Suzanne's Mission Adventures

So last month, A ward (my ward) was the lucky ward to get the pediatric cataract patients.  Normally cataract surgery is a same day procedure, but since the patients are kids, and can't sit still like adults, they are put under general anesthesia for the surgery.  It was so much fun having them for 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, one of those weeks, was the week that I was off because I was sick.  So I never actually got to see any of the kiddos get their eye patches removed so they could see but I did get to see one little girl have fun exploring with her eyesight.  She is the lovely girl on her mom's back.  And no I wasn't lucky enough to get a picture with her but some of my coworkers were.  They pediatric eyes are a blast to watch.  They normally are very shy and follow along with what their caregiver tells them to do, and walks with them.  But once those cataracts are removed, and the following morning the patches come off, the kids can start t...

So this was one of my first patients I had by on my own.   He was a hernia patient, but was scared of waking up during his surgery so they did a spinal block on him instead of anesthesia.  I think it is so cool that they were willing to deviate from what is normal and do something else.  Something that would not normally be done, but because the patient was scared they took that into consideration and worked up another plan.  But I don't think he will ever have that happen again.  Considering afterwards he was being teased about not being a "real"man cuz he couldn't get up and walk like everyone else.  He was also the first guy to propose to me here in Guinea.  I have had more since. Me, my patient, and Toneya (another nurse who is here)

This is our hand washing station right outside the ship.  Every time you are coming back to the ship...even if you are on on the dock you wash your hands.  They have found that this has cut down gastro issues with the crew by 50%!  Crazy how something as simple as washing hands before coming on board can help prevent issues by that much!

So the hospital ward is split into 3 wards.  A ward, B ward, and D ward/ICU.  Each ward has a specialty that it has.  A ward is general surgery.  B ward is plastics and woman's health.  And D ward is Max/Facs.  So basically A ward has the hernia surgeries, lymphomas, and goiters.  B ward does a lot of straightening of legs, burn contractors releases, and cosmetic things.  D ward has all the things to do with the face.  I could name quite a few of what they do, but lets be honest...it's late, I worked an evening shift, and I am to tired to try and figure out how to spell the names of the surgeries. My ward is A ward.  It has been great fun working on A ward so far.   But I thought I would show you what my ward looks like.  So A ward has 20 beds and is split into 2 sides.  10 beds on each side.  This video shows just one side, beds 1-10.  I couldn't take a video of the other side because we are not allowed t...