Today was the last day there were OR (or as they say here, "theatre") cases. There was a PDA ligation, and it was done entirely by the Ugandan team. This isn't new, as they have been doing these cases on their own for a little while now. Still, it was a fitting cap to what has been going on. Each successive time I've ventured into the OR, there has been a progression. I've seen our the UNC scrub nurse and perfusionist farther from their positions and their Ugandan counterparts running the show more. I've seen Mike Mill, the UNC surgeon, on the assistant side of the table, and Tom Mwambo, the surgeon from the Uganda Heart Institute, leading the case. I've seen Gene Fried, the anesthesiologist from Wolfson Children's Hospital, away from the head of the table in lieu of the Ugandan anesthesiology team. This whole trip has been amazing, and although there has been many moments that have been personally, emotionally, or intellectually significant, this transition is probably the greatest thing to see.
More pictures to come tomorrow, as well as input from the rest of our team members. Honestly, we've just been putting in that much time, but we'd all like to get some of our thoughts down.
Lowell
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