Tuesday, January 2
My day started with the hospice team. In America we would describe it as more of a palliative care team. We visited 6 different areas to see our patients. Our team was all about holistic care as they had a spiritual leader as well as the others to do the physical and mental care. Each patient was given rice, beans, protein packed flour, and oil. Our patients are dealing with cancer, HIV, not being able to walk, and tuberculosis. Each patient and family was so thankful to receive their care today and food. We checked up on the patients’ doses of medication, gave referrals, and overall made sure they were doing as well as could be. These people go through so many things I have never seen before. No matter their situation however, they were always able to express their gratitude and smile.
-Sierra
Today was our first day of surgery with our outreach patients. We departed at 7:30am to Selian Hospital to begin our surgical agenda. We were blessed to change the lives of 14 patients today, with a variety of procedures including: tonsillectomy’s, hernias, nasal polyps, & a 3×3 lipoma which this specific patient has had for 20 years. Similarly to our pre-op clinic the day before, the level of surgical acumen and OR flow was impressive, especially given the lack of resources. All in all it was a successful first day in the OR for our outreach patients, we pray for similar success in days to come.
- Arthur
Today was the first day in the OR. We started at around 8 am. We had 14 patients today the majority of which were tonsillectomies. I got to scrub in on a number of surgeries and Dr. Kimaro even let me do the suction on the patients. It was really interesting how the cauterization worked; I had never seen a tonsillectomy done before. A couple other surgeries included a lipoma removal, hernia repair, and removal of K screws. The lipoma we removed was huge. The most interesting part of that surgery was that the chief resident was teaching the other doctor how to do it. Even though it would’ve gone a lot faster for the chief resident to do it the goal was to teach the other doctor. Post-op care was also very interesting because there isn’t as much pain management as in the U.S. One funny part of the day was a doctor telling Gayle he would pay 10 cows to have me as his wife and saying he’d move to the U.S. to be with me. Overall it was a good day and I learned a lot.
- belle
Hi this is Mama Gayle. I am overwhelmed with the number of surgeries we have done today and many more to do in the next few days. All of the patients care, tests and surgeries are being paid by Hope Ministries. God bless the donors. I am asking for special prayers for this young boy because we are doing all kinds of tests and I am worried what the prognosis will be. He is so sweet and he and I have become best friends. He gives me hugs that make my heart melt. I know God will be with him and I pray for a successful outcome.
The team is all doing a fantastic job with helping and they are learning so much. I know they will have many stories to tell.
Please continue to prayer for successful surgeries and outcomes. Also pray for the team that we will continue to have the strength to do God’s work here.
Love you all!
