In the Operating Room

Thought I'd start out today with a precious picture of our youngest patient today-- It took forever to get her to warm up to us and smile (bubbles are universal, though!) but sooooo worth it! Dr. Hoak repaired a hernia for her with Carrie's help this afternoon, so don't worry; we're not going around taking out EVERYONE's uterus around here! ;-)

Aura (the beautiful little girl above) was actually the third surgery of the day, preceded by two women who needed surgery to repair prolapsed uteruses (?or is it "uteri"? I've never known how to say that! Guess they don't teach everything in "Gynecology School", as my husband calls it...) Carrie did a beautiful job with these two vaginal surgeries and gained some valuable experience that she hasn't had much of in the U.S. recently while busy practicing robotic surgeries instead! These women's lives, with God's help, will be changed dramatically by the relief of their symptoms, and our prayer is that that Rafaela (our second patient today) will come to know Christ eventually through our work here.

The first patient, Paula, was a little bit of a "breath of fresh air" for our friends the Fickers, who recommended she come to see us here and were pleasantly surprised when her Pastor stepped up from her very small little village and said HE would take her! This is about a 2.5 hour trip for them, and he is planning to come get her on Wednesday when she is discharged, too. I called on his cell phone after the surgery to let him know she was doing well, and he asked if I could give her the phone so he could speak to her, too! What a wonderful example he was for so many... A true shepherd to his people and a huge blessing to her.

The third picture is of Carrie and Tom doing a gallbladder as the last case tonight-- This lady may also need a hysterectomy in a few more months, but we are going to try to control her symptoms with medicine first before doing another surgery.

The last picture is one of my favorites of the day... Pat finishing up the anesthesia for the little girl Aura...
We also saw a few more patients in the clinic in between cases... Scheduled a couple more cases for the week and were able to provide some reassurance to a few other ladies in need of it. Lord willing, we will be operating all day tomorrow on three tough cases and then we'll see what God has in store for us on Wednesday and Thursday!