The end of a great week..

Sorry I missed yesterday this is a double entry...

Thursday:
Today we went out to see the acid burn clinic. It was one of the most depressing places I have seen here. In Cambodia if you are caught cheating on your significant other than they may take battery acid and splash you in the face with it. If you are lucky enough to survive such an attack than you are horrifically scarred and debilitated for life. Not to mention the stereotyping that comes with being a burn victim. Although many attacks are unrelated to infidelity; there is a lovely woman we met who is scarred beyond belief and it was because she reported to the police that her brother-in-law sold her daughter into the sex trade and so he found out and dowsed her with acid. She is blind and her limbs do not have very good range of motion. Even worse is that people think she is an adulterer.. Their stories are heart wrenching and their physical appearance is gut wrenching (not trying to be insensitive but I would not take pictures out of respect but I need to explain how terrible this is). I would have been miserable all day but one of the workers outside of the acid burn clinic has been tirelessly building an aquaponics system and some of his (Carlos) ideas are revolutionary. Carlos and I set to chatting right away to the great dismay of Brent and Lori who could care less about aquaponics and more about getting out of the heat. I will not dive into that subject though because I could talk forever. Anyways when we returned Jim extended a dinner invitation to us for the evening.

Jim's house is HUGE. He has at least 4 servants and did I mention that his house is HUGE. He had an open bar and a few other guests so we helped ourselves unabated. We were joined by two traveling doctors, Viet the director of the acid burn clinic, and Javier a new media specialist. Again, Jim is an interesting character. We had a good dinner and great conversation (not really including Jim) and then out of the blue he cordially kicked us all out... I was full, toasted, and in Cambodia. Life is great.


Friday:
This has been one of the most rewarding trips I have ever been on! I have participated in at least 6 surgeries a day! Well, except for Fridays are slow but today I started out with the removal of a baseball sized tumor from a man's chest. We fought it for a good hour at least, but it finally gave in. Of course, it took nearly all of pectoralis major with it. Then I followed up with a few more hydroceles where I am "perfecting" my "buried suture". I have seen enough of these to do one myself and I probably could if I asked but I am not sure that would be such a good idea. For lunch today I sat with a group of women (well they all sat with me) and we laughed together as we tried to communicate. I have learned over the years that only a few key words are need to unlock the world: You are beautiful, delicious!, thank you, and hello. Between these three I can get a smile out of anyone. This afternoon I scrubbed in as second surgeon on a burn contracture of a hand. This young woman's fingers had been burned together in an almost fist like position. We initially set out to free two fingers but 3.5 hours later we only managed to get one freed. It was my longest surgery to date. The surgeon was amazing, but discovered during the operation that she had a congenital malformation as well, which severely hindered his ability to correct her hand. But we did manage to use skin from her hip to graft her new pinky finger.

After that I went to Brent and Lori's new place and it was very nice. Is anyone reading these? Leave a comment if so!!