By Louis

Evening

Well, this is the day .. what .. Wednesday.. wow going so so fast. The days as all of them are filled with work, organization and trying to make sure everyone is happy and patients are well-taking care of..

I love the comments from people.. Renee telling the surgeons what we should do and where we should go.. now people think she is the boss.. Renee has done so far an amazing job.. so proud of her and what she is able to bring.. Her smile and her talent is great!!..She was even given a bottle of rum to take to the house.. they think she is 18 plus here as well!!! she works hard, going to bed late and getting up at 7. She has been amazing with Bev in Dentistry, and both have made a great team.. Renee has seen great surgeries, great people, seeing villages that not too many have seen, so know she is overwhelm.. She has talked to the two surgeons, Anesthesiologist, Sarah, Dave, judy, Doug.. and really it has been so so good.

We had Irma with us and the Brazillian students. Hopefully, they are enjoying their trip like we are… Language barriers are sometimes very difficult and having had lived this in the past I know how difficult it can be.

Barb, our physio, and MLA is loving it. She helped the Brazilians in the villages to see patients and help gather info and help patients. Seeing over 200 patients on Monday and almost 400 on Tuesday. Quick organization and so great to see.. Good job. Now Barb said, “I never thought I would be playing cards in Africa with a bunch of surgeons”.. That was great!!!

We, Anne and Vanessa worked hard on making sure the anesthesia machines are working well. We MacGyver these machines well. I have to say that Dr. Joules in Anesthesia when I was a resident made me understand all of this.. Thank you..We have worked very well.. Doug and Dave have helped so so much..Dave has a great smile that made everyone happy, Doug with his skills was so great.

Judy has also been so helpful. She has worked so hard to make sure we maintain some standard, some sterility in a Kaos environment. I can tell she has a hard time having to adapt to a less sterile environment but she did well. She assisted Todd and Kevin in Surgery and me as well. She has and continues to help with Anne and Vanessa. Even in Dentistry helping Bev with Locals and Renee with Patient care.

Sarah..great food and helped so much. It was great to see her with the babies and with the mastectomy patient. She as others, have seen so much but are giving so so much…It is awesome.

Bev is also making an amazing difference. At times, I know she was out of her element, but she did so so well..Bev went to bed ear;y most nights.. tired.. 45 degrees outside!! That also includes the nights!

Todd and Kevin and I did the surgeries. The Italians came early for their mission due to issues somewhere else.. that created some issues but with some discussions, we managed to get things organized. For me what did me in was the fact that the Italian surgeon was telling us how to go thyroids or Todd how to go a gallbladder, putting his hand in the wound not scrubbed, not invited and just with Gloves. Well, that did not sit well with me.. especially not invited…. But after dealing with the issue we continue to work. We did Some thyroids, mastectomy, Gall Bladders, appendix, cleft lip, oral tumors, Large cyst in the face causing a large deformity, ..21 surgeries with many many dental patients..so far..as some have pointed out..the nice thing is that no one has a large ego, we are all here to work together, teaching each other and having great respect for each other.

Rounds are great. Every night at 10 pm we go do rounds, an experience that everyone finds great and patients way of coping with things is so so different than us, yet they are happy!! All our patients are doing great.

So Renee being “Dr bourget Jr”, and all our amazing team.. this is so far an amazing mission.. As Doug said.. Great bunch of people, no ego, but willing to help and explain everything…We have a great team… Renee said tonight in front of everyone and said… Dad you must be finally relaxing since this is nowhere.. this mission…you know.. this was so true.. but hit so hard and I had to leave for few minutes since it hit hard.. so so much work and organization.. sometimes up to one year to get a mission organized….. IT IS ALL WORTH IT AND WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN and WILL

It is 12:45 and 7 am comes quickly.. good night!!! And Thank you all from the bottom of my heart