Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Two nights in a row, I probably only got a total of 4 hours of sleep each night. The guy below me kept tossing and turning. Every time I fell into a deep sleep, I would get startled by the slightest movement. Perhaps because the jolt mostly felt like an earthquake. I don't know what to do. Perhaps I will ask my team members next door if they have an extra bunk bed that I can use later on tonight.

I finally decided to get cleaned up. None of the Arizona team whom I shared the room with were in their beds. Looking at my phone, I noticed that it was a little past 8 am. I got ready and walked towards the front of the main house - only to find out that we were all getting ready to leave for the clinic in less than 5 minutes! YIKES! I had to grab a piece of bread which was out on the table where everyone had breakfast earlier this morning.

We all piled into the minivan and headed to the clinic. Once we got there, we got busy on starting today's surgical cases. We had 5 cases scheduled for today, so Mark, Barb and I got busy preparing our medications and necessary equipment that we needed for the morning. Many of the surgical procedures done today were wound debridements and cast revisions. Many of the kids were still smiling! What great spirits these kids have!

What great teamwork! We did all 5 cases before 12 noon! It was time for lunch. Food was brought in to the clinic by COTN workers. We all sat down and ate. We had rice, chicken, pineapple and juice. It was yummy!

Once we got done with lunch, Mark and I got started on trying to see if 2 other anesthesia machines which were just delivered from a local hospital was in working condition. One of them wasn't working properly. It had a leak somewhere. Luckily, 2 EMT's from the Arizona team volunteered to take the thing apart and troubleshoot the location of the possible leak. While they got busy doing that, Mark and I checked and went over the other machine. It works! Only problem is, we only have ONE oxygen tank. We soon told Vicki about the problem and she got Brandon on the task of getting another oxygen tank delivered to the clinic.

Later on the day, I Angelo, Helen, Luc, Rick, and I helped load up a truck with 200 boxes of rice and beans which COTN planned to send over to Port-au-Prince tomorrow. They are apparently having shortages of food for the hundreds of people who are in that devastated city. It took us about 45 minutes or so to load up this truck with boxes of rice and beans. I was so tired after we were done! I felt light headed at one point. Luckily, I didn't pass out! That would have been embarrassing!

After working all day, we eagerly awaited our ride back to the house. After 20 minutes, no sign of the van yet. I was getting very impatient. I was sweaty, tired, and hungry! I was getting irritable for some reason! Then, several of our team members decided to ride in the back of the truck which we loaded up with food instead. It was headed back to the COTN house, so I got up the back and we all rode back in style...

Once we got back, I immediately jumped in the shower! Got cleaned up and went to ask my team members next door if they had an extra bunk bed. Eureka! They did have an extra bed, so I gathered up my stuff from the other room and moved it next door. YAY! I hope I get a good night's sleep tonight!

Later after dinner, many of our team members from New England gathered together with Janet for a mini-debriefing. It was a great way of talking out our frustrations of what we saw back in Jimani, as well as remembering the wonderful experiences we all had while we were there. Mark was scheduled to leave tomorrow morning. So Barb and I are going to be the only 2 anesthesia providers until the new group of medical volunteers arrives late Thursday night.

Janet also asked some of us if we were interested in going to Port-au-Prince tomorrow to perhaps see if we can offer any assistance to the hospital there which was caring for hundreds of victims since the earthquake. At first, I was hesitant because thoughts of "what if" was going through my head. Our group was scheduled to leave for the United States on Thursday and I was worried that if something happened while we were in Port-au-Prince, that we wouldn't make our flight back. "What if"? But then, I decided to volunteer and go along with several of my team mates. Heck, you only live once and I can't live my life worrying about the "what ifs" anymore. Life is just too darn short...