So I failed to mention that yesterday Samia got a migraine so her friends & the PACU docs took care of her most of the day & Luca one of the Anesthesiologists I know….maybe from Bolivia? did acupuncture on her. She came back today but rested on a bed & then we sent her home…poor girl ☹ We were down a nurse yesterday & today but did fine.
When we arrived at the hospital I went to post op to see a few of my “special patients”. I saw Ghita & her mom & her mom stood up & hugged me tight & said “thank you forever”’. Those moments are truly humbling. I also saw my 2nd special patient with the palate repair & that mom said to me “I will always remember you & your bright smile. She took a photo of me & the baby & I took a few too but cant post them if it shows their incisions etc – out of respect.
Gayle found out the that post op patients were all supposed to go home on antibiotics & some on iron. In other missions that is provided to them but not here in Morocco…it seems a little risky assuming that they will all go get those so Gayle & I talked about what we even do at CHOC – “med to bed” which is that the discharge medicines are given to you when you leave. I asked Ambra if we could do that & just buy the meds…for all remaining patients it may only be about $150-$200 to impact everyone so I talked to Ambra about it today & I think it will work. I am again so thankful to be able to provide simple but necessary things. It is $1.50 to $2 a person & seems insignificant to us but it is significant to them. So this little miracle provided by friends is Moroccan Med to Bed!!!
They got the first 9 pre-op patients on the table quickly – I don’t know what the delay was with the 10th table but it gave me the opportunity to go out & meet another sweet mother Fatima whose daughter Yassine was patient #161 & she was getting a cleft lip repair. This mom too was anxious & again thru the interpreters I explained my role & told her I would care for Yassine. She actually wanted to give me her name & phone number & told me to come visit her! Right after she went in to the OR & no patients were back in the PACU yet they brought up the next 10 patients in the 2nd spot of the schedule. This time I got on the floor & played with the kids & another youg mom was taking all sort of pics of me & fortunately so was Whitney. I told her too that I would be with her little boy Imrane who was a year old. She tearfully told me thank you & kissed my cheeks. I do know the Arabic word for thank you & try to use it often myself. It is the only word I know :/
My first patient in PACU was Adam who I remembered from screening – he was 6 months old & I was sure to get him a onesie. We typically just take the next patient coming out if we don’t have a patient & somehow thru divine intervention I did get to recover both of those babies & walk them back to their moms in Post Op. I checked today & post op is .25 miles away from PACU so .5 miles round trip. We have to walk each of our patients back to give handoff to the nurses there & with a minimum of 6 patients I am at 3 miles in my steps just there.
There are a few people on the team who are sick with vomiting & diarrhea – so glad its not me & I don’t eat much food aside from m own – but since Peanut butter sandwiches are my dinner when I get home I did eat the yummy Tanjine today at lunch. For the most part I feel like I am working with a A+ team most of whom they hand selected. There are a few locals who prefer to socialize instead of work but maybe this is their chance to connect with friends so they take very long coffee breaks & lunches.
At 4:30 I took a patient to post op & then I was really dragging. They told me to go to coffee after & I talked to Gayle & my coffee break was a 25 min power nap in their crash bed – I needed that & may make that a habit the next 2 days. I got back to the PACU at 5 pm & it wasn’t “swamped” not everyone had a patient. At that time we had 10 more patients to come out I actually thought we might be done by 8 pm. I took the next patient who was a palate & was next to Angelica who had a baby with a complex history. The child was a 4 year old boy Walid who was to have a palate repair but his tonsils were too big & were blocking the palate needing repair. I don’t know the whole story but there was an ENT here who went in & removed the tonsils then the Plastic Surgeon repaired the palate. Again no idea of the why but in the 30 min I was there he was going into respiratory failure...he looked like the videos of kids in the Peds Advanced Life support class slides. I helped Angelica give a respiratory treatment but to no avail – he was head bobing to breath, had chest retractions & his lips were blue. His oxygen saturations went to to 80-85 so we gave steroids & another treatment without much success. We had to MacGyver a rebreather mask for him with peep with an Ambu bag & that finally helped bring his sats up. Angelica is a clinic nurse so she let me basically be the nurse for the resuscitation that lasted almost 4 hours until 9:30. We drew a blood gas & gathered all of the emergency equipment so we could go a few buildings over to get a chest xray. Ibra was sitting behind him holding him in an upright position & securing the oxygen while I did all the meds, treatments etc. By 8 pm after A LOT of interventions he ended up starting to turn the corner…all of this was ABSOLUTELY a Moroccan Miracle…with an English speaking intensivist for closed loop communication it made sense to have an English speaking resuscitation nurse & that was me. These situations always make me ask some “what ifs” and then confirm that I was exactly where I needed to be right next to that patient. By 9 pm he was drinking & talking & off oxygen. It had been 3 ½ intense hours. Rania & Angelica are on call tonight so I gave them both handoff report & then headed to the hotel & got there just after 9:30. There was another patient that had some mild bleeding they were taking back to the OR so they left Walid & his mom there until they decided what to do. The mom was holding him when this all started then we had her step out & brought her back in when he was stable & he even drank water for her. This could have gone in several other very bad ways & I am so grateful it did not. The mom thanked Ibra & I profusely. Then as I walked out of the PACU into the hallway this man grabbed my shoulders & it was his dad - he had been watching thru the open door, saw us fieldtrip to Xray with all of our emergency equipment & asked if his son was good. I assured him yes & he gave me a huge hug. I will never see this family again or the other 2 special families that I cared for today but all that matters is I did what was needed in the moment. I am physically & mentally exhausted & headed to bed at 11 pm. Will post some pics on social Media now & this blog in the morning. Good night family & friends.
PS So the physically exhausted was a little more – I went to bed & was FREEZING as in I put on socks & my jacket over my pj’s. I didn’t think much of it until my phone rang after midnight & when I got up I was super nauseous & dizzy. So much so that I couldn’t even stand up to try & find any medicine. I went back to bed & when My alarm went off at 5:45 I was still nauseous & very dizzy – so much that I couldn’t even stand up to put water & liquid protein in my sports bottle. So I sat on the bed to do that & text Ambra that I was just nauseous & dizzy but hadn’t vomited or had any diarrhea but I needed a few more hours to rest & see if I would feel better. I went back to sleep until 7:30 and had been sipping on my protein water when I woke up. Terry got back from night shift about 8:30 so she found my Tums, & gave me some Zofran for the nausea. I stayed in bed until 9:30 then was okay to get up. I also had a horrific headache so I took Tylenol. I got ready slowly & took it slow on the ¼ mile walk from my room to the hotel lobby. I attribute it ALL to the lunch I ate at the hospital yesterday – so no more Moroccan food for me…. It’s 10 & I will take a cab to the hospital so I can “get back to work” All prayers accepted for my improved health today!
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