OR Goin’ Up, On a Tuesday

Buenos noches from the Kids First internet cafe!

*Update: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” plays in OR 1 has surpassed 30.

Last night, the team didn’t pack up and head out until around midnight. Mind you, we had arrived around 7:30 yesterday morning, so if you’re counting, that’s a cool 16 hours at the hospital. Talk about starting off the week strong!

We completed all 20 surgeries yesterday, and were so ambitious, we came back for 20 more today! By the end of today we will have operated on 40 kids in 2 days. After slowly and lethargically slumping into our homes last night, we caught some quick shut eye before our 7 AM pickup time this morning. You would never guess that this team barely got any rest though! We started on our first surgeries before 8 AM this morning with bright eyes and bushy tails! Maybe it was the pollo feliz from last night that gave us some extra energy.

We are moving and grooving at this point (yep, we’re still trucking!). The theme of this morning’s surgeries was hips and femurs while this afternoon has seen feet, feet, and MORE feet! There will be some colorful casts walking around San Miguel this summer thanks to our fabulous cast techs, Janine and Jan!

The team has been bouncing from the OR to the basement to pre-op to PACU and everywhere in between. For those of you who have heard about the basement (and/or lovingly referred to as the dungeon), here’s what you’ve been hearing about. It’s where we and the hospital store supplies. Every KF team member has had his or her fair share of basement days…

THE basement

We want to take a minute and introduce our new KF 2015 team members! This year we are fortunate to have four first timers on the trip with us. Brock is our first new team member and a recent UVA med school grad (we’re talking real recent, as in graduated Sunday came to Mexico on Monday recent). Congrats Brock and welcome to the team! Next we have Candice and Stephanie who have joined Team Anesthesia this year! Candice is a recent CRNA grad (even more recent, her class graduates TODAY!) who is a student of one of our KF team members, Cliff! We miss you Cliff and LOVE Stephanie! Candice just finished a year long pain fellowship and works at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH. She never fails to have a smile on her face and is always patient with our sometime chaotic KF team. Lastly we have Kelsey! Kelsey is Patsy’s granddaughter and an OR nurse from Vanderbilt. She is always so willing to help wherever she is needed; not to mention, we always love having family members join the team!

That’s all for now from the KF team! We appreciate you following us through the long days and nights as we do what we love!

Hasta luego!