You better Belize it!!

As you may or may not know, aside from my full time job as a mom, I do have another job. I work part-time (half part-time is probably a better description!) as an operating room nurse specializing in plastic and reconstructive surgery and occuloplastic (eye) surgery. For the last several years (with the exception of last year), I have had the pleasure of going on surgical mission trips to Belize with an awesome organization called LEAP. What an amazing experience!! You may have a picture in your mind of us operating on the beach with a drink in our hand...not so. We go about an hour inland from Belize City to a town called Orangewalk.

We help people who otherwise would not have access to this type of surgery. We see cleft lips, cleft palates, ear deformities, eye deformities, crossed eyes, etc. We see everything...in fact, we just never know what the trip holds in store for us. It is a long weekend trip there on Friday, back home on Monday. We operate all day (sometimes until the middle of the night) on Saturday and Sunday.

I just found out we are going the end of April 2009 and I am so excited! This is such an amazing time for me...it really reminds me why I became a nurse and how blessed I am to have the things I have in my life. Most of these people do not have A/C and it is HOT down there!! The trip is kind of like hitting my reset button...I come back so grateful for everything we have and grateful to be a nurse.

I am lucky enough to team up with a great eye surgeon that I have worked with for a long time. My friend, Cindy (who lives in Houston now), is my partner in crime on this trip. We love going back to our room at the end of a long day and giggling ourselves to sleep. Sometimes we have to put our headphones in so we will stop talking to each other and go to sleep. So aside from the gift we are giving to the people of Belize, we also have a great time together as a team. Usually 2 plastic surgeons also go on the trip along with a host of nurses, anesthesiologists, and volunteers. We bring all our own equipment and supplies. Packing for the trip begins months ahead of time. There is a lot of hard work that goes into a trip, but the rewards are HUGE!!!

So, since I am so excited about the upcoming trip, I thought I would share with everyone about that part of my life. Here are some photos taken on a trip from a few years ago....a little trip down memory lane!!

Here is our team from the Belize trip 2006. Can you find me in the picture...kind of like Where's Waldo!!

This is my partner in crime, Cindy. Good times....

Here is my other partner in crime, Dr. Gilliland.

Here I am in action....

By the way, sometimes it is just way too HOT in the OR to wear the surgical gowns...so we just make do!!

Like I said, we just never know what the weekend has in store for us...here is Dr. Gilliland the EYE doctor doing a tooth extraction. Don't even ask...we just do what needs to be done!!

....his 5 minutes of oral surgery fame!!

Here is Cindy with one of the Mennonite boys that we had operated on the year before...there are Mennonite communities all over Belize.

And, yes, at the end of a long weekend, we do partake in some adult beverages on Sunday night after we are finished...

...except for Dr. G because someone has to keep Cindy and I in line!! (OMG...look how blonde my hair was!!!)

Thanks for letting me take a trip down memory lane...I can't wait for our next trip in April and I will have tons of pictures when I get back.

By the way, I was not able to go on the April 2008 trip because Kari broke her arm and had surgery right before the trip. Unfortunately, I had to cancel. Anyway, they took an amazing photographer with them on the trip and she has a slideshow from the trip on her website. It is definitely worth a look!! Click here to go to her website, then click on Galleries and then Special Projects...it is all the photos she took during the trip in April 2008. So sad that I missed that one!

Until next time....