Fixed Misfortunes

Greetings!

The day began with a breakfast that most were skeptical to try. It was something that we have not yet had, but I ended up really enjoying. The African poridge reminds me of Cream of Wheat from home. Of course, I added sugar to jazz it up, because nothing can be simple for me. 😉 A group of the pre-medical students then went to St. Joseph's Hospital.

Here, we waited patiently for the day to begin at the hospital. This is something to get used to. I, along with the rest of us, am used to being punctual, as being the opposite is looked down upon in America. However, this is the norm and we will acclimate to. We arrived at 8:00am and did not begin until 10:30am. During this time, Gayle and the rest of the students dropped off a trooper from the orphanage. This boy was set up to have a double osteotomy and was very courageous. I shed a few tears for him, as I was completely blown away by his bravery. After saying goodbye, the day began with the list of surgeries. 

The first thing that we experienced was a child having his dislocated elbow manipulated and then pinned by Dr. Wheeler. After, Dr. Wheeler saw a handful of patiences with similar diagnosis, in which he relayed his knowledge to us. The next patient was a young boy that celebrated the recent holiday a little too well.

His surgery was of a boy that blew his hand up with a homemade firecracker while celebrating the New Year. This resulted in a badly torn tendon in his left hand. This potentially could have been an easier fix in the U.S. than how it played out. The boy lost a tendon in his finger and will lose most of his mobilization in this digit. Dr. Wheeler then pinned the snapped bone back into place. This was a very extensive surgery that took up the rest of the morning. This then caused the orphan boy, Living, to have his surgery pushed back until tomorrow.

Right after the surgery, we enjoyed another meal served by the nuns. After, Dr. Wheeler returned to patients that he saw before the previous surgery. A little girl has an infected hip. Dr. Wheeler drained the hip partially to relief some of the pain. She was then admitted to the hospital to be put on an intravenus antibiotic. This will hopefully cure the infection. If now, then she will have her hip completely drained in the near future. Dr. Wheeler also set another elbow without having to go into surgery. However, this posed a problem since there was significant swelling. Dr. Wheeler set it blindly and we all prayed that it will heal properly.

I learned a great amount of information from Dr. Wheeler, especially in these situations. There are many things that can help these people in the medical setting, including technology and resources. Dr. Wheeler cotinues to be resilent and is very adaptable. He has been very informative with the medical knowledge, but he has also spread his wisdom with future possibilities that will influence our careers. Something else that is extremely amazing is the patients that he sees is completely paid for by the generous funding donated to Hope Ministries. 

I am truly blessed with this opportunity for many reasons. I have grown so much in such a short time and look forward to what else this experience has to offer.

God Bless!

Misty 

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