Day Two - It Really is Monday

Several of us rose much before dawn for a quick trip to a bird sanctuary where we observed, with the watchful eye and education of Dave Leber, over 35 different species of varied colored, shaped and sized fowl. Dave was like a kid in a candy store and it is was a beautiful sunrise as we walked along the shores of a small lake. We moved to a different location where an observation tower was located, and out of nowhere the caretaker of the wetlands station appeared and offered to make us tea. We accepted and he built a fire and proceeded to brew this concoction in a large pot, over the open wood fire. It was quite good and actually tasted like nothing we had ever experienced before. Then, we sped back to the guest house to grab our gear and get to the hospital on time.

Today was another busy day of surgeries and teamwork. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people can come together and in less than 24 hours, function like a well oiled machine. Working together, never a cross word to each other, even when things don't go smoothly. And, just like at home, things don't always go as smoothly as we would like and we do have our share of equipment malfunctions, lack of adequate or appropriate supplies or unexpected patient reactions to anesthesia or surgical procedures. This evens extends to our ability to access the Internet to send out these blogs or to check in with family & friends at home. Even so, I would say that the spirit of the volunteers at World Surgical Foundation perseveres. We have seen this in our Indian hosts as well, as they have been extremely gracious in providing support to our team in so many ways. Even the OR staff are eager to get involved and work with us in any way possible.

While I write this another late evening comes to a close. We were treated to dinner again by our local hosts and then returned to our guest house, where we indulged in a "bucket shower", ever grateful for soap and hot water. It is time turn in, the clock approaches 11:00 pm in a few minutes. It has been a long day and 5:30 am comes as early here as is does at home on a workday.

While we hear the drone of the nightly chanting at a very nearby temple, now we lay ourselves down to sleep. Rest well team, it was another wonderful day to serve with you.

Love to our families and friends at home. Thank you for staying with us.

Gratefully,
-- Cheryl

Surgical Camp Day One - Cambay Hospital / Khambhat, Gujarat,India

Sunday, January 20, 2013

What a difference some sleep makes. The noise of that busy street below faded to only an occasional horn beep, while very close by, there must have been a celebration of epic proportion. Music, singing, chanting, fireworks blasting until the wee hours. For me, sleep came effortlessly and was deep, for others the noise of the party interfered with their rest. Nonetheless, we were all up in the darkness around 6:00am to ready for the day. Breakfast was served as 6:30, another traditional local meal. It is all just delicious.

A little after 7:00 our controlled (I use that term loosely) chaos ensured as surgeons, anesthesia personnel, and nurses gathered supplies to stock their ORs to get their first case started on time.

The local staff preps all of our patients, meaning inserting an IV catheter and capping it off. Children are playing in the dirt courtyard waiting their turn and adults sit cross legged on blankets under the tree or in chairs lining the hallway. We are far from the pre-op we know at home. The patients are calm, and seemingly anything but nervous or fearful to 'go under the knife.' There are no hospital gowns or patient hair bonnets, but rather they enter the OR in their street clothes and what clothing needs to be pulled up or down, gets pulled and away we go. Even so, we are prepping with betadine and utilizing sterile technique in all cases as best we can.

Today's cases included young and old. There were hysterectomies, hernias, burn scar revisions, keloids, and ear reconstruction. Additionally, a share of hypospadias, nasal surgery, oral surgery and a hemangioma and more. Each specialty had plenty to do as they worked through the day and improvised when exactly the surgical supply they would have had at their fingertips at home was nowhere to be found or when momentary darkness came during one of the numerous rolling blackouts.

At 3:00 pm another group of locally pre-screened patients arrived for our team to have a look and make a final determination if their procedure could be done safely here. It was very heart breaking to see some that had to be turned away because it would be unsafe to perform the complicated surgery needed at this facility, in addition to needing more types of specialists on hand. It makes one so grateful to live in a country where, as difficult as it may be to work though the system, a patient has a much higher chance of receiving care.

TV reporters from VTV news broadcasters came to film a documentary about what we are doing here. In typical Indian fashion, they were extremely unobtrusive and thankful that we allowed the group to be filmed. I was sure to give them the blog URL as well as the WSF website address!

All in all, it was a successful day with many procedures being performed.

After work we where shuttled out to a large sandy area close to the seas (we could not see the sea) where over 10,000 people were flying kites, the close of a larger festival that occurs on January 14th which draws over 100,000 people from across the area flying kites like crazy. It was quite a site to behold, and needless to say we stuck out as not from these parts. Many people asked if they could take a picture with us, we were rock stars -- almost famous, grin... Our wonderful hosts had a local woman prepare dinner for us and we ate on the rooftop of our guest house. It was another fantastic evening and early to bed.

You are out there reading, aren't you?

Photos coming shortly.

T+40 Something......., A Hard Day's Night, Part Two

We arrived in Ahmedabad about 3:30 am local time, approximately 34 hours from leaving home. We met three more team members who began their journey from North Carolina, California and another from Harrisburg. We were met by several smiling faces, among them one of the coordinators of this surgical camp, Kiran Patel who couldn't have been more gracious. They loaded up our bags into the back of a sort of extended pickup truck and we boarded the bus for a 2+ hour drive south to Khambhat.

Several of the group certainly hinted at our ages at the sight of this bus which conjured up images of Woodstock and comments like "I haven't smelled that since the last Grateful Dead concert, or "roll 'em if you got 'em." Spirits were good despite the fact that we were all a bit delirious from lack of sleep. So off we went like a band of pseudo gypsies in the darkness with a few laughs, a couple cases of water, and some dry snacks provided by our hosts. Just one more cramped legged event and we would arrive at our surgical camp destination.

As our first sunrise in two days began, we spotted an elephant walking with its owner, many camel drawn carts, cows just hanging around and even some goats. As early as it was, there were people walking and driving about, and apparently school is in session on Saturday as we saw children with their book bags headed for a day of learning.

Our first stop: Cambay Hospital, a sprawling compound of very old to relatively newer buildings, a veritable labyrinth of connected structures. We were treated to breakfast -- how many meals have we eaten since our last sleep???? --- some welcome information and then we unloaded the medical bags before heading to the Vardayini Guest house on Station Road. Did you read the blog with the Google Earth photo last week? Well, that very spot is about one block away! As we surveyed the town from our 4th floor hall open area we watched dozen of long-tailed monkeys playing on adjacent rooftops and roof patios. We will surely keep our door closed, and locked as to not welcome any uninvited simian visitors from intruding while we sleep tonight. Our home away from home is, well, basic. A hot shower consists of using a large bucket and giant ladle. The bathroom is much like one on a boat, that is it's an 'all in one situation.' After a very brief rest we headed back to the hospital to set up supplies and screen patients for a few hours -- work beings early tomorrow .

Our hosts had a dinner for us at a restaurant across the street which is apparently a local favorite. A note to my friend, Karen Chrestay - while you might be horrified thus far, this meal would have won you over. It was right out of an episode of Anthony Bourdain - I half expected him to walk in at any moment. Not much of an idea of what exactly it all was, but I devoured every bite and cannot wait for the next cuisine adventure - Indian Food, Local style.

It is now 9:52pm local tome Saturday night and we are headed to sleep. This Hard Day's Night has come to a close, for tomorrow is a new day. Not sure
when this will post as we have some WiFi issues tonight. Tomorrow we begin our job of making a difference in the lives of friends we have not met and in our own.

Thank you for reading. Sweet Dreams,
Cheryl