I have been sleeping well just not getting enough sleep I
think so 5:30 seemed quite early as far as a wake up time!!! Breakfast was at 6
& since I was a bit tired of curry potatoes, tomatoes & boiled eggs I
decided to try an “omelet” which I found out was really just eggs with a lot of
spicy green peppers in them-in my mind a 10/10 on the spicy scale!!! A protein
bar was great & I won’t try that option again!
There was no internet at the hotel this morning so I
couldn’t connect with home or upload my blog – but I know lots of family &
friends are praying for me so I let that carry me as I started my day J I truly am “off the
grid”. I purchased Verizon coverage for India & had it in Delhi &
Kolkata but not here!!! My phone just says No Service…
When we got to the hospital I went in to the pre-op area to
see the children who would be having surgery today & coming to us in the
PACU. What I saw as the empty pre-op area wasn’t a lot different than this
morning except for thin mattresses on the cement floors & a blanket for
each parent & child. Because of the culture here only moms could all stay
together in the pre-op area with the children. I know some patients had dads
with them as the primary parent so I am not sure where they stayed??? It was a
busy place there this morning but I did get a chance to snap a few photos.
Right after that we went to finish setting up the PACU –
seriously this might be the nicest PACU we have created yet!!! Just because
since Op Smile has been out of India for years (ling story) and couldn’t ship
in regular cargo like usual we had all new monitors – 5 of them that were
beautiful, new resuscitation bags, and the new crash boxes we had put together.
We also fit 5 beds in there which was good because several times today all 5
beds were full!!! We have a great team – Karen from Australia, Sharon from the
UK & Sarita who is a local nurse (there is a bit of a language barrier
there but she is sweet). I told Karen she is the PACU Charge Nurse. I am in
charge of all sorts of things at work every day so here I just want to be a
“Real Nurse”. I was however given the responsibility of the PACU walkie talkie.
We did the mock code per protocol & Karen made hand off
report sheets for us to use when patients leave the recovery room to post op –
we are all about quality here &
inside the PACU you would never know that outside the PACU we were in a 3rd
world country.
We got our first patient at 11 & then 4 more within the
next 5 minutes – so goes the feast or famine chaos of the recovery room. And it
was complete chaos because despite all of our new great equipment we are
lacking in our normal pain meds & the hospital didn’t want to allow us to
bring parents back to comfort their children….we dealt with that for the 1st
6 patients then deemed it unacceptable as patient #7 had bad emergence delirum
from the anesthesia so we brought that mom back & started bringing parents
back as needed for the rest of the day/night – it ALWAYS makes all the
difference in the world. Moms & Dads can calm their children in ways even
wonderful caring medical staff team members can’t…
One mom I brought back was overwhelmed when she saw her baby
with a repaired bilateral cleft lip & looked like she might faint so with a
translator I asked if she was ok & she told me she “was weak with relief and had praises to her Lord
Jesus Christ and appreciated us” that gets me every time. I am not sure how
many Christians are in India but clearly she was one J
By 1 pm we had seen 9 patients and found out 3 cases were
canceled because the kids had colds or fevers. We are hoping they will get
better before the end of the week & can be rescheduled. Throughout the day
we had many more hours of chaos. I was able to start giving away some of the
clothes & dolls & blankets, hats etc I brought. I am kind of rationing
it a little for each day. People are so grateful even when you just give them a
pair of socks….such tremendous needs for so many things exist here.
In the afternoon when I was walking patient to post op one
of the surgeons had just called for a baby & was taking him into the
surgery door & the mom of the baby fell to the floor wailing…the dad &
grandparents tried to comfort her to no avail & it made the entire area very
intense. I worked my way thru the crowd to get to post op. Later in the day I
heard that the moms reaction was because she thought she would never see her
baby again – this whole process is so foreign to these people. It was towards
the end of the day so I don’t remember if we brought the mom back with us or
who she was but I am certain she was glad when all turned out well at the end
of the procedure.
We did 28 surgeries today – not bad for a first day and we
finished & were back at the hotel at 9 pm so that was nice. They had dinner
available but I had a tuna pack about 7 so I was fine to come to my room for a
little down time. We had 4 palates today & 21 lips so since lips are a lot
easier it made our pace nice. Tomorrow we have 14 palates – so we know ahead of
time there will be LOTS of screaming & chaos…but that’s what we signed up
for & it’s a small price for a great outcome. I realized I went all day
yesterday without going to the bathroom…usually I base my fluid intake on the
status of the bathrooms – there are “squatty pottys” here but they aren’t that
bad – I think I just didn’t hydrate so I need to be better about that to stay
healthy. I am taking my “On Guard” essential oils pills a friend at the
hospital gave me so that’s good!!!
I am headed to bed it is 11 pm & 5:30 will come quick
again. Hoping I can post this in the morning or if not then tomorrow night.
Love & Miss my family & friends but feel their love from afar.
Goodnight from India!!!
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