Well it's almost midnite here & I am pretty sure I am the only Op Smile Volunteer still awake & I am definitley the ony one in the hotel lobby (only place I can get internet) ohh aside from the hotel guard who yes does carry a weapon. I have given up on the idea of ever posting pictures before I get back...there is just no time to upload from the camera but I am taking lots of them.
It was a long first day...we had our wake up call at 5:30 a.m. which will be our wake up time every day so yes that is about 5 hours from now...
Today was our 1st day of surgeries & getting all the areas organized, pre op, surgery, recovery room (me), & post op. We also had about 50 more people show up to be screened even though it wasn't supposed to be a screening day so that was a challenge but somehow it got done...I wasn't anywhere near there but I heard it was busy & there are now several surgeries that were added to the schedule & we will likely have long days Tues/Wed/Thurs. It went well in recovery we had time to get organized before the 1st round of patients came to us but then all of a sudden we were swamped in our tiny little space as 5 patients came back in about a 30 min time span... we had 2 to a bed & moved them thru as quickly & safely as we could. Then we'd get a brief lull once we sent them all out to the Post Op area & then the rush would happen again. That went on 5 different times as each OR table was scheduled for 5 patients today & then they did a few add ons.
The little girl who broke my heart wasn't even one of our surgery patients...first thing in the morning one of the volunteers came to me to ask for a dress for a little girl who was in the pediatric ward where our patients were waitng to go to surgery - she said it was SO SAD & I really needed to see her & how happy the dress made her. She is 8 years old & her name is Joyce....she & her family were among many displaced in 2007 after all the unrest that occurred after the elections (I know nothing about this myself but John who is Kenyan & in the Recovery Room with me explained it to me a little) Anyway her family has lived in a tent since then...yes for 4 years!!! 3 weeks ago the nylon ten caught on fire she & her younger sister were inside & tried to get out but the tent essentially melted & burned on them & her sister died. They came to this general hospital we are working at & she has been her the whole time as she didn't qualify to go to the burn center an hour away...I can't quite imagine why because her burns were so extensive...her entire scalp, back & shoulders & arms were badly burnt & the wounds looked fresh & painful & her eyes had both a look of terror & pain in them. They brought her to the an area outside the Recovery Room so the Op Smile Plastic surgeons could look at her. We made a solution to cleanse her wounds, got her some appropriate pain medicine & the Docs made a plan that the ward nurses could follow....I have been a PICU nurse for over 25 years & seen alot of pretty horrific things (not burns because we don't do those at CHOC) and this really rattled me. I ended up giving her 3 dresses & some flip flops & books etc. Her mom asked our Chief Mission Plastic surgeon if she could get skin grafts but he said not this week while we are here - her wounds needed more time to heal & then she asked if Joyce could ever grow hair again & when he said it was very doubtful the mom just looked so sad & defeated & walked away to spare her daughter from seeing her moms own sadness. It took me awhile to shake that brief 15 min experience (it was between rushes of patients) so getting busy & back to work helped.
I dont want this blog to be full of sad stories...but there are many AND there are some GREAT ones too...lots of kids got new SMILES today & looked so darling after surgery & those moms had tears of joy when we showed them their kids....every child who lef the the recovery room left with a dress or T-shirt & usually a toy or flip flops or something & that was fun...the 5 Kenyan volunters I am woking with in Recovery were so good to be sure "their patients" had something from my bags before they left us & one time one of them picked a darling dress out for her patient & then we were all a little embarassed when we realized it was a boy!!! - quick change to a T-Shirt & no problem.
About a hundred other things happened today & I really need to write more just to I remember but right now I have to get to bed wake up time is coming quickly...
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