Last Day of Surgery

We had a very good day of surgeries yesterday. The kids kept Dr. Pablo very busy with a little bit of low blood pressure here, a little fever there, a little wheezing down the hall, but Pablo, the CSI nurses, and the wonderful CIMA Hospital nursing staff took great care them all and by sunrise you would never have known there was a problem! The families are so grateful, and even the kids seem to leave with a look that the are happy to have stopped by...or maybe they're just happy to be hightailing it out of here before we decide to do something else!

Today is our last day of surgeries. We are doing mostly rhinoplasties. These are older kids who have had several lip and palate surgeries already who really benefit from getting a reconstruction of their nose to give it a more typical look. Teenagers worry about every detail of their appearance, so most of us can only imagine how hopeful they are about getting to be better looking--they are all beautiful already inside and out but we glad to boost their confidence a little!!

Arrived and Ready to Roll!

The advance team has arrived in Hermosillo! Our trip was happily uneventful--we met up with Jon Grishkin in Phoenix and then took the puddle jumper (without the puddles) to Hermosillo. No problems with luggage or customs, and Coca and Lourdes from St. Andrew's Clinic were waiting for us at the airport. We went to the hospital and were warmly greeted by the CIMA volunteers and staff who will be working with us this week. They're starting to feel like family! We made plans for screening and checked out our supplies. We will be screening 86 children  to determine if they need surgery that we can do and to be sure that they are healthy enough for general anesthesia. Hopefully everyone will get a good night's sleep tonight as we start at the hospital at bright and early and it will be a busy day! The CSI main team will arrive midday and check back for photos of the party that the CIMA volunteers put on for CSI and the children and their hopeful families! t

Full Screening Day and Settling in to the First Day of Surgery

Yesterday we had a really busy screening day at CIMA hospital! We screened 89 children and out of those, 46 will be getting surgery this year. Happily we did not have to turn anyone away who needed surgery because we have the extra surgery day on Tuesday. We will be doing six rhinoplasties ("nose jobs"). Often the nose is flattened and asymmetrical in children with a cleft lip or palate, and having surgery to correct this can really improve their appearance and their self-confidence. Rhinoplasties take a long time, and normally with only two days of surgery we may do only one or two so this is a great opportunity for us and the kids and their families!

Everyone on the team is doing fine, and now we are just getting started on our first day of surgeries. The CIMA hospital volunteers and the St. Andrew's clinic volunteers are, as always, wonderful to work with and they make sure that every child and family is well taken care of!

Second Day of Surgery

Today we are beginning our second day of surgeries. We did 20 surgeries yesterday and everyone is doing well this morning. Maria, Ashley, and Paul are busy upstairs completing the discharge paperwork as all but two of the kids will be able to go home today. Everyone is working hard but the delightful CIMA Hospital food service staff keep the guacamole and quesadillas coming so energy and spirits are high throughout the whole long day (hospitals everywhere should take note!). Our patients are really good little sports--even after the bad day we made them have yesterday, some of them were able to give us little smiles this morning!