Pictures and News About The Trip

Each trip there's something new to see. Each trip we find more people to help. Each trip someone learns something new. I continue to be amazed at how the Lord works in our lives! I'm sorry that we weren't able to write more on this trip, but the amount of work that we did in the three days that we were there didn't allow us much time, or energy for writing when we got back to the hotel.

Of the 56 patients that we examined on the Vivid i machine that was loaned to us from GE, we found 20 patients that are in need of surgery. Dr. Paar and Dr. Rose are doing all that they can to make that happen so please keep these patients and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

We had quite a few medical students on this trip which made the experience even better. It was really cool learning from each other. This was especially a good learning experience for Amna because it is a setting that she would not typically find herself in as an echo student. Our students are not typically involved in the routine patient assessment so they may not be real clear on what goes on before we do the echo. And the medical students aren't typically involved in the echocardiogram so they are not always aware of the challenges that the sonographers face during the exam.

Many of the diseases that we saw here were very uncommon in the United States, especially in adults. Congenital heart disease is typically repaired either shortly after birth or within the first year of life. We saw several older children and even adults with congenital defects who were in desparate need of repair, and some who were beyond repair. The majority of patients that we examined were rheumatic heart disease patients who are in need of valve replacement.

Once again we were able to walk around the neighborhood in the mornings before we went to the hospital. That is definitley one of the most rewarding parts of the trip. The children were very excited to see the gifts that we brought. We were also amazed at how much the number of kids grew each day that we went out. By the way, if any of you would like to contribute to the next trip, they love the baseballs, frisbees, jumpropes, cars, stuffed animals and anything else small and packable.

Of course no trip would be complete if I didn't take a picture of my trusty friends. I didn't see one cockroach until the last day of the clinic and it didn't take long to understand why. I think this one ate the rest of the little ones that we usually see.