Another early workout this morning to center and focus, but this morning’s daily devotional looked a bit different. I connected with, and was so inspired by, a patient yesterday that I asked Chaplin Liz if I could sing for the team. She graciously agreed, and I sang two verses of Amazing Grace. I was moved as I looked out at my teammates and saw the emotion on everyone’s faces. What a blessing for me to be able to give that to them just as they give that same feeling to our patients.
The patient who inspired me and many others yesterday is named Lesley. She is 28 years old and is a singer as well. She was singing to herself to help calm her nerves before being taken back to surgery to have some painful keloids removed from her chest. We chatted for a bit with the help of Jeff our translator, and I asked her if she would sing. She was a bit shy at first, but then sang a beautiful song for us.
She also told us she had seen a doctor previously, but she didn’t pray before the appointment, and they told her they couldn’t help her. She said she prayed for two days before this appointment and now she is being treated.
Translation of her words: “I pray for him to give me the knowledge, the experience and the wisdom in this. Whatever God permits. It is his will. I put myself in God’s hands.”
We watched her walk back to the operating room full of faith where Dr. Tabitha Ongstad and her team got to work. I was in the room when they finished the surgery, and as soon as they were done, she cried out, “Dios te bendiga,” which translates to “God bless you.”
Lesley was all smiles when Dr. Ongstad checked on her this morning during rounds. The incision sites look good, and she will be discharged today. Unfortunately, due to some political protests, the road to her home is blocked so she will have to stay at the hospital a while longer. But she is in good spirits as we talk and sing together in the housing area.
Urology performed four transurethral resections of the prostate (TURP) today, a surgical procedure that involves cutting away a section of the prostate. When the prostate becomes enlarged, it can lead to decreased ability to urinate and cause urine to back up into the kidneys leading to infection. Dr. Adam Tierney also did a lot of these procedures yesterday. He said while this procedure is common in the United States, it isn’t readily available here because they just don’t have the equipment.
“A man I treated yesterday has been out of work for three months because he requires a catheter due to his very enlarged prostate,” Dr. Tierney said. “He has no money to provide for his family. I can do this basic procedure, and he can get back to taking care of and feeding his family.”
General surgery was filled with hernia repairs. Another common procedure in the United States, but here we are seeing patients who have gone for ten years or more waiting for surgery. Tomorrow Dr. Ongstad and Dr. Tierney will team up to perform a surgery starting as a hernia repair and moving into the bladder.
It is humbling to see these people so grateful for surgeries that happen every day in the United States.
14 Total surgeries today:
ENT: 5 Surgeries
General Surgery: 5 Surgeries
Urology: 4 Surgeries
-Shari Lau
