I am posting this as March 4, but it really is being written March 5th. After spending quite a bit of time writing last night I was asked to restart still another IV on Valerie. When I came back I found I had temporarily lost internet connection and everything I had written was lost in cyberspace….ughh! In the scheme of things, with all I’ve seen in Haiti, a lost 40 minutes of writing is trivial! But, with that said, I will try to rewrite my blog form last night….

March 4

Fianally time to relax. It is 11:00. Where to begin.

We arrived last night (Wednesday) in time to eat dinner, check out the ORs, try to prepare for the next day’s surgery, get briefed by Diane Cable, become slightly overwhelmed by what was to come. The first thing noticed was people lying on mattresses on the floor of a 3-sided “garage”. This apparently was the “inpatient” unit (the irony, they are outside!) I was later asked to restart an IV on a Valerie, a PA from Grand Rapids who was working here the week before us and now was very sick with vomitting, diarrhea, and chest pain. She is staying in our sleeping quarters which seem to be better than the hospital. Now I am really starting to wonder what I’ve gotten myself into!

Thursday morning’s breakfast was interrrupted by a call to help a man whoose cousin fried to cut off his head with a machette (Google Haitian Voodoo). When the man man raised his hand to save himself, his hand was nearly severed. After helping Laurie get him off to sleep, I was off to my first case of the day.

To be continued…..