Today is Saturday, November 15th. It's 65 degrees here in Guatemala City and 30 degrees in Northampton, ("feels like 23".) Hmmm, 65, 23, 65, 23 I guess I'll still go home. There are considerations other than comfort. Besides, at home there's the wood stove in the living room, the furnace in the basement. In Guatemala, not so much.
I finally was able to go up on the roof on the 18th floor this morning and take some pictures. It's a little foggy, but not too bad. I posted two of the three volcanos of Guatemala. The largest (closest) one is Pacaya which erupted in 2010 killing three people including a CNN reporter who got too close and was hit by flying rocks. Pacaya, whose peak is at 8373 meters, erupted in 1965 as well. Before that it had been quiet since some time in the 1860's. The other two are Volcán de Agua and Volcán de Fuego. Volcán de Agua which has a height of 3760 meters, last erupted in 1510. A resultant mudslide cause a flood, hence the name. Volcán de Fuego, with a height of 3763 meters, had major eruptions in 2007 and 2012, but is constantly active at a low level. Smoke and ash rise from the top of the volcano daily. So that's the mini-volcano lesson and exhausts my knowledge. It does pique my interest in volcanos, so perhaps that will be my next area to explore.
Last night we had the team party, a tradition on Op Smile missions. This one was held in the gardens of Casa Yurrita, a designated historic site, a few miles from our hotel. It was a beautiful, grand old house, and the gardens had trellises covered with flowering vines. Cocktails with donated liquor of some sort and crackers and cheese and ceviche were served while the usual goodbye speeches were performed. We then watched the traditional slide show of candid photos taken by the team photographer. He did a good job of including all the areas and making sure to have several shots of the local nurses and administrators.
The team party is meant to be fun, but it's also political in that we are encouraged to invite the hospital nurses and administrators, anyone we feel has been helpful. There were two cleaning women who were wonderful, stripping the beds and making them up again rapidly so we could get the next group of pre-op patients out of the hallway and into their beds. When Kathy and I invited them to the party, they were obviously bewildered by the invitation, and were non-committal, but came back to us later in the day, smiling and laughing and said they would be there.
What followed was an elaborate if somewhat convoluted speech directed at the two of us. They had clearly rehearsed it, but it soon devolved into an extemporaneous rant. It reminded me of my twin six year old grandsons when they are both describing details of the Titanic disaster to me at the same time; they could hardly get their words out. Through their graphic use of sign language and rapid-fire Spanish, they made their message clear: "Don't get involved with any Guatemalan men while you are here! They are no good! If we see you getting involved with them, we will take a belt and beat you! (laughing.) You need better men. Wait until you get home to look for men." Then they ran off and Kathy and I stood there sort of stunned, asking each other if we had really heard them right. It was a remarkable message from two cleaning women who obviously have not felt respected by the men in their lives. It makes me wonder what they have endured. They did show up at the party and seemed to have a wonderful time.
After the slide show we had an elegant dinner of three small slices of a stuffed chicken roll, a small portion of diced, spiced potatoes and a grape tomato cut into three slices. For me, it was perfect, but the men on the team were incredulous. The artistic presentation and symmetry of the three slices of both the chicken roll and the tomato - plated "just so"- was lost on them. They devoured the rolls, drank more mojitos and joked about the giant dessert that must be coming. Dessert did come but was a tiny demitasse cup of dark chocolate/espresso/rum mousse - again, very elegant. They all ate it in one scoop of their regular spoon, disdaining the tiny dessert spoon balanced delicately on the rim of the cup. There was a live band playing wonderful music, so they all got up and soon lost themselves in wild dancing and more liquor. Being an old lady, I sat with a few other old ladies and enjoyed the spectacle. At 11:00 the "first bus" left, and even some of the younger set were on it. All of us leave tomorrow and some have flights as early as 5:00 am. The later bus leaves the party at 1:00 am and I'm sure many will go from there to an "after party".
I went through the photos and now the pre and post-op pictures are side by side. There are some remarkable changes. There is one baby with his fingers in his mouth pre-op and a tube from a syringe full of milk in his mouth post op. Mom said he always had his fingers in his mouth before surgery and afterwards, he was only happy when he was eating. I assume he will gradually adapt, and in another couple of weeks he can resume his finger-sucking. On the bottom of the photos page there are several of kids that I couldn't match; either the pre or a post-op photo is missing. All in all, we screened 220 children, and operated on 99 this week. Because some needed more than one thing done, there were 137 procedures. The dentists saw all the kids at screening and made 22 obturators for babies too young for surgery, did 40 dental restorations and removed 30 unsalvageable teeth. The maxillofacial surgeon did a maxillary set-back (not the true technical term,) and wiring on a seven year old whose front four upper teeth, and upper jaw (maxilla) protruded so far that he couldn't close his mouth. His mother said he'd had three prior operations to try to correct the problem, but none was successful. The maxillofacial surgeon on the team cut through the maxilla and moved it back and wired it in place and he looks wonderful. The mother requested that there be no photos, so of course I took none, but I do wish I could have shown you all with his eyes covered or something because the surgery was really transformative.
There were three teens who had cartilage grafts from their ears to their noses as the final "nose job" phase of their long surgical roads.. The dental team, which has it's private offices here in the children's hospital runs a free Op Smile clinic year round as well. They do amazing work making advanced obturators with extensions that go into the nostrils of newborns with clefts to gradually shape the cartilages and help pull the widely cleft lips together before surgery. This is much closer to what happens in the US and the ultimate results of surgery are much better.
"If I set aside all the bad, this has been an excellent mission." The bad is, of course, the kids I saw who but for the place of their birth, could have received medical attention and could now be living normal healthy lives. It's no different in many countries of the world, and even in the US, there are kids who fall through the cracks of our health system. But I've said enough on that topic. Team members came from 10 countries on this mission, US, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, England, Portugal, Russia, Mexico, Canada and Australia. Perhaps it's because we all know it's only for ten days, but everyone is very flexible, friendly and willing to do any task that needs doing. The hospital and Op Smile teams meshed and both sides look forward to working together again. Maria, the in-country coordinator was able to recruit patients from as far as eight hours away by bus, and will continue to travel around the country to make sure people know they can have surgery free of charge. This was only the fourth mission in Guatemala, so there are certainly many untreated children and adults out there.
Well, that's the end. Thank you for your interest. If at any point you would like me to remove your name from my blog list, please send me an email.
I finally was able to go up on the roof on the 18th floor this morning and take some pictures. It's a little foggy, but not too bad. I posted two of the three volcanos of Guatemala. The largest (closest) one is Pacaya which erupted in 2010 killing three people including a CNN reporter who got too close and was hit by flying rocks. Pacaya, whose peak is at 8373 meters, erupted in 1965 as well. Before that it had been quiet since some time in the 1860's. The other two are Volcán de Agua and Volcán de Fuego. Volcán de Agua which has a height of 3760 meters, last erupted in 1510. A resultant mudslide cause a flood, hence the name. Volcán de Fuego, with a height of 3763 meters, had major eruptions in 2007 and 2012, but is constantly active at a low level. Smoke and ash rise from the top of the volcano daily. So that's the mini-volcano lesson and exhausts my knowledge. It does pique my interest in volcanos, so perhaps that will be my next area to explore.
Last night we had the team party, a tradition on Op Smile missions. This one was held in the gardens of Casa Yurrita, a designated historic site, a few miles from our hotel. It was a beautiful, grand old house, and the gardens had trellises covered with flowering vines. Cocktails with donated liquor of some sort and crackers and cheese and ceviche were served while the usual goodbye speeches were performed. We then watched the traditional slide show of candid photos taken by the team photographer. He did a good job of including all the areas and making sure to have several shots of the local nurses and administrators.
The team party is meant to be fun, but it's also political in that we are encouraged to invite the hospital nurses and administrators, anyone we feel has been helpful. There were two cleaning women who were wonderful, stripping the beds and making them up again rapidly so we could get the next group of pre-op patients out of the hallway and into their beds. When Kathy and I invited them to the party, they were obviously bewildered by the invitation, and were non-committal, but came back to us later in the day, smiling and laughing and said they would be there.
What followed was an elaborate if somewhat convoluted speech directed at the two of us. They had clearly rehearsed it, but it soon devolved into an extemporaneous rant. It reminded me of my twin six year old grandsons when they are both describing details of the Titanic disaster to me at the same time; they could hardly get their words out. Through their graphic use of sign language and rapid-fire Spanish, they made their message clear: "Don't get involved with any Guatemalan men while you are here! They are no good! If we see you getting involved with them, we will take a belt and beat you! (laughing.) You need better men. Wait until you get home to look for men." Then they ran off and Kathy and I stood there sort of stunned, asking each other if we had really heard them right. It was a remarkable message from two cleaning women who obviously have not felt respected by the men in their lives. It makes me wonder what they have endured. They did show up at the party and seemed to have a wonderful time.
After the slide show we had an elegant dinner of three small slices of a stuffed chicken roll, a small portion of diced, spiced potatoes and a grape tomato cut into three slices. For me, it was perfect, but the men on the team were incredulous. The artistic presentation and symmetry of the three slices of both the chicken roll and the tomato - plated "just so"- was lost on them. They devoured the rolls, drank more mojitos and joked about the giant dessert that must be coming. Dessert did come but was a tiny demitasse cup of dark chocolate/espresso/rum mousse - again, very elegant. They all ate it in one scoop of their regular spoon, disdaining the tiny dessert spoon balanced delicately on the rim of the cup. There was a live band playing wonderful music, so they all got up and soon lost themselves in wild dancing and more liquor. Being an old lady, I sat with a few other old ladies and enjoyed the spectacle. At 11:00 the "first bus" left, and even some of the younger set were on it. All of us leave tomorrow and some have flights as early as 5:00 am. The later bus leaves the party at 1:00 am and I'm sure many will go from there to an "after party".
I went through the photos and now the pre and post-op pictures are side by side. There are some remarkable changes. There is one baby with his fingers in his mouth pre-op and a tube from a syringe full of milk in his mouth post op. Mom said he always had his fingers in his mouth before surgery and afterwards, he was only happy when he was eating. I assume he will gradually adapt, and in another couple of weeks he can resume his finger-sucking. On the bottom of the photos page there are several of kids that I couldn't match; either the pre or a post-op photo is missing. All in all, we screened 220 children, and operated on 99 this week. Because some needed more than one thing done, there were 137 procedures. The dentists saw all the kids at screening and made 22 obturators for babies too young for surgery, did 40 dental restorations and removed 30 unsalvageable teeth. The maxillofacial surgeon did a maxillary set-back (not the true technical term,) and wiring on a seven year old whose front four upper teeth, and upper jaw (maxilla) protruded so far that he couldn't close his mouth. His mother said he'd had three prior operations to try to correct the problem, but none was successful. The maxillofacial surgeon on the team cut through the maxilla and moved it back and wired it in place and he looks wonderful. The mother requested that there be no photos, so of course I took none, but I do wish I could have shown you all with his eyes covered or something because the surgery was really transformative.
There were three teens who had cartilage grafts from their ears to their noses as the final "nose job" phase of their long surgical roads.. The dental team, which has it's private offices here in the children's hospital runs a free Op Smile clinic year round as well. They do amazing work making advanced obturators with extensions that go into the nostrils of newborns with clefts to gradually shape the cartilages and help pull the widely cleft lips together before surgery. This is much closer to what happens in the US and the ultimate results of surgery are much better.
"If I set aside all the bad, this has been an excellent mission." The bad is, of course, the kids I saw who but for the place of their birth, could have received medical attention and could now be living normal healthy lives. It's no different in many countries of the world, and even in the US, there are kids who fall through the cracks of our health system. But I've said enough on that topic. Team members came from 10 countries on this mission, US, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, England, Portugal, Russia, Mexico, Canada and Australia. Perhaps it's because we all know it's only for ten days, but everyone is very flexible, friendly and willing to do any task that needs doing. The hospital and Op Smile teams meshed and both sides look forward to working together again. Maria, the in-country coordinator was able to recruit patients from as far as eight hours away by bus, and will continue to travel around the country to make sure people know they can have surgery free of charge. This was only the fourth mission in Guatemala, so there are certainly many untreated children and adults out there.
Well, that's the end. Thank you for your interest. If at any point you would like me to remove your name from my blog list, please send me an email.
Very interesting account. I really enjoyed reading it and seeing all the photos. Thanks for taking the time to write down your thoughts and descriptions. It's a diary for you, but also gives me and others a vicarious experience..Eventually I hope you will put all these blogs together in a little book.
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