Medical Mission -Zimbabwe: Monday Monday

Mission trip to Zimbabwe

I have been invited to be a member of a medical team sponsored by Operation of Hope. This is a family run foundation started by a plastic surgeon from Longview, WA. I depart from Portland, OR Oct 6, 2010. The first leg of my journey takes me to NY. My friends Philip and Periuza Wegner will meet me and send me onto Johannesburg, South Africa. A 15 + hour flight UGH...compression hose here I come. I have a short layover then a final flight to Harare.
Once in Harare we will be setting up at Harare Central a large government hospital. We hope to complete 70 cleft lip and palate surgeries over a 2-week span. Children will travel from all over Zimbabwe to have these surgeries performed for free by an American medical team. Apparently there are no plastic surgeons trained to perform these surgeries in Zimbabwe
My last week in Zimbabwe will be spent 60 miles away in Makumbi a Jesuit run orphanage and school. I get to do my favorite thing hug babies and children! My travels home bound take me to Ethiopia, Amsterdam, and then finally back in the Pacific N.W.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Monday Monday

This is actually Wed AM 06. I am at Makumbi Mission. I am going to back track and share Mon & Tues updates.
So afer a reekend of R & R we headed back to hospital for our last 2 days of surgery. In between surgeries we began to inventory and pack away supplies for next year. We all cherrished the last days of working with our Zimbabwe friends. Two nurses worked with me in the PACU, Lydia & Gladys.
As in most mission trips some kid has an issue. Monday afternoon a women walked in with an orphaned little girl with a cleft lip. We figured we had enough time to slip her in. How's that drive up surgery.
She was the last case of the day. She woke up quickly in PACU, she did very well.. gave her first dose of Tylenol and handed her off to Sherri. At the end of rounds which was always the last thing we did before leaving the hospital. She was foun listless and with an Oxygen Sat down in 80's ( not good) we stimulated her , gave her sugar, 100% O2. Had her cough and deep breath as well as you can make a 3 yr old. Started a new antibiotic for aspiration. Her lungs sounded like a matag washer. Bit by bit she perked p. Kathy Clinch our annestesiologist, Travis one of our surgeons , & Dave our ENT Resident stayed the night. 1 AM she really turned the corner.
We had moved her into the Peds ICU......but could get NO labs, CXR, and only had access to the meds we had brought. So despite being in a hospital we were on our own.
She did fine and will go home Wed or Thur with a new face.