June 7, 8, and 9

The Hernia Queen

So this week I have moved on to the general surgery room. Each day consists of mainly hernia cases so my friend Sarah and I have been dubbed the "hernia Queens" of the week. Monday and Tuesday provided us with all difficult cases (ie. the entire large intestine and bladder in the hernia sac) and with just 2 nurses, Sarah and I worked non stop without breaks stopping just long enough to cram in a sandwich. On Tuesday the list was looking so long and ominous that the rest of the surgical team wanted to continue through the day without a lunch break. For those who are not hospital people, it is really easy the surgeons to take breaks in between cases (while the patient is waking up and while we are getting the room ready for the next case) and anesthesia had enough staff that they were able to cover each other for lunches. So on Tuesday one of the young enthusiastic anesthetists offered to be a nurse and help get us up to grab some lunch so the room could keep running. It was so funny to try to explain all of the charting to him (especially because it is nothing compared to what we do at Sick Kids). He was so nice though and said that he would do his best! I laughed when I came back from lunch and he hadn't managed to do any charting! Oh well... we fixed it all and were able to keep going.

I get so excited when we have pediatric patients, as there are a lot more adults than children having surgery done on the Africa Mercy. So, as you can see from the picture below I take advantage of all the opportunities I can :)

Today (Thursday) we had 2 operating rooms running for the one general surgeon and we were able to keep him busy all morning, almost finishing our list before lunch! Our operating room even managed to fit in an emergency case which was a man who had a big mandible tumour which had been removed on Tuesday. Apparently today they tried to take the drain out and he started bleeding, so back he came to the OR, we cleaned out his wound and put in a new drain!

Here is a picture of the patient before the tumor was removed

I wasn't able to get a great picture post op because of swelling but the difference is amazing!

(posted with permission from Mercy Ships)

Our Friend Aedzer Hellema the Nurse Anesthetist left this morning. Everyone was very sad to see him go as he was very fun to work with. Below is a picture of my tall dutch friend.

This afternoon the sun came out (after a dark and rainy morning) and I was able to spend a little bit of time by the pool! Every six weeks the ship has a long weekend, so this weekend is a three day break for me! I am hoping to go to the craft market, make some other adventures out, and check out a local Church on Sunday!

Hope you all have a great weekend!