Thursday, May 22nd:

 

Well the team was up early and Julius, Chad, Brandon and Emily had to pack all there bags for the trip to Arusha today.  After breakfast we headed to St. Joseph's Hospital.  We started off by seeing some patients while they were getting the OR ready for our first surgery.  I was excited because all the patients that we saw in the outreach clinic and the clinic in Mererani showed up to be seen at St. Joseph's Hospital.  For many we had to give them money for transportation to get to the hospital.  

 

Remember the little girl Ester, that I blogged about yesterday, well she was our first patient that we saw this am.  She was sitting in a wheelchair with her grandma when we arrived and I wheeled her back to theater where Dr. Mark Meyer could examine her. What a beautiful little girl and she had a smile that lite up the room.  We took her for an x-ray of her foot and it was determined that she had a bone infection and should have antibiotics and daily dressing changes to keep the wound clean.  Also she would need crutches to walk on and would need to be off her foot for at a least a year for it to heal. Well because the grandma was very poor and she lived far away from any health care that could help her with this, we talked to the grandmother about admitting her to the hospital for a month where they could do daily wound changes and give her the appropriate meds and she agreed.  Hope Ministries paid for all her hospital care, medications and then gave the grandmother money for food so she could get food for her and her granddaughter.  The grandmother was so pleased that she hugged me and cried and kept telling me "Mungu akubariki sana".  God bless you very much!  Please pray that this treatment helps otherwise the next option is amputation for this beautiful little girl.

 

Chad scrubbed with Dr. Mark and then after the first case it was time for the team to take the bus to Arusha.  Because I needed Julius to help me pay for the the patients costs for the patients that we saw, they were late in heading to the bus station with Freeman.  Mark and I continued to do surgeries and see patients all day.  Julius called and the rest of the team arrived safely in Arusha and checked in at Ahadi Lodge.  He said that they really liked Ahadi and got settled in their rooms.  

 

It is a small world, because Kelli and Mary Ann, who I know from the states are here in Tanzania working on a project.  They called because they knew we where doing medical work in Moshi and had a small child for us to see.  What a beautiful little boy!  We sent them for a CT scan and Ralph Reeder the neurosurgeon from the US will check in on Saturday when he arrives.  

 

Freeman, Mark and I came back to Tudor Village and had supper.  We were starving because we had not had lunch.  I got all the bills paid and not need to get allthe bags packed.  

 

Thanks for all the prayers.  Sending hugs and love to all our families back home.  The time is going way too fast.