again without cold damp sheets and with a real bathroom with a real shower and toilets where you can actually flush toilet paper. Its the little things in life. Most of us just hang out at the hotel, ate dinner here, and did our final bit of shopping. It was a nice afternoon. Im about to go pack and rearrange my suitcases to make it easier to go through customs. I am so ready to be home!!! Pictures forthcoming.

(The apostrophe on this keyboard doesnt work, FYI)