9 Jul
Day 2 in Haiti
At eight o’clock tonight, Rose was wheeled out of the operating room, tumor-less. It took us 8 to 9 hours to complete the surgery. As far as we can tell, we removed all the tumor and if so she has the chance to have a functional arm for the rest of her life. She wants to be a nurse and perhaps now that will be possible. She still has a long recovery ahead of her. It will be 6-9 months of healing and rehabilitation. She is resting tonight in her bed. Her husband waited patiently for the entire procedure and her three-year-old daughter was with her grandmother. All were relieved when it was over. While Dr Zuckerman and I were in surgery, Drs Hippolyte and Nelson completed to surgery on Love Daly, rebreaking her leg and reassembling it to its normal length and shape. She will be able to walk again in the next few days. It has been a long 3 months for this young girl who orphaned, lives with a friend of the family. She also now begins the road to recovery. At 15 years old, she is in the third grade and looks forward to returning to school. I sit in wonder at the remarkable gift that we can to offer these patients. Our support from home is critical in providing not only the funding for these cases but also the moral strength to do the work. We are an eclectic group from different parts of the country with very different backgrounds and skills assembled here for a short but very important job. It is only through your help that we can do this. Thank-you. With Love from Haiti Bull Durham
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6 Jul
Day 1 in Haiti
The team has arrived at Adventiste Hospital in Port-au Prince. Rose is resting with her family in the hospital awaiting surgery tomorrow. She is nervous and excited for the opportunity to be rid of the mass that has enveloped her arm for the last two years. Dr Lee Zuckerman is prepared to tackle this tumor and all of our equipment made it through customs. At 9 am tomorrow we will start a long day of reconstruction. Our second surgery will be to help Love Daly walk again. Our Haitian colleague, Dr Hippolyte has brought her to us. Love Daly is a 15 year old female that I met for the first time today. She is an orphan who lives with a cousin in Port-au-Prince and was in a motor vehicle accident in early April. After weeks in General Hospital she was sent home with a broken thigh bone that has left her leg shortened and bent. Unable to walk, tomorrow we will rebreak the leg and reassemble it to its normal shape. She should be walking again in a couple of days. NAVMC is funding the surgeries for both Rose and Love Daly. Today we helped treat a 6 year old who’s legs were bent to the point she could barely walk. Under Dr Scott Nelson’s guidance, the team assembled an apparatus on both legs that will straighten her legs over the next 9 months. A miracle for this child! These patients are some of the few who are fortunate for the opportunity to get treatment and we are fortunate to offer it to them. Keep your thoughts with us tomorrow as we tackle these problems. As always thank-you for your support. Without it, we could not continue this work. Love Dr Bull
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5 Jul
July Fourth in Haiti
The tumor on Rose’s right arm now is the size of a large cantelope. Despite the size and the open wounds it has created, her hand function is near normal. Tomorrow she will be admitted to Adventiste hospital in Port-au-Prince and on Friday we hope to remove the tumor and save her hand. Sitting on a plane to Miami, I am a bit nervous that we will not be successful but we have a very strong team. Dr Zuckerman is an orthopedic tumor surgeon and Dr Nelson a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who has been working in Haiti on a regular basis for 9 years. I am honored to be part of the team and am hopeful that we can reconstruct for Rose a functional hand. She is grateful for this chance. Absent our assistance she would eventually succumb to complications from this. This has been a five-week project for the NAVMC team and we have had advice from 20 different specialists across the country. Orthopedic surgeons from Canada obtained a sample of the tumor and tissue specialists from Miami have helped to identify the tumor. Specialists from Boston to California have weighed in and provided their recommendations, none have seen this type of tumor reach this size. Here at home it is usually diagnosed as soon as a patient starts to feel pain in their arm. We have a surgical plan and we have received surgical supplies from Arthrex and Acumed, companies that make the devices we will need to rebuild Rose’s arm. NAVMC is providing the funding to finance the surgery. I am thankful to live in a place where we have access to medical care. Happy fourth and thank-you all for your support. Bull Durham
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19 Jun
Haiti Last Day
Large balloons with glow lights inside bounced over the heads of the 50 children at Renmen orphanage last night, suspended in the air by little hands reaching for the sky. The courtyard was vibrant with the screams of delight as they ran around hand in hand with the volunteers. Our trips always end with a night at Renmen. Emotions run from great joy while playing with the kids to that sinking feeling of what their lives are like here. They are fed and educated yet we all wonder what life would be like without the constant love of parents. We ended the evening talking with the older kids and hearing their stories and dreams. Ange has graduated from nursing school and is working at St Lukes Hospital, Kerline is graduating from nursing school next week, Luscerme is in her second year of medical school and wants to go into orthopedics, the list goes on and brings a sense of accomplishment that our gift of education to them is paying off in spades. The last few days at he hospital were a challenge for our small team. They showed resilience through the long days, the difficult surgeries, the inadequate equipment all in the midst of the austere environment that working in Haiti provides. Our OR team worked as a team together helping out one another as the stresses of the days increased. They are rock stars and without them nothing we did would have been possible. We performed 22 surgeries on 20 patients most of whom waited 6-8 weeks for us to arrive. The next foreign medical team will return to Haiti in September, a long time to wait for those that will sustain injuries these next 3 months. The orthopedic residents worked with us and were so thank-full for the care and the teaching we provided. They are the real heroes. Our nurse anesthetists brought with them their skills in performing spinal and regional anesthesia (using local anesthetics to block the arms and legs we repaired). They worked closely teaching the Haitian Anesthesiologists who were hungry for the knowledge and skills they learned. Once again, NAVMC has had a substantial impact on the people of Haiti. I will return in 2 weeks to assist in the treatment of Rose’s large wrist tumor and then we as a team will return again in December. I cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate your help. Medical trips are expensive and without the financial support that our donors provide, we would not be able to continue to return.
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19 Jun
Haiti Day #5
Genese’s smile would light up the earth on a cloudy day. She came running up to Dr Hippolyte and me and gave me an embrace that brought tears to my eyes. She lost everything to Hurricane Matthew which ravaged Haiti in October 2016. Hundreds maybe thousands died, including her husband and young child. Her house in Jeremy was destroyed. With multiple injuries, she was the first one flown out of the hurricane theater. Hippolyte repaired most of her fractures but called me in Arizona for help with her severe wrist injury. There is no hand surgeon in Haiti. Genese is the reason that Pete Brainard CRNA and I returned to Haiti shortly after Hurricane Matthew. We repaired her wrist and have taken her to surgery several times since to complete the reconstructions that have given her a functional arm. She is now healed from her injuries. Flagstaff’s own Jake Bacon went on a campaign last week to raise money for Genese to reopen her shop in Jeremy. Today I gave her those funds and we helped her open a bank account. Tomorrow she heads off to Jeremy to start up her new life. She was shaking with excitement as she gave me a departing hug. Paret is 26 and suffered a right lower leg fracture in a motorcycle accident in November 2017. He was one of the lucky ones, his fracture was treated with a metal plate. He was one of the unlucky ones, it became infected. He has a wound that has been draining with infection for 6 months, his fracture unhealed. Lying in bed at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, he had no real chance of saving his leg. As most Haitians, he has no health insurance and no funds to cover his medical care. Today we removed the infected plate and dead bone, placed a flap of muscle from his lower leg over the exposed bone and have given him his only opportunity to save his leg. I cannot begin to describe his emotions of joy and surprise when we told him we though he would keep his leg. Today we also treated Frantz for a femur fracture from an injury in early April. Both legs were broken but he could only afford to have one fixed, he chose his right leg. He has been waiting for 2 months for a team who would treat his left leg. At 19 he now has both legs repaired and provided they do not become infected, he may be able to find work. Tonight I will sleep in a bunk in a room that has air conditioning with several other volunteers. I will get a reprieve from the 90 degree temps and humidity. The men’s bathroom is across the hall with running water. I will be able to shower in the morning. I have had a nice dinner. The patients’ families will sleep again tonight on the streets inside the hospital. Bless them for the care they provide their loved ones. Thanks for your support. Dr Bull
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13 Jun
Haiti Day #4
Natacha shattered her ankle 2 weeks ago. She has been in a hospital in Port-au-Prince since then lying in bed with 8 other women in the woman’s ward, awaiting our arrival, no finances to afford the repair she needed to allow her to walk again. Here at home, she would have had surgery and been home within a few days. Today she was one of the lucky “chosen ones”. Dr Joe Martin repaired her ankle today and soon she will be home recuperating. Her smile lit up the room after her surgery. Today was a day of reprieve for the volunteers as we began the process of fixing the injuries we have seen at the local hospitals. We began to see the beauty in what we have to offer. We worked with the local Orthopedic Residents who are hungry for the opportunity to do that which they are training to do, care for their fellow Haitians. We were also able to help Jean who is 48 years old and broke his hip in a motorcycle accident. After 6 weeks in bed in traction, he is now fixed and will be up and out of bed tomorrow. Rose can barely lift up her arm anymore as the weight of the tumor in her right arm has grown to the size of a large cantaloupe. She has been seen at several facilities in Haiti and none could help her. The tumor has eaten away one of the bones in her forearm. She lacks the resources to get appropriate care. We have consulted 20 surgeons in the US for this unusual tumor. In three weeks we will return to Haiti with a team from Loma Linda University including an orthopedic tumor specialist. We think we can save her arm. This week we are preparing her for her upcoming surgery on July 6th. The team is tired but excited that we are now focusing on repairing the injuries that we have seen these last few days. Tomorrow we hope will be another day of bringing hope to a few and training those that will continue the work here. I continue to be amazed at the resilience of these people who suffer so much. They are thankful for what we do for them. Your support makes this all possible. Thank you for your help and we will continue to do what we can for these people, “My Brothers, Our Sisters” My Brothers Our Sisters: https://vimeo.com/249315834
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