Trip Three: Week Three! July 6-12

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 them ended up being very complicated and ended around 8:00pm. I was on-call, so I finished the case and then had some other team leader duties to complete before getting to bed around 11:00pm. After a few short hours of sleep, I was paged down to the ward around 1:30am to help the surgeon with a patient who was bleeding. Thankfully, the patient did not need to actually go into surgery at that time, but I needed to get some supplies from the OR. 

Even though I did not sleep much on Tuesday night, morale and vibes were great on Wednesday. I hit the caffeinated beverages pretty hard throughout the day and powered through, by the grace of God. One of my coffee breaks was enjoyed with my sweet Day Crew friend Esperalda. 

After work on Wednesday, a big group of us went out for gelato in town to celebrate a birthday! 

On Thursday morning, my friend Gabriella and I went for a run before work. It was another beautiful sunrise, and we were surprised with a rainbow! 

I was on-call again on Thursday and there was a complicated MaxFax case that finished around 7:00pm. By the time we were done cleaning up, it was after 8:00pm... so another long day! Thankfully, I did not get paged overnight and was able to get some sleep. 

Funky Friday again on the AFM! We started off the work day learning a Malagasy worship song together before the presentation of certificates to those leaving over the weekend. 

Even though it has been suchhh a busy week, I am thankful for the team I worked with! Dr. Charlie (USA) shows great patience as he tackles difficult cases and even took time to teach the local Malagasy resident surgeon, Dr. Abdallah. One special program that Mercy Ships offers is the Education, Training, and Advocacy (ETA) program. Members of this program are local medical providers or students, including nurses, surgeons, and anesthesia providers. 

After work on Friday, a group of us went out for karaoke at a local restaurant to celebrate the end of a busy week. It was  a fun evening! 

I spent Saturday morning and early afternoon relaxing around the ship, watching a sermon and doing laundry. Around 2:00pm, a group from the OR had prepared another special lunch before many of them departed the ship. There was a variety of international dishes, with a Chai drink to finish the lunch! 

After saying goodbye to our friends, my friend Julie and I went into town for massages. It was a bit of an adventure to start, but we eventually found somewhere with availability and enjoyed a relaxing hour. 

On Sunday, I spent the day helping prepare a Malagasy meal with my friend. We made shrimp and rice with vegetables. It was great! 

In the evening, I attended the church service onboard, hosted by the Dutch crew. We learned a couple of Dutch worship songs and the Senior Chaplain (also Dutch) spoke about the kindness of God. After church, I FaceTimed my family in Michigan and then a friend in North Carolina! It was a sweet time of recharging before starting another busy week. 

Even though this week was especially busy and overwhelming at times, I am so thankful to be here and continuing in this mission. The Lord has answered prayers this week for endurance, energy, and life-giving conversations. Thank you to those who have been praying for me! Please continue to pray that I would find strength in the Lord and rely on His guidance in various areas of my life. 

OR Recap

This week, the AFM OR performed surgeries on 32 patients across MaxFax and General Surgery specialties, 13 of whom were in my operating room. Many of those patients received more than one surgery (i.e. bilateral hernia repair, mass removal and hernia repair, etc.) so the number of procedures performed is much greater.