Blog

I just got off the phone with John’s and my roommate from college – PAZER! Pazer asked that I post some photos from Haiti. I’ll try to get to that this weekend. Stay tuned….

Sorry missed yesterday on the blog. Big rain storm and the internet and phone lines were down. Got a nice Chinese water toture as I slept last night – intermittent drip on my forehead from a hole in the tent. Eating well – rice and a potato – no plaintains today.

So last night was surreal. I had to debride (remove dead skin) from a twelve year old girl who was riding her bike and fell into a kerosene fire. The burn happened 8 days ago and the family treated the wounds with black beans and calamine lotion. They looked awful until I had anesthesia put her to sleep and when I cleaned off the “home remedy,” the skin was starting to heal in some areas. She has burned about 25% of her body and parts are 3rd degree (all the way through the skin), but most is 2nd degree (part way through the skin). She is doing much better today.

Now for the “surreal” part. At the same time I am treating this unfortunate girl (she was under anesthesia- it did not hurt), there is another operating table 15 feet away in the same area of the tent. On that table a woman was getting a C-section. So the baby is delivered and everybody cheers just as I pull away a large area of dead skin. Very strange dichotomy. Everybody is doing well today – mom, baby, and my patient.

Otherwise just another day in Haiti. Took a huge tumor out of a guy’s eye socket with the ophtomolgist and the neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon, Clay, reminds me of Larry the Cable Guy and we just “”gitter done.”
The “ortho boys” (4 orthopedic surgeons) have been keeping me busy and are alot of fun, which basically means they find my anecdotes amusing and laugh at my attempts at witticisms.

John and I have gotten a reputation as the two loudest guys in the camp. People don’t understand how we can talk to each other if we are both so loud and talk over each other. I don’t get it, I understyand him perfectly and vice versa.
Carol, Allison and Jayne have fun tonight. Katie and Charlie say Hi to Shaq and LeBron.
This will be my sign off from Haiti. Just have a couple of more skin grafts to do and I leave tomorrow morning. Thanks for reading this. If you have not read any of this, thanks for nothing. This has been a great experience. Everybody should do something like this to gain some perspective in their lives. Just saying.

Another day in Paradise. Good day for us and the patients. Bernard’s (the plastic surgeon before me) system for treating burns has worked like a charm. They are all recovering nicely – I’ll have to let him know when I get home. Most of the wounds are healing nicely. One young girl with exposed bone is growing new tissue from holes I drilled into that bone and should heal and save her leg. Tomorrow, I am doing a muscle flap over a young man.s thigh bone that has not healed since the earthquake.
The Sun Times sent a reporter and photographer here and interviewed John and I. Hopefully the photographer did not take any pictures of us, since we both look pretty grungy.
John got me a good meal of rice, chicken, rice, okra, and rice. Rice is the spam of Haiti. Life is good.
Here’s Chonny -
hey des and guys its weds hump day is done. its all down hill now. no more call . can’t wait to see you all. love you and miss you. john and dad
Its jack again – Hey General Disarray and Professor Chaos -have fun at the game. Allison your little booklet you made is a big hit here. Jayne – the Hafners say your bangs look awesome. Carol – I love and miss you.

I have been in surgery since 8am, you will never believe the things that I have seen. Everyday is a new experience. I am doing fine, love and miss you Alexis and Riley

Good night last night. OR ended at 10 pm. John and I got to move from the kid size cots we had been sleeping o n to adult size army cots. Makes sleep alot easier. No food arrived again today, and they ran out of food in the supply tent, but peanut butter crackers and fiber one bars make for a selicious breakfast and lunch. We’ll see about dinner.
Andy, the camps Chief Medical Officer, had a great announcement this am – we went 24 hours without any “needle sticks,” that is when one of the nurses or doctors accidently sticks themselves when treating a patient – a problem here with the type of infections we are treating.
My burn patients are getting better. The two year old boy, Alex, had to leave – but his older sister seem to be able to get her to the clinic near what is left of their house. We sent a list of instructions for Alex in English and Creole and a couple of large jarsof silvadene (a burn ointment) and a bunch of dressings. Both parents died in the earthquake, but the sister seems quite competent. There are other kids at home she has to take care of and could not leave Alex here.
I have not operated yet on the girl with the bad hand injury; there is still one more case in the OR in front of us. There is an occupational therapist here; she made a great splint this am for another of my patients. Right now this girl’s hand is non-functional, but I’m hoping with today’s surgery and some OT she’ll get some function back.
The two young people with jaw fractures are doing well. Andy just told me he accepted another child with a bad burn. Beth is still in the OR, I’ll have her write when she gets out. John is really moving things along well in the pediatric ward, despite is modesty, he really knows what he is doing and all the other pediatricians and nurses have great respect for him. Don’t let him know I said that.
Good bye for now. Thanks to all of you who respond. I’m not writing back to each of you, but we can talk when I get back. But Jayne, I’m sure your bangs look awesome.

Sorry to be blogging so late. Busy day today. Here’s Chonny (John Walsh)
hi des, fitz,max,andphil. des thanks for the blog. Iwas on call sat the 1st night here and the black cloud of residency is still on me, we have been here only 3 days and have already lost 5 children. there are icu sevrety cases here. we are doing are best. the 1st day and a half i was in shock, but now I am getting my feet under me. jack is amazing .He is a tremdous leader down here. he is a male stepanie. i miss you all and love you you .you arethoughts and prayers.Thank for keeping me in your prays. love you all.
Hey Its Jack again. Beth would write but she got called back to the OR. She sends her love and will write tomorrow.
Tough day for John. They lost 5 children today. They have done some amazing things. Jim, the pediatric surgeon fixed a PDA (patent ductus arteriosus) on a 1 kg baby (2.2 lbs). That baby is still stable thanks to anesthesia and the unbelievable PICU (pediatric ICU) staff.
Wounds are looking better and infections are being controlled thanks to an extremely dedicated wound care group and a lot of VACs (Vacuum-assisted).
No food in the camp all day. I ate the granola bars and oat meal bars, my kids told me to bring and and a can of cranberry sauce I found in the supply tent. I could use the weight loss. But, joy oh joy, a truck came by tonight and we were able to buy burgers and beer this evening. No two-fisted drinking. Little plastic surgeons only drink one beer at a time. And Cameron, the big orthopod (orthopedic surgeon) can hold two beers in one hand. He’s a great guy.
Big day in the OR. Actually all day. Tomorrow I have to fix a woman’s hand. She broke all her matacarpals (big bones in the palm area of the hand) in the earthquake but they were never fixed and have not healed. There are no plates to put on here and they would get infected anyway. But I’ve get an idea I think will work. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

All my love to Carol, Kate, Allison, Charlie and Jayne. Thanks to all of you who write in to the blog. And anything John wrote about me is a lie.

Well, I got photos into the computer, but when it came to downloading the photos onto the blog it was (in the words of my kids) an epic fail.
I’m not sure if anybody reads this blog, and if you the reader believes in G-d, but there is any inexplicable coming together of people’s better nature here coupled with some deep sadness.
Late last night a guy came in with a machete wound half way through his wrist. The orthopedic surgeon, Bruce did a great job with the fracture, and I was able to put together 6 tendons assisted by another plastic surgeon, Bernard. Why this patient, with this type of hand injury, came in on the day a hand surgeon arrived is a very happy coincidence. At the same time, I had not done major burns for years, but Bernard who has great experience with them, was able to have me assist him all day and we can have a smooth transition when Bernard leaves tomorrow.
The sadness I spoke of occurred late last night. A baby with multiple medical problems had been left in a trash can to die a couple of weeks ago. The staff here had nursed the child back from death. The main care giver, a young woman, who shall remain nameless, had returned to Haiti yesterday to start the process of adopting this child. That child died last night.
Sorry to end on such a sad note. I’ve got to go back to the OR. There a couple of broken jaws for me to fix. I also have to operate on two children, who broke their legs in the earthquake and they now have exposed bone (the skin is gone over top of the bones) It is up to me that to figure out a way to cover the bones. Wish me and those patients good luck.
I have to convince a Mom not to take her 2 year old home. He burned his entire left arm and his right hand with hot oil and he is developing pneumonia. If he stays he has a good chance; if he leaves it could be very dangerous. If you have some extra prayers, send them this way.
Hope to blog tomorrow. John Walsh was up all night in the peds tent, and Beth Carter covered the OR for most of the night. More on their experiences, if I can get them to write to you.

Greetings from Haiti! I arrived this am and immediately went to work Alot of burn patients. Today was mainly debridements and wound care. We did six cases in the OR and saw quite a few others on the ward. Consulted with orthopedic surgeons here from all over the country on some tough wounds and fractures. This is definately one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. The need is tremendous and the conditions for want of a better word are “spartan.” Great group of individuals who have come here to help. I’ll try to upload some photos. I came with John Walsh, one of my roomates from college (Swarthmore) and Beth Carter a nurse from Munster, IN. They also went right to work. Ciao.

Hi. This is Dr. Gelman. I’ll be leaving this Friday 3/12/10 to go on a medical mission to Haiti. I hope to be able to blog from there and upload photos.

The latest issue of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal includes a scientific study about how gender affects facial wrinkling.  Research was conducted by plastic surgeons in the Netherlands.

But let’s just get to the point shall we?  Here are the documented reasons women wrinkle earlier and more severely than men:

1. If you’re a woman, the skin surrounding your mouth has fewer sweat and sebaceous glands, which are important for hydration and skin fullness.
2. You also may have fewer blood vessels in the same area.
3. The muscular fibers surrounding the orifice of a woman’s mouth are also more closely attached, which causes an “inward traction” and therefore, deeper wrinkles.

Read more on the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery website.