First day in Can Tho, and all is well.

Hi everyone!
We made it to the Mekong Delta. For the next 2 days, I will be working with the larger International Extremity Project (IEP) surgical team in the city of Can Tho. 

The IEP group this year consists of 20+ people, including podiatric and orthopedic surgeons, medical residents and students, nurses, pediatric therapists, medical assistants, and a couple of kids (the organizers' sons).

Carrying medical supply boxes in SFO Airport

We travel to Vietnam through Taiwan. In the 90 minute layover between the 15 hour US-> Taiwan flight and the 4 hour Taiwan-> Vietnam flight, I try to do a lot of walking. This means I get to visit all the different-themed gates in the International Terminal, including the Hello Kitty departure gate

and the Taiwanese Ceremonial Waiting Lounge.

After almost 24 hours of travel, we land in Ho Chi Minh City, where we find our bags and multiple boxes of medical supplies. 

Stacy and my traditional "I just landed in Ho Chi Minh City and have already sweated out a week's worth of fluid" photo

Can Tho is almost 4 hours by van south of Ho Chi Minh City-- we are all officially exhausted by the time we get in. I managed to shower before collapsing into bed. Not even the rollicking karaoke boat that docks on the Mekong River across from our rooms managed to keep me awake. 

This morning was our first day at Can Tho General Hospital. I work for 2 days as the administrative assistant for the IEP surgical team. I set up a medical records system for the 100+ potential Vietnamese patients that have to get screened to determine if they are eligible for lower extremity surgeries from the IEP team. 

With the help of an interpreter, I take brief histories of the potential patients, photograph the patient, and take a short video of their walking. This information helps the surgical team make decisions about whether a patient will benefit from surgery, and to make some before and after comparisons. 

Potential surgical patients are kids and adults with some varied histories; some of the issues are familiar to us in the US, but others are seen much less frequently. Polio is still a concern in Vietnam-- today we saw 8 year olds with lower extremity deformities and impairments due to polio. Cerebral palsy is a common issue in this patient group, as well as other types of brain injuries that have affected the way a person can walk and move. We see some potential patients who had significant motor vehicle or work-related accidents that did not have good initial treatment. There are also developmental and physical problems related to environmental toxins, traceable to Agent Orange used heavily in this area during the Vietnam War. 

Children and adults are typically very interested in learning whether they would benefit from surgery. The big questions are always whether surgery would provide a functional and realistic change for a patient, and whether surgery would help to change something that is an impairment for the patient. That often means that a child would be able to begin to attend school because she could now walk there, that a young woman could now look for a job because she could fit her foot into a "regular" shoe, or that a man could regain the ability to bear weight on his foot and leg. 

Stacy, the team's physical therapist, can often develop a rehab plan on the spot for someone who does not qualify for surgery. It's a great team, I'm happy to support them in this part of the mission. 

Here are some of the people we got to see today. If you'd like to see more photos, please check the International Extremity Project Facebook page and website. 

I call the patients into see the teams of doctors using my rudimentary knowledge of the numbers 1-10 in Vietnamese (very thankful for the interpreters we have!!), and the doctors get to work:

The hospital is very welcoming to us, and we have a great lunch in the can tin ("canteen"). I'm able to get my 2nd coconut in as many days-- I start to get worried when I don't get a coconut!

When in doubt, always drink a coconut. 

We will be heading back to the General Hospital tomorrow for the 2nd day of screenings. We saw 50 patients today and expect at least that many tomorrow. Did I mention that it was a super-humid 93 degrees here today, and the hospital wing is not air-conditioned? I definitely need some more coconuts. 

I got a ride "home" today from one of our interpreters, Hoa, a university student. Here's the hospital parking lot. 

I'll post some video of my xe om (scooter) ride back tomorrow.