Day Three Tuesday, August 21, 2011 from Hospital Padre Carollo in Quito, Ecuador.

Day three started a little late due to the Monday morning city traffic. We did not get to the hospital until 9 am and this I thought was really going to throw us for a loop in the day’s schedule. We made up the time during the day when two cases turned out to be tonsillectomies and not cleft repairs. The tonsils needed to come out on the kids before any attempt of a repair could have been considered. These relatively simple 30 minutes cases got us back on tract.

I felt we hit our stride today on the mission. We were running on all cylinders of a well oiled machine and it was great. Our PACU nurse is still down for the count and is very upset that she is not feeling well enough to get out of bed and join us at the hospital.

The cases of the day were all completed as scheduled and we were able to leave the hospital at a reasonable time.

This first day was tough and the second worked our smoothly so I hope the pattern is set for the rest of the week to run like clock work. We shall see.

I received questions from this blog readers and I have the answers from a few of the Missions RNs :

1. How different is it working in an OR on PACU unit on a mission from your familiar OR or PACU work environment?
There are no personal agendas. Everyone comes together and does whatever needs to be done for patients and team members. No politics, just good work. This happens in urgent or emergent situations in everyday life but it’s every case, every day on missions.
2. Is the equipment the same as in the US hospitals you work at?
Sometimes the same, sometimes similar, sometimes it requires resourcefulness and creativity. We try to keep the same standards we use in the US as best we can and make due when we can't. Many of us accept donated materials and products fro the institutions we work at.
3. Do you always feel a difference on the mission as compared to your work in your own facility? Do you become engaged enough with patient care to forget for a moment you are on a medical mission when you are working?
Yes, it feels different because we are working in countries that we may not have been to before and frequently we don't speak the language. Given that and the culture we feel the mission but at the same time caring for patients in the best way possible is universal. Even the language becomes secondary. A smile, a hand shake and a hug is a language understood by all in giving comfort. The parents of these children go to extraordinary measures in caring for them and getting them to our facilities for surgery.
I have had patients travel days to get to us by walking, buses and any other way they can. I once had a teen walk for 2 days by himself to get to us for his palate repair. These are extraordinary people and it is truly an honor to be a part of their lives for this brief time. We help change lives. How lucky is that? I have never known such gratitude as from the parents and families of our patients abroad. In the US we have expectations that simply don't exist in some countries. They are so grateful for any service we provide.
Coming home or reentry as we call it is often difficult. I always feel so humbled and grateful and ife is so hard for others. I have a bed and indoor plumbing. I can drive to any store anytime and buy what I need or want.
I'll be somewhere and hear someone complaining they don't have enough milk in their coffee or they didn't like their steak. Seriously? I can not walk by a scrub sink running with no one at it! I have to turn it off because I have seen women walk 2 miles to fill up a gourd of water. How dare we squander it and take what we have for granted. It changes you forever. Mission work has made me more generous and giving every day.
It is I who is grateful beyond measure for the privilege and honor to be able to do what I do. It is such a small gift in some ways but it is what I can do.