Coincidence or Fate
Many times I think about our first mission and the first patient, Samara, that we operated on. I will never forget the date, Oct. 14th, my husband's birthday. My oldest daughter, Tara cams as our play therapist. Since that mission, Samare was lost to follow-up.
Onmy second mission , one of our patients, Jessica, needed to stay in the ICU for vigorous respiratory therapy after we had left. We kept in touch with her physicians until her dischared but she never returned for follow-up evaluation when we would come back.
On my fifth mission, my daughter, Emma came as our play therapist. She met and played with many children, making balloon animals for them. She recently wrote her college essay on her experience and the friendships that she made.
And now on my 6th mission, we started setting up in our usual fashion, evaluation, operating and caring for the children when suddenly Samara walked into the clinic with her mother and sister. I was so surprised! She was carying a folder which contained her photo mounte donto a picture frame that Tara had helped her make prior to her surgery. The next day that i was scheduled to work, all of sa sudden Jessica walked down the hall towards the ICU. She recognized us and smiled. I couldn't believe my eies!
The last day of our mission, we had our kid's party. After saying our goodbyes, all of a sudden, Mickey(a petient from our fifth mission) walked up to me and asked me "where is Emma?" The friendships that we made, the lives that we have touched will remain with us always!
-Judy
We finished 2 legs of our journey home. As I sit in the Dulles airport I am reflecting on the events of the past 12 days. I find that I am already missing the children. We first meet them in clinic where they are scared and sick. After surgery the children are meeting us at the stairs with smiling faces and giving us high five's. It is such a nice feeling to know that you have made a difference in someone's life. I am very thankful and humbled to be a part of such a great team.
-Susan
