When nothing happens out of the ordinary, one wonders what went wrong. And that is just what happened today. This was probably the best first day of clinics we've ever had in all the trips we've made. Easy setup, smooth flow, patients seen, changes made without questions, and 200 patients seen with time to spare. Well, there were a few glitches. No electricity, no generator, therefore no power to drive the drills and power tools the dentists needed to do their job. They improvised all the same, and teeth got pulled, repaired, beautified and cleaned, and all was good. The children were relatively healthy with a few falling outside the norm, but were easily attended to. Several children caught our attention: a 10 year old girl with a hear murmur who was told she needed surgery at the age of 2, and got lost to follow-up, only to return today, 8 years later wondering if now was a good time to get the surgery done. Nope, wouldn't happen, not today, not tomorrow, not any time soon. A 10 year old boy shows up in a wheel chair with a mechanical brace on his right leg. History: hit by a motorcycle 1 year ago, some type of surgery was performed, the leg put in this brace, and now a year later, having not walked all this time, asked us to fix it so he could. The leg was misaligned, turned inward and would need a competent orthopedic surgeon to make things right. Out of the blue, an anesthesiologist who also happened to be the director of a private hospital close by, comes for an unannounced visit, and offers to have an orthopedic surgeon see the child at no cost. Go figure. So we started the "climb", got a few hundred feet up the mountain, and there we sit until tomorrow. Then up we go. Serving those who come to see us.
In all things give thanks,
David
