Today was the first day in the OR this trip. We did 3 cases. The surgery and the anesthesia went uneventfully. The hospital nurses had the patients ready to go down stairs even before our team arrived! No prompting, no lecturing or reminders. Amazing change, entirely due to their effort and the leadership from our nurses Kori, Katie and Tracy. Wow. 4 trips, 2 years, incredible changes.
Big improvements in the OR as well. Most important, the damn air-conditioning works! Outstanding! The first 3 trips we operated in a sauna. The bone cement set up so quickly that it was a race to get the implants in. We operated w/wet towels on our necks, working as fast as we could just to get out of the room. The rooms now are much cooler, not as cold as back in Nashville, but far more tolerable. Nirvana! The cases were challenging, but we had the right implants and instruments (Thanks Exactech!)
The problem has been the sterilizers. We have 4 sets of instruments, but are only able to get enough instruments sterile to get 3 cases done. This is despite the superhuman efforts of Carlos, Derrick and Cathy to get the loads done correctly. We are hoping that it will be easier this fall when the new sterilizer is installed. Right now it is sitting in 2 large wooden boxes in the alley behind the hospital. Much needs to be done before it is operational, and then it has to be maintained. Eric Wittine, the person responsible for this donation, is coming to Veracruz to discuss the installation.
We were in clinic today as well. We scheduled another 11 patients in clinic. The Oct. surgery trip is now "oversubscribed" We also scheduled our 100th surgery patient.
Best trip ever.
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