January 21, 2016 – Time Flies

Today was the first group’s last full day at the hospital. The team completed 19 cases! There were a lot of GYN cases, handled mainly by Dr. Krishnanurthy. Also, the team dealt with an interesting case. A seven-month-old baby with polydactyly (meaning extra digits) came into the OR. Both of her sixth fingers had to be amputated, but they weren’t functional, so there was little muscle tissue to cut through. The baby also had six toes on each foot, the biggest two of which were fused together. However, we did not operate on them. After the last case was completed, we returned to the hotel. Three nurses who had worked with the Operation Medical team in Khambhat in 2013 travelled 36 hours by train last week to work with the team again. They joined us for dinner, and were kind enough to give us beautiful hennas! Their names are Disha, Sourj, and Bhavna, and they were a wonderful, welcome addition to the team this week. Tomorrow, we intend to work in the morning, and then visit a local temple and explore the town around it. The second team should be leaving within the next few hours, and we are eager to greet them! After sending an SOS to Risé about supplies needed from the warehouse, she graciously accepted the challenge and we are hopeful that she will be able to gather them.