Day Three: First Day of Work

Morning came early for the Albright group, as we woke up around 5:45 am and made it down for a breakfast of fried rice, eggs, and noodles at 7 am. The IEP team piled into taxis at 8 am and it was off to the hospital. Upon arriving, Dr. Lehnert was greeted by one of the doctors he worked with last year.

 

I am so excited that we started screening our first group of patients today. I was in charge of taking images and videos of patients for the intake group today, and I loved seeing all of the patients. They had such great attitudes, and it was very humbling to see how people can be so happy, even though they were given so little. It makes being upset about a lost volleyball match or a broken computer seem like a big to do about nothing. After obtaining the 42 patients' information, I went to the exam room where Dr. Lehnert took me under his wing and talked out his diagnoses with me, explaining why the patient may have their problem, what he can do to fix it, and how he will do it. I learned a lot in a short amount of time, like how the Achilles tendon looks and works, or how muscle spasticity affects how the patient walks. Below are some of the images of a few patients that we saw today.

This patient has returned to the hospital where the IEP team gave him surgery in 2010. He was not able to walk two years ago, and can now walk all by himself. He came back to see if there were any other minor fixes that could be made to improve his walk.

This cutie here is only two months old, and has two toes on her right foot which are fused together. Her fifth toe is connected to her fourth, and it also has a small extra bone. This may not seem like that much a a problem, but many children like herself have been forced to drop out of school at a very young age due to teasing and name calling associated with their deformity. Hopefully after surgery she will look forward to a better future.

This man has a deformed right foot, and uses a bamboo pole to steady himself. He also uses it as a replacement for his bum foot when he walks, like a cane.

This woman has a deformity called "lobster claw", and although it looks bad, she can fortunately walk normally and can even wear shoes. Dr. Lehnert has signed her up for surgery, and will hopefully have her foot feeling and looking better soon.

This little girl is 8 years old, and made friends with my dad quickly. As he was filming, she would always wave and him and the camera, giggling at the same time. Her feet are rotated outwards, forcing her to walk on the inside of her feet.

Tomorrow is January 1, so we won't be doing any work. Wednesday brings more screenings and more patients that are happy to see us, yay!

Day One/Two: Departure from San Francisco and Arrival in Vietnam

We all arrived safe and sound in Can Tho, Vietnam (pronounced Can Tuh) after a wild 24 hours of traveling. Our flight from SFO to Taipei, Taiwan was a 14 hour roller coaster ride. A good portion of the ride was pretty bumpy, but luckily I was able to sleep through most of it. Upon arriving in Taipei, Taiwan, we all got to wander around the airport to enjoy some duty-free shopping, and then it was back on the plane, which unfortunately was delayed for two hours with everyone already boarded due to a computer that needed to be replaced.  We finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh City, and after gathering the 32 boxes of supplies and the rest of our baggage, the group loaded up a bus and made the 4 hour treck to Can Tho. 

 The ride to our hotel was not only a good way to get to know the rest of the team better, but to also get to know the country as well. We got to see the madness that is the city of Ho Chi Minh, but also the way that people here live, either in shanty houses on the side of the road or amongst their rice paddies.

About half way through the ride we stopped at a restaurant on the side of the rode and got some food to eat. I was very excited to eat my first out-of-the-US meal. Among the adventurous eaters were my dad, Henry, Bruce, and a few others who decided to dine on a full deep fried fish. My palette, however, decided that a simple dish of chicken and fried rice would do just fine. In addition to the fish, Henry also down three coconuts full of milk!

From there on we enjoyed more of the scenery and another two hours of our drive, and finally arrived at our destination, the Golf Hotel, which overlooks the amazing Mekong River. A group of us decided to go out for a walk around the city and enjoy some fresh air. Tomorrow will be an early morning; we will be screening our first set of patients at 8:30 am.