Monday, January 20 – A Short Recap of Sunday

Yesterday was a full day for the team beginning with the early ride to Valsad to begin surgeries and ending at about 7pm with some late screenings for the next day. The team completed 27 cases that went through our recovery room including a tonsillectomy, some nasal septoplasties, cleft lips, burn scar repairs, hernias, hysterectomies, hydrosectomies, a cholecystectomy, and more. We also has a handful of local anesthesia cases that were performed that did not require a short visit to recovery, but instead were sent home following their procedure.

As generally is the case, the first day can be hectic, but this team worked together like a well-oiled machine throughout any challenges that occurred. The staff at Kasturba hospital is outstanding. Everyone is so helpful and the OR staff is very well trained — They are indeed a joy to work with.

No surprise, we were fed a lovely lunch, rather Tex Mex meets India – interesting to say the least. Later in the day to keep energy levels up, the hospital provided some sweet as well as savory snacks and tea. We could not feel more looked after and are so grateful to the folks at Kasturba Hospital and our hosts for taking such good care of us.

The team was able to relax for a few hours Sunday night at the hotel before turning in to share stories and have some time to visit and reflect on the day. It was a great time for further bonding of the team.

In the next days we will be posting some stories about our patients and the people we have met along the way as well as photos.

It is now 11am on Monday as I write this post. We started the day at 6:15 so we are in full swing of day two. Please check back later for more posts and also follow our journey on Facebook. Additional information can be found on the Kasturba Hospital’s Facebook page. As of this morning they have posted 111 photos and more posts.