Long day in the OR

Well, the good new today is that no one died. I will say that in jest at home, but here? It is actually a good way to measure the day.

We started the day off with a 6am sunrise hike up the nearest "mountain." I have definitely learned I need to do more climbing before my anniversary trip to the Alps this summer! After walking through a garbage heap, a neighborhood, then straight up (not a switch back to be found), we got to watch the sun rise while listening to many woman chant their songs to god. It was a really beautiful way to start the day.

Once we got to the hospital, Yvonne and I checked on all the post-op patients while the surgeons started taking in the new patients. One man with a hernia repair from yesterday was having terrible urinary retention. Using the ultrasound we brought with us, we were able to see that his bladder was up to his belly button. Our 3 tries at a urinary catheter were unsuccessful due to a whopping prostate. He ended up in the OR for a catheter that passes through the abdominal wall (with none of the usual tools we usually need), but that clotted off and was back for a re-do by lunchtime. Yvonne and Steve were finally able to find a stray guide-wire, sterilize it, pass that into the bladder through a needle, dilate the hole and then pass a catheter that finally had good flow. We lost a lot of time on other cases, but finally, this man can rest. (and come back next week to have his prostate worked on...)

We had 3 hysterectomies, and a few hernias. The scheduled c-section was here earlier than really needed, so she was sent home for another week. I saw a pair of 3 month-old twins that mom was concerned about them having tight foreskins. No biggy. I talked her through the treatment at home. The incredible thing about these twins were that they born at home, the first at midnight, the next at 10pm. 22 hours in between. Good. God.

I got to be a plastic surgeon as well, removing a fatty tumor from a young woman's face. That was rewarding. The case of the day that took the cake was the hydrocele. It was an older man, with one year history of swelling in the right scrotum. The fluid bag we drained measured 1700cc. That is just a swig shy of a two liter bottle of coke. Can you imagine carrying that around in half of your scrotum every day? He will be a very happy camper once he can feel the lower half of his body again.

In a perfect picture of how things get done in Haiti, we couldn't start our last case of the day because the scrub nurse had decided to get in line to be seen by the dentist who is with us (the OB, Leslie's, husband). We had to send someone to go get her back. Another staff member was yelling at the head of the hospital because she felt she should be paid double because another person didn't come to work. As Leslie says as she shrugs her shoulders "This is Haiti."

I am certainly feeling the tug of home. The only thing I'm not starting to miss is the weather! I want to hug those adorable little boys of mine and the big one too. But, that will have to wait. We already have a full schedule for tomorrow including some cases that were bumped from today.

Thanks for all the good thoughts and notes! I have read every one of them. Don't be shy!

becca