Day 3 at our last mission site in Ambon (july 28, 2010)
The peds ward is running a slow pace this week. We only have two post-ops so far, the third one is currently in PACU, and our last post-op patient is still in surgery. We have 7 pre-ops coming on board who are scheduled to have their surgeries within the next two days. Rumor has it that we are short on endotracheal tubes (breathing tubes) so we will no be able to perform as many surgeries as the two previous sites in Indonesia. It’s a smooth ending for my first mission on the Mercy.
I can’t believe my time on the ship is almost over. We have 7 days left on the ship but it feels like it’s going by so fast. It’s bittersweet because as much as I want to go home, see my friends and family, and get back to normalcy, a big part of me will definitely miss being here. I will even miss the 0600 “reveille” to muster and eat breakfast. I will miss the routine of walking up and down the stairs, bumping into things as I try to walk around berthing in the dark, taking showers in the dirty stalls, and sliding down to sleep in my bottom bunk. Most of all, I will miss the little things, such as sitting by the weather deck and staring at the water. The late nights when I can’t sleep and find solace in meditating outside, again, in the weather deck, and admiring the moon and stars. I will especially miss the breath taking sunrise and sunset, ahhhhh. I will miss seeing the people that I have become friends with -- Project Hope volunteers, peds ward team, even the merchant marines who are always eager to lend a helping hand, whether it’s to relieve our boredorm by allowing us (NGOs) to watch movies in their movie theatre-like lounge, or fix my shoes after ruining it during shellback, letting me in the “FIlipino mafia” by giving me a nod at the food line and offering me exclusive Filipino food, like chicken adobo and tinola. They were disappointed to find out that I don’t’ eat meat. I could see them saying, “what kind of Filipino is that?” .. ha!
July 29, 2010
Went on my first and only medcap in the island of Pelauw. The HELO brought us there and back to the ship. We flew over a few islands to get to Pelauw. Flying on a black hawk is definitely one cool way to see Indonesia. I didn’t think I was going to get the chance to ride the helo since we don’t get to choose or know what medcap we’re on til the night before, when we check what time we have to muster in CASREC.
Allan, April, Dawn, John and I were all at the same medcap. I saw some interesting cases, such as an 8 year old girl who had a severe, systemic, dermatological condition that reminded me of epidermolysis bullosa. With barely any resource or diagnostic test, we couldn’t properly diagnose her. We also couldn’t treat her skin condition, so the only thing we could provide her with is an analgesic (tylenol) and toys (silly bands, stickers, and a stuffed toy). I checked her inner ear and saw the same lesions… so awful. She looked so scared and embarrassed, but we managed to get a smile out of her after we gave her the toys. There was another girl, about 9 or 10 years old who had a wicked heart murmur. I’m awful when it comes to assessing hearts since they stay in the Peds Cardiac ICU and not the PICU, but I felt this girl’s murmur when I put my hand on her chest… sick! It’s unfortunate, as many people as we help, there are some who we couldn’t do anything for, such as this girl. We don’t have the resources to perform heart surgeries, or other high risk, complicated surgeries. We had a 9 year old up in CASREC who had a TGA (Transposition of the Great Arteries). TGA at 9 years of age! One of our pediatricians took me up to radiology to see the CT Scan of his chest and explained what she saw. His pulmonary artery was massive and he had a severe cargiomegaly.
July 30, 2010
Slow work day - discharges and post op admits
One interesting admit to the peds ward is a 14 year old girl who was in DKA. On admission, sh had a glucose of 629, pH of 7.19, Na of 131, and a normal bicarb of 23. Apparently, her family ran out of insulin and she has been living around that glucose level, that's why she was so cachectic... and that awful ketonic smell... so sad. Another reminder that God works in mysterious ways - one of our attending is an Endocrinologist who corrected her DKA, using the only kind of insulin we have on board, which is Regular insulin. It's still scary and crazy to think that we're discharging this girl home, hoping that they will comply and find ways to support her diabetes. We later learned that there are only 35 Endocrinologists in the country of Indonesia!
July 31, 2010
Comserve with the Seabees. We helped out with the ENCAP (Engineering Civic Assistance Program), and painted a clinic that they have been working on. It reminded me of painting my apartment and how much I dreaded it. It was fun working with a different group, though. The local men were watched us, then offered to get us fresh young coconuts straight from the tree.
After the comserve, we came back to the MERCY and were allowed to take liberty for the remainder of the day. I was suppose to teach a yoga class, and felt awful cancelling but when will I get to see Indonesia again? So I posted a note, apologizing for cancelling class, and took the liberty boat back to Ambon. I went with three other people who were on the same comserve. We ate at Café Panorama, which is a restaurant on top of a mountain, that has a panoramic view of Ambon. That was the best meal I have had in Indonesia -- grilled fish and sauteed water spinach (kang-kong) -- and all for less than 50,000 rupia (approx $5.00).
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