Guatemala Day Five

The night ended up being our best night so far. We finally have a system down and feel like we know what we are doing! Sometimes I feel as if I´m not contributing much by working nights because we don´t do as much. But everyone else is so grateful to NOT have to work nights that I know I am doing my part. Baby Edison continues to do well. His mom has become the ¨Ward Mom¨, helping all the other mothers calm their babies. I asked her how many other children she had and she answered ¨Seven¨. Eight total! I guess she is not 19, but she can´t be over 30! I could not imagine. Gregorio, a 9 year old boy, got his cleft lip fixed. His was so severe that his teeth were growing in sideways. Now he looks wonderful! I´m sure his mouth is so sore, because he has yet to smile. He had a beautiful smile before, even with the cleft lip.

Ruth, the 6 year old girl with the cleft palate, is doing great! She is in such good spirits and is so beautiful. She will probably go home today. One of my favorite patients was an 80 year old man we nicknamed ¨Grandpa¨. He had a hernia repair done. He told us ¨Thank you¨in English--how sweet. I think he must have been cold last night (I´m not sure how considering it is so hot down here!), because at 12am he put all of his clothes on. Then at 6am, he got back in his hospital gown! He wanted to have his picture taken with Judy and I, and we even got to print one out for him.

There was a baby in pre-op named Diego-4 months old. He had a severely deformed cleft lip. He started crying in the middle of the night and Judy had to bounce him to settle him down. She is such the grandmother! His mother was so grateful. I don´t think she slept more than a few minutes here and there all night.

I didn´t sleep to great today...woke up a lot of times in the afternoon. Oh well. While we were eating dinner, I felt so hot I got lightheaded. It hasn´t rained today and that helps push the humidity down a little. So instead it is 88 degrees with 90% humidity! YUCK! And I thought Nashville was humid! I had to go lie down in front of the fan for awhile before heading off to our last night shift. I´ll keep you posted!