As I’m sitting here typing this we are having a crazy dust storm. The dust storms in Texas are nothing compared to this. Out of nowhere the wind picks up and reaches hurricane force winds (maybe I’m exaggerating but it feels like hurricane force winds), dust fills the air and everyone starts to run for cover. I’m sitting in our bedroom and I have to occasionally wipe off my journal and computer. They tell me Saboba is beautiful during the rainy season…this is hard to believe right now.
Recap of my first full day rounding with Dr. Jean. My entry for Tuesday was completed early in the morning and did not cover the entire day.
A patient chart at the hospital consists of loose papers and lab slips and all of the papers aren’t related to the current hospitalization. At one point on rounds Dr. Jean was called into a meeting so I was left to run rounds…talk about being thrown into the line of fire. I had no list of drugs available in the hospital pharmacy and every drug I wanted to use wasn’t available. I wanted to start fluids on a patient but the fluid I wanted to use wasn’t available. I felt like a first year med student yesterday because I quickly ran out of ideas. Thankfully Dr. Jean returned and we were able to finish.
After rounds we then started seeing surgical patients. Of course there were multiple interruptions. One involved a retained placenta. As we walked into the room I saw a nurse using a cup to scoop the blood off the table into a bed pan. The bed pan was almost full of blood. Dr. Jean put her hand up into the uterus and started to separate the placenta from the uterine wall. After a couple of minutes the placenta came out and the bleeding stopped…the lady is doing fine now.
Later in the afternoon we began the surgeries. We had 4 hernia repairs and 1 hydrocele. As I was putting on the surgical gown, my hands kept catching in the holes in the sleeves. There was no general anesthesia only a local injection of lidocaine. When the patient started to squirm too much, Dr. Jean would drive her elbow into his thigh and yell for the patient to be still. I know that in the U.S. this sounds barbaric but these patients are desperate for help and Dr. Jean is one of the few surgeons who does a good job repairing hernias. The patient knows that she won’t cut corners and will do a correct repair. We finished surgery about 7 pm.
The Youngs, Nikki, and I were invited for dinner at Pastor Jonah’s house…Unfortunately an emergency C-section came and Dr. Jean had to miss dinner. A group of men were traveling through Saboba on their way to Mole National Park (I think this is what it is called). They were part of an organization that develops young leaders in Africa. It was an enjoyable evening. I particularly enjoyed speaking with a man, Roland, from Liberia. Roland owns a construction company in Liberia and he became involved with this organization when he attended a Baptist convention in Accra. Roland is a big fan of Dr. Henry Blackabee and wanted to hear Blackabee speak, so he invited Blackabee to Liberia and Blackabee spoke at a convention there. This morning at breakfast Roland gave me a devotional book written by Dr. Blackabee. In the cover he wrote a scripture verse that is meaningful to him. It was 2 Timothy 2:2.
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