2/23

No more sleeping in that tent! I made it. I should hardly complain, I had the Bentley of tents but my aching back. So last night was exceptionally windy, I hardly slept at all. Apparently there were two tremors last night which I didn't feel but given that I probably could've slept through the quake itself I'm not the most reliable accountant.

Well we just finished operating. We had a stump closure on a lady we've been doing dressing changes all week long and also skin grafting on her. It was nice to be able to close her before we left. I think team one might have actually done her initial amputation. We also had a dressing change but finished by 930 and even got breakfast for the second day in a row. Some funny looking cornmeal slop- not bad! It's funny how your standards reacclimate.

Today we will take the 6 hr bus ride back to santa domingo where Hauck and Dan Hammon our orthopod are treating us to a night of luxury- a hotel room at the Marriot! Totally unnecessary but much appreciated:) We all can't wait to get a shower. The border is pretty sketchy so I'm not really looking forward to making that journey across again. I'm sure it will be fine.

I have to go around and say goodbye to some of my patients who I will truly miss. I sort of feel like we are abandoning them but I know that next group is more than capable of picking up where we will have left off. Some of our team- including our great nurse anesthetist, Craig, and our OpSmile coordinator, Ana, and our anesthesiologist, Niels, are staying for a few more days to ease the transition of the incoming group. It should really smooth things out for the next group. I guess that's all for now. What an incredible journey this has been.