Day 3: Tuesday

Hi friends! Before I forget, I wanted to add to yesterdays blog that Noreen had the opportunity to spend time with Dr. Rocha seeing patients who come in for wound care. She very much enjoyed the work, side by side with the doctor, and the doctor was able to see many patients very quickly with the extra help. Yesterday was the first surgical day and it was a great success. They were able to do the six scheduled surgeries, mostly bunions and toe deformities, with minimal challenges. The challenges they encountered, they were able to overcome with ingenuity and the tools they had at hand. Our surgeons, our awesome surgical tech, our pre and post op nurse and all of our surgical support staff are an amazing team! We are so touched by the patients who wait a very long time, have incredible pain tolerance and are willing to take a chance and put faith in people they don't know to fix something which hopefully will change their lives. Our doctors give them more than a fixed foot, they are giving them hope, which is so very obvious in the smiles and thank you's and hugs we all receive in return. I think I can say for the team, we receive many more blessings than we give when we are here. Mark N. again, saw several women for breast ultrasounds and did some biopsies and likely identified at least one cancer, if not more. He was such a trooper as he gave up the larger, more comfortable room to the pre/post op patients and staff and did his ultrasounds, training, biopsies, etc. in a very tiny closed room with up to 6 people in the room. He was able to occasionally come out for air, a little food and water. Our last surgical patient didn't leave until after 7pm, and we decided to stop at our favorite Italian restaurant for pizza before coming home to the hotel. It was a great time to decompress and spend time together as a team. Mark and Judy and Garrett had the opportunity to visit our good friends Dr. Molina and her family at their home, then try out a new restaurant. A bit of a debrief and organization for the next surgery day, then off to a good night's sleep. Keep in touch! peace.