Wednesday April 21, 2001

It is very late Tuesday/early Wednesday morning here in Haiti...

We have been very busy, all of our team has been working hard and going above and beyond! The "rainy" season has definitely begun! Almost two nights in a row now, fairly late, but significant rainfall! No flooding per-se, as trenches have been dug around the compound to shed the rainwater into pits... that are subsequently pumped out into non-critical/less chance of flooding areas... Hot during the day... Hot and humid in the afternoon! The early evening breeze around 6pm is a welcome diversion!

Mosquitoes abound in the early evening... 40% DEET is a must!

I checked in on a former patient this evening (from our previous trip in February), the first chance I had... he is still here and maintaining, in good spirits and is hopeful... Which is a miracle in and of itself If you are prayerful... please include "Jean" in them... I am sure God knows who he is...

I can only speak for myself, but in three days, Derek and I have done about 30 cases in the OR... crazy! As the only two people with OR experience... we were thrust into Ortho, OB/GYN, ENT, General, and Neuro cases...

Please bear in mind... there are limited resources here and we are opening an "Ophthalmology Pack" to get a couple of sterile gowns, a back table cover, a few sponges, and a drape or two... in order to do an Ex-Lap! Of course we add as able... maybe a pack of Laps or two, instruments as available, a bovie...

However, I will let others explain their experiences! Last night and today was particularly rough for all of us... Let their posts tell the story...


Ray