Today Melissa visited with hospice families at their homes while the others were at Selian hospital doing surgeries on patients that were seen in the clinic.
Jacky and Grace learned so much from the surgeons there while assisting and observing their surgeries. It was difficult for the team to see the children post-op as they were in so much pain at times and needed consoling. The surgeries were noted to look like a well oiled machine between all of the team members even with the limited equipment. The team is used to our sterile specimen containers back home, however here they use old pill bottles which was found out by shaking the bottles by one team member. The team watched many different cases and the surgical team was always so kind to them with any of their questions and were open explaining each surgery. The general surgery team did 20 cases of Hope Ministries patients! Needless today, it was a busy day!! Today had its struggles to start of the day, however the team worked through these struggles so well to get as much accomplished as possible! Gayle mentioned her excitement to be back in the OR with her second family and how much happiness today brought her!
During the hospice visits Melissa saw 4 families who were all HIV positive and had many family members who also were HIV positive. She mentioned many of the patients had lost parents or spouses due to this disease as well. One case that stood out to her was one woman that had lost her husband to HIV and now has had struggles with her husbands parents. The hospice team has monitored her closely to make sure that she is safe.
Also Dr. Alex and his witty self would like to mention that the team was by the pool all day like shown in the picture below. Oh you thought we were working??
