Travels aside, I am back in Milot

From Haiti to Miami, Costa Rica, Miami and finally back to Haiti- my travels are complete for awhile. It was so nice to see my family and I enjoyed the change of scenery. Highlights were: Amazing mangoes and the ocean in Costa Rica and in Miami the great food (including ice cream!), the pool, and shopping! 

Flying back into Haiti, I was so excited. Look at the great view from my airplane window- not to mention how beautiful it is!

I came back and my first week home in Milot was an exciting one. We had a visiting team work alongside our Haitian surgeon to provide our first laproscopic surgeries in the history of our hospital! I was able to sit in and watch some of these surgeries. It was an exciting time for all of the staff. Many doctors, nurses, and residents came in to watch. Many had never seen laproscopic surgery before. The surgeries went smoothly. I'm excited to watch this program grow and eventually our Haitian docs will be running it on their own.

This week has been a very busy one around here! We have two medical teams at our compound. A plastic surgery team and an eye team. In total we have about 30 volunteers on campus! The teams are really nice and have already done so much for the patients in the hospital and in the community. I loved listening to the doctors tell stories from their clinic about mothers being so excited for their children to get plastic surgery that would change their lives. 

 On the flip side, after a busy day I go to sleep at night listening to showers, talking and music and I wake up to the same noises. Today I collapsed on my bed in the middle of the day and snuck in a little nap.

This afternoon I made another visit to see Michelet. When I arrived his dad was saying that he has been crying a lot lately because they ran out of formula and he had not eaten since Saturday- 2 days ago. As I held him, his little lips worked to suck onto anything they could find. The dad also explained to me that the mom dropped him yesterday and he hit his head on the ground. I examined his face and noticed his right eye was slightly swollen and he had a small cut near his eye. His dad explained that he had been gone working for the day and the mom was taking care of him. He reminded me that the mom is not well- she has some type of mental disability. I held Michelet in my arms and I was so sad for him. I could feel his stomach growling and I felt terrible that he had not eaten for the past days. I asked the dad if he would walk back to Milot with me to pick up some infant formula from the Sister that lives with me. I also wanted a pediatrician to check him over and make sure he was okay after his fall, and to check out what I thought was scabies on his skin.

I opened up my mini back pack, plopped the baby inside, and drew in the drawstrings around him. I carried the backpack on my chest and it was quite the makeshift baby carrier! His dad and I walked the mile and half back to Milot. When I arrived, there were many doctors and nurses anxious to examine him, but mostly hug and hold him. I was able to get formula and he chugged down 6 oz like it was nothing. The pediatrician said he was okay after the fall, but did confirm he has scabies. Tomorrow we will be going to their home to do a scabies treatment on all of the kids living there!