Tuesday: Hitting Our Stride

We were on a roll today! With our daily ration of plantains in our belly, we headed off to the hospital. No traffic today! The bus takes us in two rounds; the surgeons, anesthesiologists, and pre-op and circulation nurses take off, and the bus comes back for the recovery nurses, physical therapists, and other volunteers, who get to sleep in an extra half an hour.

We managed to do 21 surgeries in three OR rooms with ONE autoclave. Cat and Angelia were fast and furious in their instrument turnover, and we began anesthesia in Pre-Op instead of waiting until the patient was in the room. That means the patient hits the ground running (or sleeping, as it were) the second the room is clean. Speaking of cleaning rooms:

Dr. Kennedy (MS) and Dr. Magee (UT) mop and scrub tables, causing the Salvadorian orderlies to fear for their job. Everyone on the trip works hard, and everyone wears multiple hats!

There has been an important development in the cafeteria contest. Cafeteria 2 (also known as The One On The Right) upped the ante with a smoothie bar. This consists of a table and a lady with two and a half blenders. We will let you know tomorrow if they are still in the lead when we see how Mandi is doing after drinking hers with a raw egg. Another develop is the addition of the Banana Leaf Lady. She is making a delightful tortilla type deliciousness with cornmeal, cheese, butter, salt, and sugar. She then grills the dough pressed inside two banana leaves. A re-creation will be happening SOON at Hofmann Arthritis, so stop by for a taste! 

Surgery count to date: 45