Tuesday July 22

Wednesday afternoon::Important note before I begin, we have been without internet all day long so I am not to be blamed for lack of posts to the blog

Hello. It is 4 AM and I have been awake and sweating in my bed for awhile so I may as well get up, get out on the balcony where there is a slight breeze, and do something productive. I have been sleeping on the third floor in the small bedroom with a large fan blowing on me yet I am continually drenched in sweat all night long. I have yet to use a top sheet this entire mission and that is a first for me as I have always used the top sheet overnight on all previous missions. It is not so much the heat as it is the stuffy humidity that seems to bother me. Papa Dick is also up and prowling around. I will be very glad to soon see my wife and my bed, but in that order.

Yesterday saw the return of the Haitian G I miseries for some of the team but it usually is only a 24 hour bug with mild tummy upset and a few loose stools. I will not name names so as to avoid family worries.

I noticed that the Peoria area had some bad looking (on radar) storms on Monday and wondering if there was much damage. I did chat on line with David Coleman on Tuesday night. He was here last July and plans on being here next July.

We had more job switches yesterday and every one adapts well to their new tasks. I am very proud of this team. We are a little stressed by the numbers of patients. There is a crowd at the gate even at this early hour. Speaking of numbers, here are the patient counts by days so far: Tuesday 227, Wednesday 290, Thursday 280, Friday 283, Saturday 118, Monday 276, and Tuesday 207 or about 1700 patients. It appears we are on target for our 2000 patients and maybe a few more.

Here is a note to previous team members: this team is just like all the rest as we have clean laundry stacked on the tables for days on end. So far, I have managed to find all of mine and take it to my room. All of the new team members have pitched in for dishes and laundry duties and that is a good thing.

I have failed to mention Lisa’s gift to the team and I apologize. Lisa paid for our meal at Ambians on Saturday night in spite of the strong protest put up by Papa Dick. Thank you again Lisa. That was really a nice gesture. I think she might a=have also paid a bar bill at Son Sons.

BTW, we finished early yesterday so I have to do a bit of bragging. On the May mission, Mark Purcell was the pharmacist. He sent me an email that he was done in the pharmacy at 2:30 PM on at Tuesday. We managed to beat that record by 30 minutes as we were finished and cleaned up in the pharmacy by 2:00 PM. That is really amazing to me but it shows how great Carol, Grant, and Gary to work with.