It was a short night & early morning with a 5:45 wake up call and breakfast at 6:15, then departing for the hospital at 6:45. I wasn’t feeling great this morning but doing ok - I just think that I had such a busy/active day yesterday I am still getting back to 100%. I did decide to start Cipro for “travelers Tummy Issues” …based on my health history on this mission I would rather be safe than sorry.
We got to
the PACU & started setting up. We are sharing the space w/ the hospital
patients today which is fine & the space is actually nice – clean beds,
monitors circa 1980 but monitors no less 😊 We did find out that all of the “cargo” sent for the mission either did
not arrive or is stuck in customs so we are working with very minimal supplies.
At breakfast
I met Marag who currently lives in the UAE – she is from England & went
there 20 years ago as a teacher & then met her husband who is from Scotland
there & they have raised their 2 adult children there. She is part of the
OSI foundation in the UAE & brought the generous businessman who is funding
this entire mission & he brought personal friends who are volunteering in
whatever way is needed. I LOVE seeing very “well to do CEO, multi millionaires”
who are just good people…with no pretenses. It is so refreshing to see good
people who will help you hold a crying baby with a bloody mouth without
flinching 😊
We got out
first patient back at 10:15 – we are only doing 9 pts today on 3 OR tables as
some of the Egyptian team members are at a training day. It is sort of nice way to ease into the mission. Today each
table started w/ a cleft lip but that will not be the case every day so I
appreciated snuggling the babies this morning. We had 6 palates – some did well
coming out of anesthesia & others had a rough time. We had not planned on
being able to bring parents in but were able to do so for the last 2 as here
the PACU is a “clean” but not “sterile” area. On a positive note we did not
have any bleeders 😊 Even with only 9 pts we did not
finish taking the last patient up until 6:30 pm…hoping it was just a “slow
first day” & we will not have super late nights.
While the
PACU is really very satisfactory – maybe even in my top 5..the hospital itself
(at least the one we are in) is a lil rough…the patient floor is on 7 & we
are on floor 2 so we take a lift to get to the floor – it is really a cargo
elevator & you have to keep the doors held close as you go up. I choose to
take the stairs when I dont have a patient & am returning back down - would prefer not to get stuck or who know what? Today on one trip down there was a worker with a
skill saw cutting a strip of metal with sparks flying everywhere, men in the
stairway smoking (very common here) & a patient in a wheelchair with oxygen
nearby. I waited til the sparks ended & then continued down. Also when I
took the last patient to the floor the lovely housekeeper was mopping but quite
literally poured a bucket of water on the floor soap & all as we were
entering & my nice student was carrying the 6 year old patient….I
envisioned a “slip, trip, fall” but we made it thru all the water! On another
floor there is part of a crane coming thru a broken window. I promise I am not
making this up
The food at
the hospital is not anything I would want to eat especially with my stomach a
lil unsettled. They brought in Papa Johns pizza for a late lunch. There are
several US fast-food chains I have seen as we have driven around -McDonalds.
Hardees (Carls Jr), even a “On the Run” gas & store like we have right at the bottom
of the hill at home & apparently Papa Johns!. It is not an Op Smile mission if
you don’t eat pizza at some point.
Since Lisa
my roomie is a night nurse we just “pass each other either at the hotel (If I
get back before 7 like tonight) or at the hospital when she comes in – I get to
say hi for a minute. Some people who had been on the team day were going to the
pyramids tonight for the light show. I enjoyed them yesterday but the photos of
them lit up looked great. Really a different perspective at night. I opted to stay in shower, have a protein bar
& did a lil work on some CHOC emails & updated my blog from my
"tourist Day" & “Special Time with a church leader here in
Egypt”.
I just
realized when we returned to the hotel tonight that in addition to the gate
& all the interior security they have a “bomb sniffing dog” that circles
each vehicle twice before you can enter.
I’m feeling safe. Good Night!
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