Honduras Surgical Mission Thoughts from Dr. May 2015 Day 1 I put together a distribution list of folks who have supported my surgical mission, folks who have expressed interest in my surgical mission, folks who have been on this surgical mission, and folks who may sometime feel called to go on a mission. I plan to write several updates during the week to let you know what is happening on this mission. Thanks for your support and interest. I would ask that you keep our patients in your prayers this week. Today our team traveled from 11 states to meet in Comayagua Honduras. We will again do surgery at Saint Benedict Joseph hospital ( www.sbjhonduras.com ). The hospital is under the supervision of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal ( www.cfrhonduras.com ), a group of friars that, like Mother Theresa, live with and serve the poorest of the poor. We dropped off about 1000 pounds of supplies at the hospital this evening. Tomorrow we will have Mass at the Friary and then spend the day setting up the ORs and screening surgical patients. We have 26 folks on this mission prepared to offer General Surgery, Gyn Surgery and Orthopedic Surgery. We have a very good mixture of willing workers- from old guys like me to a group of enthusiastic young folks- should be a great week. Again, thank you for your prayers. day Two It is now after 9:00 PM and just finishing up at the hospital- it has been a long but rewarding day. It seems that the hospital scheduled all of the patients to come to the hospital for preop screening today instead of seeing patients between cases during surgery days- so we were busy, the Gyn surgeon is still seeing the last of her patients, I finished about 45 minutes ago. It is a special treat to have Matt here on the team- he graduated from medical school yesterday and missed graduation to come on this mission with his mother and his brother. He starts an Orthopedic residency at Hopkins in July so has been a big help in clinic. We should have a good week talking orthopedics and helping folks. The day started with Mass at the friary. The message was "as the father loved me so I love you" and keep the command "love one another as I have loved you". Father Felix said " the Father gives every
thing to Jesus and the son returns everything to the Father". Basically, Jesus kept the command from the Father to give himself to the people. Jesus is asking us to keep his command to love one another- "to give ourselves to one another". Love is unique in that when it is given it increases. Father Felix made us feel like we doing our little part help increase the love in this little part of the world. He also commented that God loves for us and our mother's love for us has much in common. My last patient of the day was a four year old child with cerebral palsy who needs surgery to help him stand with his feet flat on the ground. This mother spent her entire Mother's Day waiting at the hospital holding her four year old on her lap in the hopes that a group of strangers might be able to help her son. That is love, that is giving of herself for her child- she and all the mother's I saw today modeled a way we should love one another. At the end of the day I saw over 30 patients in clinic and have 20+ orthopedic cases scheduled for the week so far. Our patients range from 14 months to 77 years old, many came from three hours awaysome walked great distances and rode in the back of pickup trucks or busses to get here. The hospital fed folks and treated everyone with kindness. I didn't hear one complaint from the patients about the wait. Even the patients who we had to tell that they had problems we couldn't address on this surgical mission were appreciative that they were treated with great respect. The overriding philosophy about Saint Benedict Joseph's hospital comes from the teaching- "as you do for the least of these you do for me"- it is my hope that we can do our best for our patients. Again, thanks for your prayers- we will all need them this week. After all this preparation we are ready to start the main act- looking forward to tomorrow. Day 3 Friends, After two days of preparation we were ready to begin with surgery. I am sending a copy of our surgical "board" for the day. The general surgeon was busy doing hernias and gall bladders, the Gyn/urology surgeon ran two rooms doing a variety of cases ( she was busy ), in my room we looked in knees and did soft tissue cases. Everything ran smoothly for our room- the folks in our room have worked together on several missions and we started right out of the box today picking up right where we left off last mission. Carlos the nurse and I first met on a mission to Haiti right after the big earthquake. Sam (Samantha) our surgical physician's assistant is making her third mission with our team. And Gretchen our nurse anesthetist has been on four trips with us. Today at Mass, Father Felix told us that Jesus asks us to testify to God, but reassured us Jesus said that he was sending the Holy Spirit to testify too- and it is the Holy Spirit who does the heavy lifting. We are
asked to say something simple and the Holy Spirit will do the work. It reminded me of one of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut sayings from Cat's Cradle- in the story a fellow is taking a cab ride and the cab driver asks, "mind if we drive through the cemetary?" His answer was "peculiar travel suggestions are dancing invitations from God". I often tell folks that if someone asks you to go on a mission- that simple request is a peculiar travel suggestion- and if you say yes the Holy Spirit will do the heavy work to make it happen so you can enjoy a chance to dance. The reason folks come on so many repeat missions is that it is fun to do this particular dance. In between surgeries I saw patients and followed up on old patients and friends. My favorite may have been seeing one of the Poor Clare nuns from the cloistered monastery across the road from the hospital- they are always so sweet and shy and seem to enjoy the big outing of walking 30 feet to the hospital. Luckily her injury was minor and she won't need surgery. I have one of the few arthroscopy sets in Honduras so we are able to offer our patients the benefit of this procedure which makes recovery from knee so much easier. Matt, the new graduate is starting his orthopedic residency, and I am hoping he will return to SBJ for many years to come to continuing caring for my patients. He will learn new and better ways to help these folks and he already has a wonderful missionary heart. We have five anesthesia folks, five PA's, three surgeons, and 13 nurses and scrub techs- a big team, but it takes a big team to do a lot of this kind of work. Tomorrow I start the day with a foot operation on a 14 month old then a series of knee scopes and a hand case- should be a good day. Again, thanks for you prayers. Day 4 Friends, We had another great day at Saint Benedict Joseph hospital. The ortho room was filled with 6 cases - treatment for an infection, three knee arthroscopies, removal of a bone growth and removal of a sort tissue mass for a 5 year old's knee. The other two surgeons were equally busy. Tomorrow we are scheduled for 7 surgeries in our room- I need to put on my roller skates. Today at Mass Father Pascal's comments on the Holy Spirit's presence were reinforced all day- the reason SBJ exists is by the workings of the Holy Spirit. It is a long way from a pastor's suggestion in 2003 to the surgically skilled members of his parish that they should do something for the poor with their skills to this wonderful hospital daily serving the poorest of the poor in Honduras- a task that could only be accomplished with the help of the Holy Spirit.
In between cases I meet with some of the long term missionaries that have a micro physical therapy program that helps many of my young patients post operatively. Two of the long term missionaries are just finishing their first semester of physical therapy assistant school so they can better serve our patients. I also meet with the folks who run the Saint Gerard Program at the hospital - a mother/baby pre/post natal program serving over 100 mothers and babies. This program is a model of how we should welcome babies into this world- someday we pray it will grow into a full fledged birthing center. This is a real pro life program- with actions not just words. Finally I met with Marlin, the administrative assistant at SBJ who coordinates with Childspring International in Atlanta about the possibility of getting surgical care for poor Honduran children who have problems too big to be handled here. This week I will see several such children in consultation, if the Holy Spirit wills it they may be able to receive life changing care in the US. It is my bed time now - rising at 5:45AM is early for an old retired man (unless the day involves fishing). But I will ask again for your prayers for our patients before turning in. Day 5 Hard to believe but we have only two surgery days left this mission. Our seven cases today went well, everyone on the team, all of the hospital employees, and the wonderful English speaking high school seniors who serve as our translators are all eager to pitch in and help make it possible to serve as many patients as possible. Everyone at the hospital is joyful in their work- truly amazing to see so many people work so hard for what MasterCard calls "priceless" rewards. Today was the Feast of Our lady of Fatima - She calls us to conversion and prayer. Today in clinic I saw several children with severe physical challenges, and the consistent thing for each of their children was their mother's love for them- it is truly beautiful to see. Today I performed three hand surgeries, three knee surgeries, and bilateral Achilles' tendon lengthening and casting. We happened to have some bright pink casting material left over from my office that added a little pop to the casts. Tomorrow will be a busy day with several bigger cases. One of the things that stands out is the patience of the Honduran people. They come to the hospital and then quietly wait until I get out of surgery to see them in clinic- sometimes several hours. Those having surgery come in the morning, are given a shower and placed in a hospital gown - then wait for their surgery time. There is no television blasting in the waiting room, no radio- rather all of the patients including the adults, entertain themselves with crayons, coloring pictures from a bible story coloring book. The two Franciscan sisters pray the rosary with the patients, they also have prayers at noon and three o'clock with the patients. Patients are given Rosaries and prayer cards which they bring to surgery with them. I have not heard one patient complain about waiting- I don't think you could offer these
items as the only entertainment in an American waiting room. The Honduran people are beautiful, shy, humble and greatful. I used to take care of poor people in my practice- but the poor in Atlanta have smart phones and cars. The poor here are like the poor in the bible- they have very few possessions but they have a love for their families and demonstrate a simple but heartfelt faith. It is a blessing to serve these beautiful people. Thank you all for your prayers- they are feeding us well and looking after our security needs. Will be home soon. Day 6 Tomorrow is our last day- amazing that time goes by so fast. We are all a little tired- I just wrote my note to you and then erased it before I sent it. All of us have enjoyed serving these wonderful people in Honduras but are starting to think about returning home to our loved on soon. This morning Father Yousef introduced himself saying he was from Lebanon and came to the United States to get rich and lead an easy life- that brought a chuckle from everyone. He ended the Mass suggesting we live life so others are attracted to Christ. It was ten years ago on my first mission to Honduras that then Brother Yousef asked me two questions that resulted in me joining the church. The lives lived by the friars makes it very attractive to want to live with Christ. This week I again operated on several children, I am always amazed that their mothers can be so trusting of us. I saw two children with disabilities so severe that they are candidates to be brought to the US by Childspring International. The hardest part for the mothers is Childspring's protocol of only brining the children and having them live with a host family during their surgery and recovery. These two mothers will have to think about the possibility of being separated from their children- I was able to reassure them from my previous good experiences with Childspring- but they will have a hard decision to make. The recovery room nurse told me that one of my young men woke up and cried. She asked if he was in pain? Afraid? Sad? He said no he was crying because he was so happy he was able to receive surgery. In clinic I saw a 14 year old that I had operated on three years ago. He had an injury that left him with a
stiff elbow, bent all the way up so he couldn't use it. Today he lacked only 20 degrees of extension and had full rotation of his forarms- he was happy he could do all the things he wanted to do. I have only a vague memory of his surgery- mostly involving worry that after surgery one of his nerves wasn't working properly - I expected the nerve to recover by itself- but can't rule out that prayers were responsible. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he is able to use his arm now. What seemed like a small investment- one team doing one surgery made a huge difference in one boy's life- as MasterCard sayspriceless. Please continue to pray for my patients- it helps. day 7 We finished our last surgeries and hospital clean up about 6:15, the end of five long but joyful days of surgery. Our room did two knee surgeries, tendon surgery on a four year old, and two foot surgeries- we also saw patients in clinic, made post op rounds, and got our room and equipment ready for the next mission. Then this evening all of the team, all the hospital employees and Honduran volunteers were guest of the friars for a typical Honduran dinner and a impromptu talent show. The highlight of the talent was Sam's baton twirling with her friar made batons. Father Felix read a thank you note to the team written by the grandmother of one of my little patients- she was so grateful for the care we gave him. It was fun to meet the children of the hospital employees - such beautiful children. At Mass today Father Felix's lesson was on the joy of a new life in Christ- and he commented that to see Jesus in the poor brings us joy. In Mathew it says as you do for the least of these so you do for me. For this week at least we felt we had the opportunity to care for Jesus through the chance to serve the poor. I want to thank you again for all your prayers- our patients all thankfully had no complications- prayer must have had something to do with that. Here are some pictures of the folks in my room Sam, Gretchen, Carlos! Dr. Matt and myself. A picture of the peanut butter tasting contest this evening- which reminded me of the joke- What was the last thing said at the last supper? Answer- "Everyone who wants to get in the picture get on this side of the table." And a ten year old picture of myself and a patient from my first mission here.
Final Thoughts If someone invites you to go on a mission- be open to the idea. I do believe that such suggestions are dancing invitations from God. If you can not go on a mission, consider supporting a mission of your choice with prayers and monetary contributions. Question: What are the financial rewards of going on a mission? Answer: Zero Question: What are the rewards of going on a mission? Answer: as MasterCard says, "priceless" I will close with Father Brock's 12 spiritual advantages of serving the poor, pictures of our team members who enjoyed the dance this week, and another look of the smile on the face of my old patientthe thing that makes all the work worthwhile. Thanks again for your prayers and your support of our surgical mission.