Surgery day one! Another early wake-up call today. Thank goodness there is plenty of coffee at breakfast. As usual, the lovely people at the hotel laid out a plentiful spread of food, followed by a daily devotional. A few shared touching stories about their interactions and experiences during triage yesterday: these reflections brought to light, once again, how important the work being done down here is to the people. They are eternally grateful, and some are brought to tears.
Once we arrived at the hospital, the rooms were prepped, and everyone gathered their bearings as they went to meet with their first surgery patient of the week. As everyone finished their first/second surgeries of the day, they shared what they had seen during lunch or in passing. It is incredible to see how passionate everybody is about their work.
The first day of surgery went very well. Everyone was able to get acquainted with the equipment and troubleshoot any of their issues. After the patients had their surgery, they woke up to a few very kind faces in the PACU. In the PACU, patients become oriented and were closely monitored to ensure they were all ok! Almost everyone had a full day of surgery, aside from the OBGYNs. They did not have enough patients that required surgery to fill their schedule. So they saw some more patients and were able to add more to their schedule while also helping people who were not expecting to receive surgery this quickly.
There were lots of new things to get used to today! For one, there are brand-new operating rooms! But as always adjusting to new people and equipment, however, this did not seem to phase the flexible members of this team. As we all had dinner, drinks, and dessert, everyone reflected on their day and anticipated the day ahead.
Tonight we had a wonderful guest, Nellie! Thank you to Susan for setting this up! We all perused her shop that she so kindly brought to us. After most of us had done a bit of shopping, it was off to bed!
