USA

It's 10:30 am Saturday and I'm sitting at the Atlanta airport. Alicia, Claire and I got bumped to the next flight because I had lost my passport during the customs check in. I found it, an actually Delta was great, they had over booked the flight in the first place, so we got a $200 credit each to take the next flight! All the students and Tony made it the flight and will still have a long bus trip to Orono in the snow!

Our closing of our trip didn't lack any attention. One of the student's was very dehydrated from gastroenteritis, and fortunately Dr Lance Evans lent us some IV supplies and fluids. So we had a portable "hospital" on the bus and then in the hostel in QUITO. Fortunately the student did respond well and is much better at this point.

As it comes to the end of this mission, there is so much to reflect on. I still have a lot of work in calculating out the statistics of infant mortality and such... and then of course the list of patients that need referrals. We met a lot of young children with murmurs. Hopefully I can get that all together as soon as possible!

One of my friends Kathy is already headed for Boston to pick us up and I feel bad that she will have to wait for our delay. We hear that the snow storm in NH is bad.

It's nice to be back in the USA and we're looking forward to reuniting with our family and friends. But with out a doubt our new friends in Ecuador will remain in our thoughts and heart for a very long time. In addition to the "patients" we made new friends with some of the foriegn interpretors we worked with: Gabe, Sarah, Sarah, Mark, Marciel and Calindi - hopefully we will all stay in touch through the internet and future endeavors.

I'll post pictures in the next few days
Adios
Terry