Thursday May 9th Chiapas – A Full day with 24 more Surgeries & I was the PACU PR Person for our VIPs :)

They had us wear our team shirts this morning to the hospital so we could take the team photo which was fun but led to a bit of a later start yet again…but in Mexico time seems to just be a suggestion not a definitive 😊 On the way to the hospital this morning we had a road delay due to a herd of goats in the road & we also saw a pretty sunrise out side the hospital as we were taking our photo. Before we changed Estela & I went back to the Farmacia to get the cream & additional prednisone that the grandma & her grandson needed – the cream alone was 900 pesos which is about $55 dollars – I was AMAZED & Estela told them it was for her grandma & she is fluent in Spanish so we were not getting price gouged…they were right – all of the meds total were over $100 there is no way they could have ever afforded them? We were also able to get a brace for her left wrist.

Not a surprise we had 2 more team members sick that needed our IV cocktail – a young Anesthesiologist who may have been our worst patient…clearly not good at being sick…very needy & laid there with his fingers in his ears because YES there are tons of crying children in the recovery room & a surgery resident who had to be on a mattress on the floor cause we were full of patients – it really isn’t glamourous treatment. We did come up with the 12 Step Chiapas Program to Wellness:

1. Acknowledge your illness – admit you are sick
2.     Seek help or treatment
3.     Accept the help and treatment recommendations – let them do what they know is best
4.     Accept IV Fluids
5.     Accept IV Medicines
6.     Complete the inpatient PACU treatment
7.     Successful begin oral fluids
8.     Begin Oral Cipro
9.     Begin probiotics & commit to a healthier lifestyle making less risky food choices
10.  Thank your wellness sponsors in the PACU
11.  Transition back to work
12.  Support others with similar problems & bring them to treatment

Seriously I cannot count how many of the 100 team members got sick at varying levels but I think it was close to 60 – we ran a VERY BUSY Urgent Care in our PACU!!!

I again went up to pre-op & there I met Uriel Vasquez Garcia who was clearly the “Patient of the Day” he is 11 years old & has a cleft he has never had repaired because of the distance that Chiapas is from his remote home (11 hours) he is here with his dad who is older & together they sing – I have a video. They sang up in pre-op & sang again before he came into surgery smiling & waving. (I have a video of them singing)

This was also the patient that our VIP’s were following (look up Jennifer Salke on Google – I had not idea who she was until I just now looked her up….that’s who was here with one of her daughters & a friend Ari who is a music agent/producer in NYC? So they walked him in & as soon as he was under anesthesia came out to talk (some VIP’s watched the surgery but they have done this several times so it was nothing new…and they wanted to talk so I was elected to be the PACU PR person as that is where they came to sit during his surgery. They are super nice people & we chatted about my missions with Op Smile & family etc. She said she told the moms here that “we love our babies as they come to us & while we want them to get their surgery a part of us misses that imperfect face” rather profound I thought & the moms could relate. It was their son who at age 8 suggested starting the Park City Op Smile event & they invited me to attend next year & possibly speak about my mission experiences….we will see.

Uriel came out of surgery & I took care of him & in 30 minutes he was awake & smiling & truly had a whole new face & what his father says will be a whole new life – lots of photos were taken. I cannot share the “after photos” on social media but will in person. He was SO SO SWEET and today his life was changed!!!

Mid morning the intensivist sent out for “real coffee” & I got “Chocolate” it was legit shaved chocolate melted in hot milk & was delicious!  The day itself seemed to go slow – we had only seen 6 patients by noon, 10 by 2 & 12 by 3:30 this was looking to be our late night. We also had 2 patients with bleeding go back to surgery so that is always a delay but both were minor needs. I was not at all stressed about getting out late I have been home early the last 2 nights & Monday when I was on call I was back by 9:15 – it’s all a part of a mission & I am simply so so grateful that I had the opportunity to come here for so very many reasons. So a crazy palate repair day was okay with me

Another cute patient was Dalia she was 1 year old & dispelled my pigtail theory (although for the record 9/10 with pigtails were problems – she was the exception!) By 8:30 there were only 2 more lip patients so I stayed with Estela to finish those 2 up & we were done by 9 then we needed to go back to the Farmacia to pick up our items we already paid for this morning & I texted the missionaries to meet me at the hotel again.

Today I got a text from Bro. Perez re. the dental needs of Carlos & will be able to help him – again because of generous friends. It seems like not a big deal but it really is because without this dental work taken care of all at once or over 2 weeks – for them to pay for it would have taken about 4-5 months & now he can turn in his missionary papers much sooner. I have pondered who else I can help in any way & wondered about Domy the nurse student working with us – she only speaks Spanish so Estela talks to her a lot & I asked Estela what she thought. Domy told Estela she knits items to sell at markets to help support herself. So we told her to bring in some items & shedid today - nice scarves & really cute beanies so I bought those from her & told her she was not charging enough they would be so much more in the USA so that I could pay her triple what she sells them for & let her keep her dignity so she’s not taking a “donation”. I also felt like I should do the same with Omar the man in the hotel lobby selling items who I bought earrings from the other night. So I found some thing he was selling & did the same thing paying him 3 or 4 times his price.

The missionaries were already at the hotel when I got there so I passed off the rest of the meds & the brace to them & asked if they knew of any other needs as I likely would not see them again. They had visited with a family today who did not have much food so we quickly walked to a nearby store & for $50 got them a months of food (so they said) rice, beans, corn masa, and some canned items. I asked th missionaries about their food supply & they said they were fine but I encouraged them to get some things maybe they didn’t have & they did – Cream of Wheat, pasta, soda & random stuff – I told them it was like grocery shopping with my college kids again 😊 We can go out with friend & spend $100 at Outback for 4 people & that will feed a family for 2 months…again such perspective and then to top it all off the idea of our VIP millionaire or billionaire & the immense poverty here & everyone in between – you don’t often see that in the same place in one day….

The week has flown by when I called Doug tonight we were talking about him picking me up in LA on Saturday…. Just over 36 hours from now. This mission was unplanned by me but clearly in Gods plan for me & also in Gods plan for some people here who needed some help from people they don’t even know & never will meet – that is the ultimate service to me. I get to be the “go between” & that is so humbling. Missions are like that also with the skills all members of the team have we all work towards providing this care to people we will never see again – in this situation where we did not bring parents into the PACU we served parents we did not know – but for those of us who are parents it is always easy to imagine how they feel, how I would feel in their place & it is such an honor to do this work…especially during Nurses week…being a nurse is a big part of who I am not as the Executive Director at CHOC Children's but as a person trained at BYU in the Healers Art to assist those in need wherever they are in the world including at home & to meet them where they are at & help them maximize their health – physically, emotionally, spiritually – there are not many “professions” that proved the experiences that Nursing does &    has given me. It is also tender to be here before mothers day…what a gift these surgeries are to the 120 or so mothers of these children.

One more day of surgeries – mostly lips & frenulectomies – so likely we will be done by afternoon  then an evening fiesta & an early flight on Saturday…what a gift this week has been to me