Day seven we got in the truck and traveled with Stephan and Dr. Moorman around the island. We drove on the east side of the island and saw the old plantation sites there. This side of the island has a few abandoned resorts since the impact of the hurricane hit this side of the island the hardest. There is still a lot of destruction on this side but the community is rebuilding really well. I can now officially say that I have been to the most eastern side of the United States! We went to Jack and Isaac Bay and snorkeled in the ocean. This was a perfect island way to start the next week.
Day eight we were up and ready for another day in the OR. This surgery brought us to the hospital to clean out an abscess on a patient’s chin. This abscess was infected and covered about 6 centimeters across her neck and chin. Dr. Moorman made an incision about 2 centimeters long and drained out the infection and the puss from the chin. After draining it, he put a foot long bandage in the chin to later remove. We spent the rest of the day at the office taking care of patients and paperwork. It was a long day so once we got home, Alexa and I crashed pretty early to be ready for the next day.
Day nine we were in the office all day. We had about 28 people who were scheduled and a few walk ins. There were a lot of consultations for skin lesions and hernias so the people moved in and out pretty quickly. An interesting case involved an infant who had partial burns (a technical term for second degree burns) along the left side of his torso and left arm. Dr. Moorman put burn cream on the infant and rewrapped the bandages with no crying from anyone!
Day ten we got to sleep in a wink in order to wait for a jaw break case. The person who broke his jaw was in a car accident so we were waiting to see if his liver was stable enough to perform surgery on his jaw. He broke his jaw in two places. One was on the right angle of the mandible and the other was on the left molar. Dr. Moorman fixed the right fracture since the other one would heal with wiring the jaw shut. The wirers will be removed in 6 weeks so until then, he will have to eat through tubes and straws. This was a long surgery and I learned that I do not enjoy mouth surgery as much as the other surgeries.
^Up above is the infant with partial buns.^ 
Day eleven we were up and back in the office with over 16 people to see. It was another cosmetic day so we had rhytids, botox touch ups, and skin lesions. We had one patent who had a skin lesion on his scalp and it bled a lot so that was a surprise. Alexa and I learned how to fill out paperwork for skin lesions that need to be sent in for testing in a lab. When we got home, we all had dinner together and laughed and talked for hours. It was a good day.
Day twelve was Friday! We got up early for three surgeries at the Plesson surgical center. The first one was a ventral hernia and was the hardest case of the day. The OR flipped around right after that and the back mass surgery was next. This back mass was on the left upper shoulder and about 2 inches in diameter and came out super clean. The procedure only took about 45 minutes in total and the longest part was opening and closing. The last surgery of the day was a hernia that was under a woman’s belly button. The hernia was pretty small but moving around the belly button still looked extremely difficult. This surgery only lasted under an hour and we were out of the surgical pretty quick after that. That night Alexa made mac and cheese and I somehow got roped into watching The Conjuring. As a person who hates horror movies, I actually found it to be pretty good and it made everyone in the room afraid at some point.
-To the left is a larger recurrent ventral incisional hernia.
Day thirteen we went the boardwalk. We walked all down the boardwalk to see the town and all the touristy shops. Our adventure took us inside of Fort Christiansvaern where we got to see the military base that included a prison and cannons! We took a ferry across to Protestant Cay where Dr. Moorman, Alexa, Stephan, and I all swam and snorkeled around the public beach there. Once we crossed back over to St. Croix, Alexa and I went souvenir shopping where we got fun trinkets. Dinner was at Chicken Shack and all of us feasted on the amazing chicken. We all ate until we were stuffed to the brim. At home I was once again roped into watching a scary movie, this time it was Oculus, and spent the night holding Alexa for safety. It was a very good week.
To the right is a small umbilical hernia-
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