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Trip Three: Week Four! July 13-19

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  Four weeks down, nine to go!  It seems like each week my blog just talks about how busy I am, but each day really just feels so full!  On Monday, I went for a morning run before work with a few other girls from the ship. The discovery of the new road last year was one of the biggest blessings, and I so enjoy these morning runs. The sunrises are beautiful and running along the ocean is so peaceful.  Wednesday morning, the anesthesia in-service was put on by Dr. Marian, in an anesthetist from Australia. She spoke about traumatic brain injuries and how you can accurately assess patient status when they have a brain injury, and which steps to take next.  On Wednesday evening, there was the medical in-service put on by Dr. Erik, who spoke about craniofacial surgery and the extent of what we can do here on the ship. It was interesting! After the presentation, I went out to the dock and played volleyball with some other Crew for about an hour. It was my first time be...
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Trip Three: Week Three! July 6-12

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This week was truly a whirlwind, and it is hard to believe I have already been on the ship for three weeks!  On Monday, I actually worked in the MaxFax operating room! The arriving general surgeon had a day of patient screening before starting operations on Tuesday, so I helped out in another OR. I scrubbed into two MaxFax tumor/mass removal cases. The first one proved to be a bit more difficult than expected, but it was interesting getting to see another specialty again.  After a full day of work on Monday, many members of the leadership team had a patient review board meeting to discuss a difficult general surgery case scheduled for the following day.  Tuesday was a long and challenging day. Even though that difficult case overall went well, it was a bit of a stressful time. We did not have the equipment or resources the surgeons would have typically used at home, so we had to be creative in our approaches and solutions. There were two other cases to follow, and one of ...
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Trip Three: Week Two! June 29-July 5

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This second week onboard the AFM flew by! It was another busyyyy week in the OR, but I still managed to get off the ship after work many evenings!  Every Monday starts with a mandatory all-hands meeting at 7:45am before work. After attending the meeting, our busy workday began. On Monday after work, I went on a walk with my friend Gabriella (also from Raleigh!) into town for ice cream. Even though the ice cream shop we planned to go to ended up being closed, we found a nice treat at a restaurant nearby.  After work on Tuesday, I spent another evening off the ship at a local restaurant and tried some classic Malagasy food. I enjoyed the fish and rice the best!  The anesthesia in-service on Wednesday morning was a good one! My anesthetist friend Maggie creatively taught us about the past "180 Years of Anesthesia." She structured the presentation as a "quiz" and had some of us read a brief description of someone who has helped make anesthesia what it is today before re...
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