buenos dias!

Hola!
Ok - so I´ve finally found a few minutes to sit down and write you all a quick update of my time so far in Ecuador. To sum it up in a word: WOW! I have experienced so much already and it´s only the beginning.
We arrived in Quito, Ecuador late on Saturday night after a long day of travelling. we met some of our team and then stayed in a hotel in the city for the night. And by night I mean for about 4 hours, as we had a early bird wake up call of 430am. We spent Sunday flying to another city and then taking a 5 hour bus ride throught the mountains to get to Gualaquiza, the location of this first week of clinic/surgeries. Unfortunately, half our team (most of them surgeons) got stuck in the US due to storms and such. So we weren´t a complete team until Monday evening. We set up clinic on Sunday and ran clinic and pharmacy all day Monday. The clinic consists of a pharmacy (we brought all the medications with us), a main triage area (where we weigh and assess the patients), a diagnostics area (blood glucose tests for diabetes and urinanalysis testing), a couple rooms for the doctors to work in (continuing assessments, examinations, prescribing medications), and an area in which the local church would do evangelism with each of the patients. I spent the first few days working at this clinic. My jobs were various, starting with working in triage (would welcome the patients in, do some initial assessments, and determine what their primary medial problem was). I also spent time running the diagnostics table - asking patients through my broken spanish to go pee in a cup and then I ran the urinanalysis on it, determining important lab values from the result. I spent one day working in the pharmacy, filling prescriptions and explaining medication regimes to the patients. This was a challenge, due to my lack of Spanish abilities, and I required help with the language over and over.
Today was the first day that I went to the hospital to assist with surgeries. We performed a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) and another surgery to insert a sling to provide bladder support (to stop the bladder from leaking). I ´scrubbed in´ for both surgeries (meaning that I remained sterile for the procedures in order to be able to handle equipment and assist the surgeons). You wouldn´t think that handing a surgeon a few instruments would be very difficult - however, there are at least 30 instruments that you need to know my name, have them clean and ready, and have to hand them to the surgeon a certain way. It was an intense learning curve but about 15 minutes into the first surgery, I became that nurse! I had another scrub nurse at my side, giving me instructions and much needed help but it was incredible to just jump right in there and do it! In between all the nursing stuff, I try to snuggle with as many babies as possible. Is it bad to have favourites? ha.
Ok - so that´s some of the ´stuff´ I´ve been up to...but here´s a bit about the people and the culture. The town we are in is at the edge of the jungle. It is beautiful here! The best view I´ve seen is from the second floor of the hospital, as it overlooks the town and the jungle mountainside. The people here are welcoming and always smiling or saying goodday/afternoon/evening. Ecuador is filled with glass coke bottles, motorbikes, soccer games in the street, hibiscus flowers, loudspeakers on pickup trucks, and stray dogs running about everywhere. For any of you that have travelled into Central or South America, I´m sure this description hits close to home!
Here´s a story about one of our patients that we did surgery on yesterday. She had a prolapsed uterus, meaning that it was coming out of her body. Imagine walking around with a balloon in between your legs and you now may beginning to understand this woman´s discomfort. When asked how long it had been like this, she responded - ´years - 20 at least.´ She lived in a village far from this city...but she had heard on the radio that a North American medical team would be coming and giving free health care/surgeries. She walked for almost 2 hours and then took a 3 hour bus ride in order to get to the clinic to see us. She also told us that she had visited a witch doctor, but his treatments did not work. The people in her village told her that if she went to the city for surgery, that she would come back dead. But she still came! She believed that we were the right people to help her. So, we did the appropriate surgery on her, which turned out to be rather complicated, but she is recovering well and will be making the trek back home tomorrow! Thank God!

So those are just a few snippets of the past few days. There are already so many stories, pictures, and laughs created! Our team is a riot (we are always laughing and making fun of eachother´s accents). We feel so priveleged to be working with these amazing people. Top notch surgeons/anesthetists/nurses etc....all of them so encouraging and willing to teach us the tricks of the trade! Today, after our two surgeries, a few of us went for a quick swim at a local pool and I thought to myself ´This is crazy! I´m swimming with the surgeon and anesthetist that I just performed surgery with.´ Not sure that will ever happen again in my lifetime!

Well, I could go on and on. But, please know that I am having a incredible time here. As I shared tonight at a gathering with some of the locals and some of our patients from the week, I am living out my dream. And there are so many people that have joined me in this! But above all, it is God that I thank. He has been so faithful and is walking out each step of this with me.

Thank you for your prayers and I ask that they continue throughout my time out here. Please pray for continued unity on the team, a fast ability to pick up a bit more language so that I can communicate better, and a never ceasing love for these people! Hope this finds you well! Will try to write again soon!

Would love to hear from you....take care my friends.

Adios.
Renee