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Trip Three: Week Ten! August 24-30

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 Ten weeks down, three to go (for now)! See the end of this post for an exciting update! :)  Praise the Lord for a great week! I am thankful for a good week, time off the ship, and new & intentional friendships.  This week, I continued working in the thyroid room. It was a fairly productive week with 3 surgeries per day. It was the second week working with the same team, so we were able to establish an efficient routine! We finished by 5pm each day, allowing us to enjoy some time off the ship getting ice cream or going for a walk. This was a much-needed change from previous weeks, so I am thankful for the gift of time.  On Tuesday night, I went off ship for dinner and enjoyed a beautiful sunset (and moonrise) looking out over the port.  After work on Wednesday, a group from the OR went out for gelato. It is nice getting to spend time with co-workers off the ship and learning more about each other. I have been blessed with a great surgical team this week....
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Trip Three: Week Nine! August 17-23

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Nine weeks down, four to go!  This week felt like an emotional rollercoaster, honestly... and it was the quickest (and also longest) week yet.  On Monday, we had the first patient screening day for the start of the thyroid surgical block! The team saw around 30 patients, many of whom have had these large goiters for 10+ years. While we are technically still doing general surgery, it is quite different than the processes for hernia/hydrocele general surgery. It was interesting getting to learn about thyroidectomy surgeries and the steps these patients have taken before even getting to the ship. The thyroid patients need to have regular blood tests done and medication prescribed to ensure their levels are within a certain range before they can have surgery. Many of them have been receiving care from Mercy Ships for weeks/months before ever being seen by an actual surgeon. Starting this four week thyroid surgical block brought quite a bit of nerves for me. I haven't really done a...
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Trip Three: Week Eight! August 10-16

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Eight weeks down, five to go! Nothing too exciting to report this week. It was a full and busy week in the OR, and I did not do too much outside of work.  This was the last week of hernia/hydrocele/lipoma general surgery before the four week thyroid block starts next week. Because of that, we tried fitting in as many patients as we could! We operated on 4-5 patients a day, finishing after 5:30pm every day. That schedule this week didn’t give much time for social activities after work.  On Thursday morning, I did go for a sunrise run with a new friend Katie before work. It was a sweet time and a great way to start the day.  Friday brought another round of farewells in the OR, of course. The two general surgeons who have been here for the past four weeks are leaving over the weekend, which is bittersweet. It is rare that surgeons stay on the ship longer than two weeks, so we were really able to establish a routine and rhythm in the OR together.  The weekly team buildin...
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