While I spent a week in Antigua, my schedule was as follows: I arrived late Saturday night at my a hotel and unpacked my personal belongings. I was up at 5:30 a.m. to eat and at 6 a.m. was at the hospital. At 7 a.m. we unpacked surgical supplies and organized our operating rooms. Then I spent two hours of data entry in the clinic.

This is where we see our surgical patients and put the operating room schedule together. We had three physicians (surgeons), three anesthesiologists, one certified registered nurse anesthetist, two scrub nurses and a few regular nurses. Monday through Thursday our schedule was the same. We averaged seven surgeries per day, completing 73 cases. Several of us got sick. One scrub nurse had blood pressure problems, was dizzy and got an IV and two liters of fluid. Friday was our day to go to the village to sight see and shop. I spent it in the bathroom. I'm better now and glad to be back home.

The Guatemalans were nice people and very thankful for our help. I wish you could see the hospital in which we worked: I never smelled a bad odor; the patients were dressed nicely; their beds were clean and made. We were told most of the help was volunteer. We could learn something from this in the U.S. Thank you for this wonderful experience.