With the patients already screened the night before, the team got right into pre-op procedures upon entry into the hospital. The only delay to start the day, and a constant delay throughout the early part of day was instrument sterilization (carried out by the local hospital staff). By the end of the day, the kinks associated with sterilization had been smoothed out, vastly improving our turn-over rates and allowing us to move through patients more rapidly in the second half of the day.
After prepping the patients for the day, the team started procedure number one. The first surgery of the day, on a 42-year old woman named Speciose, went very well and she came out of the surgery smiling with her thumbs up acknowledging the good work.
Each patient carries their own unique backstory and personality. Patient number two, Petroule, was born in 1959 on her records, but said that she was actually born in 1956, but was forced to changed her birth records at age 16 in order to get married. The last patient of the day, Nyiraregwa, was one of our favorites. Immensely popular, she gathered and entertained a group of women around her in the pre-op room. Once we brought her into the PACU, she had our nurses howling with laughter as well, especially at Jana's attempt to pronounce her name (I butchered it too when I called her into the PACU). A 51 year old mother of eleven who can't read or write, Nyiraregwa remained one of the most popular and interesting patients of the week. She even tried to set Shannon up with one of her sons (Shannon is the gorgeous single nurse in the PACU for all who are interested by the way...she also definitely didn't ask me to include this in the blog). Amazingly, today was the first time she had ever seen a doctor, as she spent her life farming and living off of her land and cows. Her infectious personality made everyone who met her fall in love, and we were all happy to see her surgery go well.
On another note, a group of residents followed the team around today, learning and actively participating in the surgeries. These people proved very valuable, especially in dealing with the language barrier between our group and the locals. One woman especially, Madaline, a PHD nursing student educated in South Africa, worked intricately with the nurses and doctors to help translate with the patients before and after the procedures.
While the team pushed through the surgeries, a group of us continued triaging the many people waiting outside in the central yard of the hospital. In a somewhat controlled chaos, we worked through another twenty or so potential individuals, solidifying a group of seven patients for surgery tomorrow. Despite making a fool of myself in my attempts to recall the little French I know or to try to understand the local language, each person I spoke with was very understanding and carried a smile as I tried to communicate with them. Fortunately, a few of these patients who knew English well enough eagerly came over to help translate. Ironically, they would then ask if they could be pushed to the front of the line for their assistance. This was a consistent theme I witnessed, where these people would be very courteous in their interactions with me, but would try to cut in front of each other to see the doctor. Their actions didn't seem to come with malicious intent, but instead out of desperation to be helped. Many of these people, some of whom have never seen a doctor before, traveled great distances to be seen, sacrificing a lot along the way. Even so, no matter how many hours they waited outside in the beating sun, they remained smiling and upbeat in all of their interactions with us, hoping they could find help in our team.
In total, the group completed five surgeries today, bringing us up to seven on the trip thus far. As the team settled into its groove and with a far more efficient turn around time on sterilization, the group hopes to accomplish seven surgeries tomorrow. After a rough night of sleep for some, the heat has gotten to a few members of the group, but we have enough people to work in shifts to ensure everyone in the surgical room functions at full capacity. The group remains incredibly strong and upbeat after another hard day of work. The chemistry and focus within this team carries it through the long days of surgeries and will power it through the many surgeries to come. As we decompress over a Mutzig at the hotel, we lament over the experiences of the day and look forward to what lies ahead tomorrow!
The sunrise at our hotel.
Tatyana and Merry working hard in the OR. A local surgeon looks on to learn from the procedure.
Dr. Stewart teaching the residents.
Jana laughing with Nyiraregwa, one of our most memorable patients thus far.
Two peas in a pod.
Patricia (from day 1) with a smile on her face after being discharged with a successful surgery.
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