Tuesday October 4

Tuesday October 4

Our last full day at JFK for this trip. We checked on Keita, who is doing great and will start on oral liquids today; I still feel really good about her ! Then we went to the OR for some cases: the recurrent hernia that Paell had seen in Robertsport, another hernia in one of the security guards for the President, and an older man with presumed prostate cancer who had a bilateral orchiectomy. Interspersed with my cases, Ly did a keloid/ tattoo excision in a young woman, and a urethra repair in an infant. Apparently he had a circumcision in which his urethra was torn, and the it got infected, and it was a mess.Ly tells me that in Cambodia it is not unusual for plastic/reconstructive surgeons to do urological repairs like hypospadius, but it isn't something he commonly does. Nonetheless the initial result was excellent !

After we finished in the OR we did some patient rounds (Keita tolerated her oral feedings fine) and then went to the dorm for Internet before going back to the bungalow. Tonight most of us went for dinner at Sajj; Ly and Jim went to The Great Wall for Chinese food. We had a wonderful time at Sajj, and gave everyone one of the T shirts Ly had made in Cambodia before coming here. They have the HEARTT logo on the front, and a picture of one of the sacred Buddhist temples of Cambodia on the back. They were very well received !

I am very happy that this trip has been quite successful in terms of my goals and hopes. I had some trepidation about bringing Ly, just because I wasn't sure how it would work out. But I would have to say that it has exceeded even my most optimistic hopes, in that he has contributed greatly to all that we have done. His expertise and his knowledge of tricks to solve problems have been tremendous assets, but the other factor which has contributed greatly to our success has been his engaging personality. He is very outgoing, having no hesitation about greeting patients and other doctors, and he has been very willing to provide "curbside" advice whenever asked.

An example of one of his "tricks": orthopedic drills. They like drills for putting in screws to fix bones etc. So you go to Home Depot and buy a Makita or Dewalt or whatever. How do you sterilize it? Place a gauze soaked in formalin in the case and close it. In 12 hours, it will be sterilized.

Tomorrow Ly is going to to a musculocutaneous flap on the guy with the dislocated ankle from last week with Dr. Muvu. I will be free in the morning to take care of the supplies we have brought, as well as any other last minute details. Our plane leaves at 6 PM; we plan to be at the airport in plenty of time to avoid another race to the airport like we had in March !