Today is always a short day in the OR. Each room does one short case while those of us who are somewhat available work at packing up unused supplies to be returned to Rochester, the home base of HUGS, and replenished for the next mission. I was packing anesthesia items while trying to leave enough for any needed emergency should it occur. I collected breathing tubes, suction catheters, syringes of many sizes, needles, tape, EKG stickers…just trying to keep things organized and separate. Then I collected unused and unopened anesthesia drugs. In the US we have a huge cart that holds every possible drug one could need but on a mission we collect drugs in a zip lock bag and try to estimate what might be needed. It’s a big expense to stock the rooms so I tried to salvage as much as possible.
The cases all ended around noon. I sat in recovery waiting for the patients to be awake and stable enough to be discharged. Then there was clinic. All the patients from our week come to the inner hallway with a parent to be examined and photographed by the surgeons. Since I had been seeing patients each day on the floor, I waved at each one and hugged a few who had struggled a bit postoperatively. Everyone was ready to be discharged. That felt good.
Since I have seen this done many times,
I decided to take a break and do a little last minute shopping. Margy and I met at the hospital and walked to a few stores and street merchants. Then we celebrated with a margarita at Frida’s a favorite spot.
Tonight our dinner is Korean BBQ. it’s supposed to be very tasty. Tomorrow we leave for the airport at 6 am. It’s been another great week.
AND…for those of you who know how much I used to be a fan of Wonder Woman…my ability to be in 2 places at once is overrated. NO..I wasn’t in Maine and Guatemala simultaneously. There was just a little glitch with posting. I fly home from Guatemala in the morning.
The Adventures of Anne 