Monday and Tuesday

Monday and Tuesday

Monday we had devotions at 6:15, then breakfast and then got on our bus to the hospital.  We had 10 cases scheduled, cleft lip and palates.  We got to the OR and got all of our equipment and supplies organized and the first patients ready.  We had to wait until we had approval from the Ministry of Health before we could start working.  We all had to submit credentials in advance and had hoped that we would be ready right away in the morning, but we didn’t get approval until after 1 pm.  That caused us to need to modify our OR plans.  We did three cases in each room; one room finished around 10 and the other a little after midnight.   Late in the afternoon I was called to the Intensive Care Unit to assist them with a very sick baby.  Several of us were there multiple times giving assistance.  Unfortunately, the patient did not survive;  It was a sobering reminder of the limitations that exist in developing countries.  We were all fairly exhausted when we finished, but happy that all of the patients did well.  We had lunch, dinner and lots of snacks during the day!

Tuesday we split into two groups, one left for the hospital around 7 am and the other around 8 am.  We had 12 patients we had scheduled for surgery.  During the day, there were two pediatric patients who needed emergency surgery, so we had to stop using our room for a few hours in order for those surgeries to happen.  Ultimately we were able to perform eight surgical cases.  The bus left the hospital for the hotel around midnight.

At least four team members have birthdays this week, so we had a birthday cake today and are practicing our singing!  We had some traditional corn type grits for lunch today with greens and steak.  We had Chinese food for dinner!

We will see what Wednesday brings!