It's 5:00 pm in Santo Domingo, exactly 13 hours since my alarm rang this morning. We left home at 4:30 for my 6:45 am flight from Hartford to Santo Domingo with a stopover in Miami. I'm always amazed by the crowds at our little airport when I'm there to catch the early flights Op Smile seems to favor. With all the usual warnings about a "completely full flight," I was surprised and hopeful to find myself next to an empty middle seat, a clear aisle with the flight attendants busily slamming shut the bins and the rather large gentleman in the window seat snoring away. As I put the armrest down and opened my book, there was a commotion in the front of the plane. I looked up to see a very large woman leaning heavily on a young male flight attendant with one arm draped across his shoulders. She had her other hand firmly planted on the back of one of the first class seats in case the man wasn't up to the task of supporting her. When she'd caught her breath, she started down the aisle, with a graceful hip-swaying walk that belied her size and started chanting, "I made it! I made it! I never ever thought I would but I'm here and you're here, I made it..." She kept looking at her boarding pass, and when she reached my row, she gave me a dazzling smile and said, "this is my seat!" Before I could get up, she climbed over me and started to sit down. When her bottom didn't quite fit, she reached over and flipped up the armrest and snugged herself down, taking up half my seat exclaiming, "Ah! that's much better!"
Some of you are likely thinking the next three hours were miserable. However, she turned out to be so delightful and interesting that I hardly noticed that I was hanging out in the aisle. I really enjoyed the flight and her. The book I was reading was Bad Faith by Paul Offit in which he discusses how some religious beliefs about use of traditional medicine can put children's lives in danger. I won't use the blog to discuss it other than to recommend it. Although my seat mate (takes on a whole new meaning,) was not in the medical field, we had an in depth discussion about religions, vaccines and medical treatment of children and parental rights.
We are staying in a Weston Hotel tonight and tomorrow night. When I got to my room, it was supposed to be a double with a roommate, but due to a booking error, there was a king size bed. I went back down to check with the receptionist as bed-sharing on the wards and in hotels when we've been in small ones is not unusual in Latin America. However, it turns out I am not to share with anyone and will have this room to myself. I plan to luxuriate as I'm sure we will be all crammed together on the ship.
Tonight is the team meeting where we will find out more details, but so far what I know is that tomorrow we do the screening and Friday is Team Day - usually an activity that is representative of the country. Sunday we board the ship, get the OR's and wards set and the patients for Monday's surgery are brought over in the afternoon for pre-op checks. Monday through Thursday are surgery days with a ½ day on Friday. Saturday we finish whatever pack up remains and return to the hotel and have the team party that night. Sunday we fly home.
There are 43 team members plus the project coordinator. Three of the surgeons are from the Dominican Republic, one from Peru and one from Venezuela. This is the first international mission I've been on where none of the surgeons are from the U.S. - kudos to Op Smile's emphasis on training. There are 12 team members from the U.S., and other countries represented are UK, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Ecuador and Honduras. This is my 13th mission, and so far, I think I recognize four people on this list. It's a big organization.
So, that's it for today. More real news and I hope photos in the newly fixed Picasa tomorrow
Some of you are likely thinking the next three hours were miserable. However, she turned out to be so delightful and interesting that I hardly noticed that I was hanging out in the aisle. I really enjoyed the flight and her. The book I was reading was Bad Faith by Paul Offit in which he discusses how some religious beliefs about use of traditional medicine can put children's lives in danger. I won't use the blog to discuss it other than to recommend it. Although my seat mate (takes on a whole new meaning,) was not in the medical field, we had an in depth discussion about religions, vaccines and medical treatment of children and parental rights.
We are staying in a Weston Hotel tonight and tomorrow night. When I got to my room, it was supposed to be a double with a roommate, but due to a booking error, there was a king size bed. I went back down to check with the receptionist as bed-sharing on the wards and in hotels when we've been in small ones is not unusual in Latin America. However, it turns out I am not to share with anyone and will have this room to myself. I plan to luxuriate as I'm sure we will be all crammed together on the ship.
Tonight is the team meeting where we will find out more details, but so far what I know is that tomorrow we do the screening and Friday is Team Day - usually an activity that is representative of the country. Sunday we board the ship, get the OR's and wards set and the patients for Monday's surgery are brought over in the afternoon for pre-op checks. Monday through Thursday are surgery days with a ½ day on Friday. Saturday we finish whatever pack up remains and return to the hotel and have the team party that night. Sunday we fly home.
There are 43 team members plus the project coordinator. Three of the surgeons are from the Dominican Republic, one from Peru and one from Venezuela. This is the first international mission I've been on where none of the surgeons are from the U.S. - kudos to Op Smile's emphasis on training. There are 12 team members from the U.S., and other countries represented are UK, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Ecuador and Honduras. This is my 13th mission, and so far, I think I recognize four people on this list. It's a big organization.
So, that's it for today. More real news and I hope photos in the newly fixed Picasa tomorrow
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