Okay so after hitting a wall yesterday an extra hour of sleep made ALL the difference - it was a new day - Carol & I took a Bejaj (little blue car - in Kenya they were called Tuk Tuks) and went by the Internet cafe en route to the hospital. According to Carol we almost got killed on the way - there seem to be no driving rules here & we had a "reliable" driver - Michael. I had hoped to be able to get Wi Fi and connect my CHOC computer - silly me that was not an option but I still felt better once I was able to blog and feel connected to the world outside of Ethiopia. It worked out great and we arrived at the hospital at 9 just as the 1st patients were arriving in the PACU.
Yes about the title of this post...I am definitely in a 3rd world country & almost don't take too much notice of it until today's rat encounter. It was another busy day & for lunch I just wanted a little peaceful break vs the activity of the lunchroom so I went into Trina (Speech Therapist) office. She came in right after & slammed the door & said there was a rat outside the door & we both screamed!!! She needed to go back out to see a pt. so she had me slam the door as she left to "scare the rat" and then she told someone it was there & about 5 min later comes one of the local guys who beats & kills the rat with a stick - I was safely inside of the room but heard it all!!! I assumed it was all taken care of but when I left it was still dead in the corner - disgusting!!! I HATE rodents!!! Batting flies off of my patients just seems normal and for the post op girls killing roaches is a sport - they have a kill count paper on the wall & are keeping track - they got 40 in just one night!!!Aside from those problems the electricity seems to go out routinely, there are armed guards at the hotel and the hospital and I am not really phased by much of it - except the rat!!!
Today in recovery was a totally different day - Barb was back & we were fully staffed and we even had some quiet moments - Julie our PI wants us to try to have a quiet environment as the kids are waking up out of the black hole of anesthesia which I agree with but achieving that is at times a challenge.
My 1st patient today was Aynom a Cleft Palate repair. His dad was so AMAZING - the dad was a huge big man about 6'4" or taller with big beautiful hands and weathered worn feet kneeling at his sons bedside gently wiping away the oozing blood - if you saw him on the street you would probably not see the tender man/dad in that rough exterior. They came 36 hours by bus from Tselmty after hearing about it on the radio and he just hoped it was true. He was very grateful & I card for him for 90 min & we took some nice pics together.
My 2nd Pt Michala was another little boy and had a very pretty & young mom who was so sweet - we told her that her baby would now have her same beautiful smile. Another patient was 12 yer old Freheymit (no I cant pronounce it well) & she was there with her aunt who was nicely dressed in "western clothes" & spoke some English & seemed very sophisticated - this was a first although we have seen people dressed in western clothes all around the hospital, hotel etc. Even thought perhaps she was "well to do" she said there were no resources (ie plastic surgeons) anywhere in Ethiopia to help her niece for the past 12 years..and they has waited all this time to have her life changed and now maybe she would have a "normal" life.
We only had 6 girl patients out of the 25 surgeries today ans\d since it had been so busy I gave the dresses to the students who were going to an orphanage today & they gave them out. They weren't allowed to take photos but they said the girls were so so happy & probably had NEVER had a new piece of clothing in their entire life. SO no pictures but definitely great feelings about my friends helping girls continents away.
Later in the afternoon I had a 3 1/2 year old boy Cleft Lip repair also from Tslemty with his mom who was in her traditional clothing. I guess there was a group that came together. She grabbed my shoulders & pulled me to her & kissed me twice on each cheek & tearfully bowed to me - I really thought I should be honoring her... One of the last cases was a 14 year old boy & before we sent them to post op the dad walked around the room to all of us and shook our hands & then you touch shoulder to shoulder & he also bowed and kissed each of our hands - they are such humble & grateful people here. We ALL teared up.
One of the later cases was a 25 year old boy who traveled 1800 km & just was screened yesterday for a lip repair - he came from Dansha 2 days by bus and a burro cart. Our last case was a complicated lip & palate - she had been in surgery for 5 hours & didn't even come off the OR table until 8 pm - we recovered here for an hour or so, picked up the recovery room & left the hospital at 10. Still a very long day but it was much more manageable for me just with the extra little sleep, getting online etc. :)
I feel so honored to be here helping - we have a really experienced team and it is so rewarding. I miss my family but it its a small sacrifice of time for a HUGE difference we are making collectively as a team - we will change 125 individual lives, their family now & their future perhaps with what we can provide...not sure where else i could do that :)
Yes about the title of this post...I am definitely in a 3rd world country & almost don't take too much notice of it until today's rat encounter. It was another busy day & for lunch I just wanted a little peaceful break vs the activity of the lunchroom so I went into Trina (Speech Therapist) office. She came in right after & slammed the door & said there was a rat outside the door & we both screamed!!! She needed to go back out to see a pt. so she had me slam the door as she left to "scare the rat" and then she told someone it was there & about 5 min later comes one of the local guys who beats & kills the rat with a stick - I was safely inside of the room but heard it all!!! I assumed it was all taken care of but when I left it was still dead in the corner - disgusting!!! I HATE rodents!!! Batting flies off of my patients just seems normal and for the post op girls killing roaches is a sport - they have a kill count paper on the wall & are keeping track - they got 40 in just one night!!!Aside from those problems the electricity seems to go out routinely, there are armed guards at the hotel and the hospital and I am not really phased by much of it - except the rat!!!
Today in recovery was a totally different day - Barb was back & we were fully staffed and we even had some quiet moments - Julie our PI wants us to try to have a quiet environment as the kids are waking up out of the black hole of anesthesia which I agree with but achieving that is at times a challenge.
My 1st patient today was Aynom a Cleft Palate repair. His dad was so AMAZING - the dad was a huge big man about 6'4" or taller with big beautiful hands and weathered worn feet kneeling at his sons bedside gently wiping away the oozing blood - if you saw him on the street you would probably not see the tender man/dad in that rough exterior. They came 36 hours by bus from Tselmty after hearing about it on the radio and he just hoped it was true. He was very grateful & I card for him for 90 min & we took some nice pics together.
My 2nd Pt Michala was another little boy and had a very pretty & young mom who was so sweet - we told her that her baby would now have her same beautiful smile. Another patient was 12 yer old Freheymit (no I cant pronounce it well) & she was there with her aunt who was nicely dressed in "western clothes" & spoke some English & seemed very sophisticated - this was a first although we have seen people dressed in western clothes all around the hospital, hotel etc. Even thought perhaps she was "well to do" she said there were no resources (ie plastic surgeons) anywhere in Ethiopia to help her niece for the past 12 years..and they has waited all this time to have her life changed and now maybe she would have a "normal" life.
We only had 6 girl patients out of the 25 surgeries today ans\d since it had been so busy I gave the dresses to the students who were going to an orphanage today & they gave them out. They weren't allowed to take photos but they said the girls were so so happy & probably had NEVER had a new piece of clothing in their entire life. SO no pictures but definitely great feelings about my friends helping girls continents away.
Later in the afternoon I had a 3 1/2 year old boy Cleft Lip repair also from Tslemty with his mom who was in her traditional clothing. I guess there was a group that came together. She grabbed my shoulders & pulled me to her & kissed me twice on each cheek & tearfully bowed to me - I really thought I should be honoring her... One of the last cases was a 14 year old boy & before we sent them to post op the dad walked around the room to all of us and shook our hands & then you touch shoulder to shoulder & he also bowed and kissed each of our hands - they are such humble & grateful people here. We ALL teared up.
One of the later cases was a 25 year old boy who traveled 1800 km & just was screened yesterday for a lip repair - he came from Dansha 2 days by bus and a burro cart. Our last case was a complicated lip & palate - she had been in surgery for 5 hours & didn't even come off the OR table until 8 pm - we recovered here for an hour or so, picked up the recovery room & left the hospital at 10. Still a very long day but it was much more manageable for me just with the extra little sleep, getting online etc. :)
I feel so honored to be here helping - we have a really experienced team and it is so rewarding. I miss my family but it its a small sacrifice of time for a HUGE difference we are making collectively as a team - we will change 125 individual lives, their family now & their future perhaps with what we can provide...not sure where else i could do that :)
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