51...and a special naming ceremony...

My final day in the OR at JFK Hospital...

I can't believe it! 51 surgeries since my first day here in the OR:  January 3, 2011-and each one of them has their own tailor-made memory...especially number 50!  Today I came in a bit early to try and start the OR early-who was I kidding....I almost forgot that this is L.I.B.!  Of course I didn't start on time! LOL. I was trying to push as much as I could, but was just reminded that some of the same obstacles still exist even over here...I got another bump in the road when I heard that the guy who my ironmen were battling yesterday signed out AMA this morning!  Can't win 'em all.

The Ortho Team!  Keep smiling.

I think I saved my hardest case for today!  There was this kid who had a bad hip deformity that resulted in early severe arthritis.  He would be a prime candidate for a hip replacement if he had the resources to get out of Liberia.  His only option here would be to resect his hip joint, which is what I did.  Usually the procedure is not very difficult, but today this kid was really tight so it made it much harder than I was expecting.  His case was indeed a struggle and took a long time to get through.  I was sweating and everything (I always sweat in there, just more today..)!  Everyone was just saying how fitting it is have such a case like that on my last day.  My very last case was the same as my first-an above knee amputation.  The irony...

He makes it look so easy....

There are still cases waiting to be done, but I unfortunately won't be able to get to them all.  The social worker stopped me today and was like "the rumor is that today was your last day in surgery."  She was trying to get me to operate on someone else.  I had to tell her that I wouldn't be able to get to everyone before my time was up which she understood.  She was satisfied with 51 for now...

The staff is planning to do something for me on Friday, but it seemed like all of today was a party.  They all were dancing and joking around between cases-even during the cases honestly!  It was a bitter sweet day.  I've had many experiences in that little sauna with all of the surgical instruments they call the operating theatre.  I'm not done with it just yet though; I have some things to organize up there before I leave, so I still have some stuff for you don't worry.

I went down to check on my amputation patient again after my day.  She was in better spirits today so I stayed and chatted with her a bit longer.  She says that she's getting along alright, and that she's just happy to be alive.  She has this thing where she always wants to hold someone's hand, so I routinely just stick my arm out whenever I'm at her bedside and she just latches on...

 

I noticed she always has this big teddy bear with her so I asked her today "what's it's name?"  She told me that it didn't have a name so I said you should give it one.  And guess what name she gave it as she squeezed my arm tighter than before....David.  

Nothing more to say after that one...  

Still need more practice!

"The higher a man is in grace, the lower he will be in his own esteem."

-Charles Hadden Spurgeon