Homeward Bound

 

We leave in a few hours for Seoul. We will overnight there and then fly direct to LAX and on to DFW, with an EST of 4.30 p.m.

This collage pretty well tells the story. This is one of my favorite patients. She waited three days for her surgery and was a joy to be with. I'll let you try to figure the order of pictures. From the time she came until we sent her home with a Bible, it seemed she never stopped smiling. Even the picture of her in the recovery room shows her smiling.

This has been a very difficult trip. We were delayed two days at the beginning of the mission and we left the hospital a day early. None of this was of our choosing. It was very difficult to leave the hospital when disappointed parents mobbed us and with tears, some on their knees begging, asking us if we could please take care of their child. We told them that we were willing to do more cases but the hospital made it impossible for us to do so.

The hospital did let us take one child back to surgery who needed to have a couple of stitches in his palate. The excuse they gave was that the hospital was going to being inspected by the health department and we could not operate until this had been completed. The inspectors never came.

This hurdle was one of many that were placed in our way. Thanks to Keith Enger, we are all able to travel together. I will need to explain that when I get home.

I am anticipating that processing out of the country will be as difficult as getting in. We are allowing 3 hours and I hope that is enough. I will breath easier when we are actually on our way to Seoul.

Thanks for reading.