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| My first Liberian weekend: Me and Justin playing football with the guys! |
Another great and blessed day! I was a tad disappointed this morning-I promised my medical student that I'd come in 30 minutes early to give her a lecture, but she never showed up-all day! I'm gonna give her the benefit of the doubt that maybe something came up...
Anyway, today was a landmark day for me in the OR. Remember the little girl I mentioned yesterday who had the bad hip infection that destroyed her joint? I put her as the first case this morning. I was anxious to do her case and spent some time coming up with the surgical game plan and how was I going to approach it. I never really get anxious before doing any major surgery, and am pretty cool under the circumstances-when the scrub tech handed me the scalpel this morning and everyone was watching me like "is this boy really going to do this little girl's surgery from the front?!" I must admit that for that second of time between cold knife to warm skin I felt a tad anxious. I know I can't operate like that, so I took a brief second to myself and closed my eyes to acknowledge and ask for guidance, then I was good to go. And it turned out great!! I was so happy!! I couldn't stop smiling under my mask!! Everything went according to plan. I was able to get all of the exposure I needed and debride out all of the bad bone. Everyone in the OR was taking pictures and I even took a mini video of the surgery too. It was so cool! I pray that she does well and has a good outcome. Her mom was so ecstatic too! She was all excited when I told her that everything went according to plan and about what to expect in the coming weeks. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
That's what it's all about. That's why I'm here. The whole experience of going through the preparation for her surgery and it going well, and seeing the look on her and her mother's face-as corny as it sounds-it really is priceless.
The rest of the cases went well also. We did another skin graft on a patient who had been fighting with a bad stump wound infection after an above knee amputation. Then we debrided this guy's foot that was really gangrenous and infected-he lives out in "the bush" (Liberian term for the rural country) and walks around with no shoes on. Apparently there's this bad fungal infection that many people get inoculated with and don't even realize it-and it spreads through the soft tissue like crazy! He came in with his foot tore up after only 2 weeks!! I mean...tore up! The last case was another debridement of the guy who I told you had the bad smelly infected arm that Justin almost threw up on-he's not turning the corner and may need an amputation by next week...
I also got another random call today between cases to go see another "VIP." I had to run take care of that this morning-I have a feeling that this is going to become a pattern. Whatever though; I was still high from the first case this morning.
I realized that I didn't mention a rather funny story yesterday during my lunch. So I've found some very unique Liberian names since I've been here. I went to this little Lebanese spot by the hospital and at some point I asked my waitress "ma'am what is your name?" and she says, "Secret." I was like, "whatchumean Secret?! You can't tell me your name?!" She goes, "no, that's my name-Secret!" Some of you can imagine how the jokes were just ready to start rollin'! Everytime she passed by the table I was like "shhhhhh, it's a secret!" or "ya'll be quiet-don't say nothing! It's a secret!" And she would just laugh; she even started joining in so that by the time I was ready to pay my bill, we were whispering to each other. LOL!! I don't care what you guys say-it was hilarious!! ;-)
I finally went out and had dinner this evening with the other volunteers. I haven't really hung out with them much since we've been here. I've been either with Justin, by myself, or people who I've met through Justin. They're pretty nice. 2 pediatricians and 1 ER doctor. We had a nice dinner while chatting about our varied experiences thus far. 2 of them just arrived this week and are still taking everything in. I'm interested in hearing about things on the medical side. Sounds like they have had their share of frustrations and gratifications as well.
First week solo has been a good one-started off shaky with some obstacles, but has ended quite satisfyingly. I'm looking forward to the weekend and catching up on a few things as well as seeing more of Liberia. Hope everyone had a great week!
"Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards, but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will sink out of sight."
-Orisen Swett Marden
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| Hanging out at friend's birthday party in Monrovia! |
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