We finished the surgeries yesterday and today had a casual conference with the Nepalese orthopedists, anesthesiologists , internists medical students. The conference took about two and a half hours and was followed by the customary lunch. We have learned to like the food more but we all approach it with the caution of experience and secretive alcohol wipes for the spoons. We had an amazing interaction with the patients and their families on the orthopedic ward.
This was initially rounds to chick the work of the team and then for some photo momentos for both us and them. Finally a huge group shot followed. There were emotional and heart felt thanks from the patients and their families for the gift of walking and thanks from us for the opportunity to use our wealth of money and skill to practice some medicine pure and simple. medicine without the fear of imperfection, without the fear of malpractice, with the only goal of getting a great result in the most direct way possible. it's why we all went into this business in the beginning.
The end of the afternoon was presentations of gifts from the patients and families to the team. We all got scarves. The team got several small and one giant Buddha that came in a heart felt presentation from a grateful husband who will no longer have to cook for himself! We will need a OpWalkSyr trophy case somewhere. We all plan to add another trophy to the case next adventure, hopefully next year.
Suffice it to say that the team leadership is looking into the next chapter!
Brett
Sent from my iPad
Congratulations on all of your hard work! I am sorry if this is reaching you late - are you still in Nepal? I am also from Syracuse and am in Nepal doing my PhD research in maternal and newborn health. If you are still in Kathmandu and have some time, let me know - it would be great to try to meet up! alison.connor@gmail.com.
ReplyDelete~Alison