It has been a busy few months for us with moving, traveling to Argentina and searching for new employment. My husband and I are now moved into an apartment in Denver. It feels good to no longer be nomads. I recently accepted a job in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Denver Health and I am now getting back to focusing on my photography.

Now that things have settled down, I want to showcase my trip to Matagalpa, Nicaragua, where I went last month on my third medical mission with New Orleans Medical Missions (NOMMS). This time I went as the official photographer. It was a life changing experience, as always, and an extremely successful mission. While I’d prefer to finish my posts from Argentina before moving on to Nicaragua, I felt I had to do a  quick post on the highlights of the mission first.

We completed 90 surgeries in one week. Our ortho surgeon, Dr. Lance Estrada, did 7 knee replacements a day. He also fixed a young boy’s ankle, which had been injured in a motorcycle accident, and made it so he was able to walk for the first time in a year.

Dr. Estrada also saved a woman’s leg. She had also gotten into a bad motorcycle accident and her knee was so mangled that the local surgeons were going to amputate her leg. Using local screws and rods that he pieced together, Dr. Estrada was able to fashion her a new knee, saving her leg from amputation.

Our general surgeon, Dr. Bobby Normand, completed gallbladder removals, a colon resection and removed a giant tumor from a patient’s abdomen. He also showed the local surgeons techniques in doing laparoscopic surgeries.

Our ENT father and son surgical team, Dr. Christian Jacob and Dr. Dan Jacob, completed rhinoplasties and septoplasties and rebuilt a man’s nose using cartilage from his ear. The man had been hit in the nose and his nose no longer had any structure. It was impressive to watch them give this man his nose back.

Finally, our plastic surgeon, Dr. Elliot Black, worked with a local plastic surgeon and fixed cleft lips and palates and gave skin grafts to burn victims, among other things. This little girl, Ingrid, couldn’t open her hand because of a burn injury she had sustained. Dr. Black opened her contracted fingers and placed a skin graft on them so she could use her hand again.

Along with other children during the week, little Dianna had her cleft lip repaired. It was a touching experience to watch her parents see the transformation of their daughter’s face.

In addition to these life changing surgeries, our eyeglass clinic gave out 1600 glasses to those in need of help with their vision. People of all ages lined up all week long. It was rewarding to witness the moment when each person was able to see clearly.

I loved being the official photographer on this trip. I truly got to see everything and really appreciate the experience. It is amazing what a group of people can accomplish in a week when they put their mind to it. The local doctors, nurses and volunteers put as much work into this as we did and we all learned from each other. The Nicaraguans are resourceful, caring people. They took us in like family and we all parted as friends. I have many more stories and photos to share from this trip, these are only the highlights. I will finish my posts on Argentina and then return to Nicaragua.