Agadir Day #1 10/31/2019

Happy Halloween from Morocco – how I have enjoyed seeing all the fun photos from home of big & little kids dressed up for fun – especially my 2 lil Minons in Utah!

Thanks to some sleep aid medicine I did get a good nights sleep – perhaps not enough hours but sleep. My roommate is Terry a night pre-post nurse from Australia & I certainly disrupted her sleep when I rolled in after midnight. She was very gracious though. This morning I got a pass on the early departure to the hospital for set up. Air Maroc is apparently the company responsible for my luggage – Delta washed their hands of it saying they passed it off although there is not scanning confirming that….and Air Maroc lets just ay does not have stellar customer service ☹

This morning I went to a local “pharmacy” & purchased toiletries – the airlines supposedly will reimburse you but in Morocco no one even has cash registers so oh well. Just having a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, Hairbrush & deodorant seemed like Christmas 😊 I also got a few Coke Zero’s & some bottles of water – so I will be clean & hydrated! I went to see the hospital – it is a pretty standard mission hospital. We seem to be in the middle of nowhere but then there is supposed to be a port area that maybe cruise ships dock at….

When we got back from the hospital about 2 pm I went to the lobby for wifi & met Shauna the student sponsor who is from St. George Utah & the 2 students Gabriella & Kayva & the Child Life Specialist Whitney from Minnesota. They were considering going on a camel ride…it was $25/person & Kayva said she would just walk alongside the camels cause she couldn’t afford that….I told her you need to go & I will too – we could both use a little “fun today”. So at 3 pm we went somewhere in the “Sahara desert” on a camel ride (it was not very deserted though) We did ride the camels for 2 hours, went past the Kings compound & to the Sous River & saw the Flamingos who supposedly only come her for a few weeks? I think the afternoon escape might have been what Kayva needed as Shauna said she is already a little homesick. That might have been my first “good deed” in Agadir. And in my desire to be a Magnet for Moroccan Miracles I was the recipient of the 1^st Moroccan Miracle – Whitney said she packed 6 sets of scrubs from her hospital & she rarely uses them so she gave me a pair & they fit….so now I have scrubs to wear tomorrow to start screening. Not that I am not comfy in my sweats that I traveled in but I am so grateful to have scrubs. Again you don’t appreciate things until they are not accessible!

We got back to the hotel about 6 pm & I ran into Chris a PACU nurse with me who is from Sweden – we were together on an Ethiopia mission & she is FABULOUS. I saw her name on the team comp list & knew she would be here so it was really fun to run into her & it will be great to work with her. She knows Peter the Pediatric Intensivist who will be with us in the PACU & Chris says he’s great too so I am expecting a great TEAM PACU!

Here in Morocco they don’t eat dinner until 8 or 9 so now I am missing all the “snacks/food” I had packed for myself. I went back to the store where I bought my water & soda & I stocked up at least for a couple of days. The 1^st Team Mtg is tonight & I am not sure how it will be with a Team of 120 people….I am thinking it will be LONG which is why I decided to stat today’s blog before the meeting so I can quickly go to the lobby & access wifi & send it at the end of the mtg which may very well be midnight – yikes!!! The meeting was actually not too long – over by 9:30 & then they served dinner. They did have everyone introduce themselves which wasn’t very effective in a large room so I suggested to a few nurses by me that we should just all stand up & say “We are the Nurses”…well they ran with that brain burst of mine & all 30-40 nurses stood up & said that. I was feeling pretty good about my covert influence & I am sure it saved us 30 minutes of introductions that no one would have remembered. LOL

Truly my camel ride did clear my head of all my “what if’s” re. my luggage & I fell like I was moved from “if my luggage gets here” to “when my luggage gets here” but I won’t lie it is tough to wait & hope. Still in my mind beeing able to just change that one word from if to when has been a huge blessing & brought me some peace. I will still take all the prayers that wherever my luggage may be in Paris or Casablanca it will be found quickly & sent to me in Agadir. So thanks for the prayers & positive thoughts I am feeling them from thousands of miles & continents away. I do feel blessed to be here & know that we will change so many lives this week – it is awe inspiring when I truly think of the incredible impact that a team of strangers coming together for these 2 will have on children & families….and I am so fortunate to be a part of it. So here’s to Team Agadir Morocco 2019!

I ARRIVED I AGADIR…but my luggage did not ☹

So it has been an eventful travel day…pretty much 24 hours total from departure at LAX to arrival at Agadir. My pre-travel was really great, all packed, a few hours at CHOC, no traffic to LAX, checked my bag…they even took it at 53 pounds & met Gayle my friend at the international terminal. Our LAX to Paris flight was delayed 2 ½ hours but we had almost a 4 hour layover in Paris so we still anticipated making our next flight to Casablanca….UNTIL about two hours into our flight they overhead requested a physician to the back of the plane. Gayle was in the window seat so I got up to let her go, along with a few others & I went with. An older gentleman seemed to be having a stroke – I have no skill set for adults & there were several competent healthcare providers so I went back to my seat . He seemed to improve as if it was a TIA which he has had before but then a few hours later they came on saying the airline on ground physician did not recommend this passenger travel across the ocean to Europe (which does make sense)so we ended up stopping at what I think is the easternmost part of Canada in Newfoundland. It was about a 2 hour process….he actually walked off the plane, but then we refueled, had to get clearance to take off…. I actually anticipated that we would miss our connection so I contacted the travel agent while we were on the ground in Newfoundland. It was of course the middle of the night & he “on call agent” said she moved us to a later flight with a “held seat” but not a reservation. Long story short we arrived in Paris at 1:07 pm & our flight to Casablanca had departed at noon.

Several passengers were in the same situation with missed connections, so we got in line to get our new flights which was a bit of an ordeal as they needed actual ticket #’s not just airline confirmation numbers. I again made some calls to the after hours travel agency and it took about 90 minutes to get our flights organized. We received reservations but not boarding passes & had to take the train to a different terminal & work with Air Maroc to get boarding passes. It was not for the faint of heart. They also had us go to “baggage retrieval” but since our bags were checked all the way to Agadir they said to confirm at our gate they were “redirected”. We got to our Paris to Casablanca gate & the gate attendant told us they would get our bags….CLEARLY that did not happen as when we arrived at MN in Agadir my bag & Gayles 2 bags were no where to be found…

They tracked Gayles bags to Paris but couldn’t track mine which is a bit concerning. They also said the bags would have to take the same itinerary we took tonight so we would not get them until midnight tomorrow???? Which makes no sense since they are tagged for a noon flight today – why don’t they at least send them at noon tomorrow??? Bottom line I have no luggage, no clothes, no toiletries but I do have all of my electronics that I had to carry on.

The hotel is actually near the ocean which is good & bad… from the lobby you can see the ocean but from our room you just see dirt & there is no AC. The only wifi is in the main lobby so I guess to blog I will write in my room & upload in the lobby. Reminds me of my earlier missions when I spent time in lobby’s in order to “be connected to home”

Ambra is the Program Coordinator & she is wonderful - we were WhatsApp messaging all thr he travel chaos. & she will help us sort out the lost luggage tomorrow. Normally I feel like I would have been really stressed, frustrated & perhaps even mad at all of the unfortunate travel events but I really felt calm thru is all….until the lost luggage then I go a little stressed with all the “what ifs”. What if my luggage doesn’t ever come, I have no scrubs, no clothes nothing aside from the sweats I wore on the plan. But I cant do anything about it & I just need to have FAITH that they will locate my luggage & it will get to me soon. So since it’s 1:20 am I am going to bed. Please send prayers & positive thoughts that I get my luggage tomorrow! Good Night from Agadir XOXO Nancy

HEADING OUT ON MISSION #16 AGADIR MOROCCO....Here I come

It’s hard to believe that in 24 hours I will be in the air somewhere between LAX-Paris & Morocco traveling to my 16^th Operation Smile Mission in Agadir Morocco. Back in August I was wanting to try & see if there was a fall mission that worked for me. Operation Smile had switched over to a “volunteer portal” & I was sent an email to get into the portal in June but never had accessed it to update my volunteer info & in fact couldn’t figure out how to log in…not surprising to those who know my “at times computer challenges”. I emailed the volunteer coordinator to ask her for help & was SO EXCITED & surprised when she emailed back & said she could get me into the portal but also she wanted to invite me to a very special 20^th Anniversary Mission in Morocco. 

They were planning a 10 table mission (double the normal) & 130 volunteers and a plan to provide 225 surgeries in 4 ½ days. She said up front it would definitely be a tiring but rewarding mission with longs days/nights to mark this huge milestone in Operation Smile Morocco. She gave me the dates Oct 30-Nov 10^th & said that she received a request from the team in Morocco to see if I was available to be a PACU Nurse…I was so honored to have been invited back to Morocco – I was on a mission thee last November in Tangier & had some wonderful experiences & was excited at the possibility of going back. I checked all my commitments to see if I could make the dates work & I could – so I accepted the position about 2 months ago.

As is always the case there has been lots of other things going on with work, family, travel & life in general in these 2 months & it’s hard to believe I leave tomorrow. I have to say I am fully packed and just have a few other things to put into my backpack in the morning. Good thing because as is occasionally the case I had a little “glitch today” & noticed a “black spot” in my left eye vision. I casually mentioned it to friends at work today who first asked if it moved in my visual field & was a “floater”(which it did not) then went into full protective mode that I needed to get it looed at before I went to a 3^rd world country without proper medical care & I needed to be sure I didn’t have a corneal tear. It took a village but at 5 pm I had an Ophthalmologist appointment with Dr. Simjee who said my eyes should dilate quickly because of my fair skin & light eyes – but they didn’t & ultimately an hour & 15 minutes later I completed a very thorough eye exam & was cleared to travel…I am blessed!

I got the team list but didn’t look at it much until late last week. I was surprised that probably 80% or more of the team is actually from Morocco – they have a great infrastructure there. I will work again with 2 great Moroccan PACU nurses from last Nov – Sami & Rania so I am excited to see them again! I also am super excited to have a few other people I know – Ambra who was the Program Coordinator last year in Morocco is the PC this year too & Cathy the Speech Pathologist & I were in Mexico together, Chris another PACU RN from Sweden & I were in Ethiopia probably 6 years ago & my friend Gayle who is typically a Pediatric Intensivist will be the Pediatrician in Charge  & she & I will travel together. So many good things before we even leave.

I contacted a small branch of our church in the area – they are about 2 hour away but think there may be people from their area coming to get care at the mission – so we will see. With a goal of 225 surgeries we will do 2 days of screening & I would guess see about 400-500 patients in those 2 days. I can only imagine that they may be traveling from far away places in Morocco & even be traveling to the mission site now perhaps. 

Once again I have been blessed with kind friends who want to help others & allow me to be their conduit for good. I have no idea what that good will be. I go with faith that God will direct me & today I read that someone talked about striving to be a “Magnet for Miracles” so I think that is my mantra for this mission “I Will Seek to be a Magnet for Needed Moroccan Miracles”. I go with faith that all will be well at home with my mom & family, with my work responsibilities and that I can go and help serve the children and families who will be in Agadir. I was a little anxious when thinking about 225 cases & the inevitable longs days/nights but I know that we just take it one patient at a time, one hour at a time or one day at a time & we will manage whatever that looks like. Many people ask me “don’t you want to just go on a ‘real vacation’ with your PTO” and that answer is YES & I am blessed with time off to travel & have fun. I might not be going exotic places or as far asway as my mission trips take me but I do enjoy “fun travel” but I also feel drawn to these missions an this very unique & rewarding opportunity to change lives – this time 200+ of them one smile at a time in one week…I could never say no to that opportunity to use my gifts and talents for good. So please keep me & the entire LARGE team in your thoughts & prayers – those are powerful and truly carry me thru these missions!