Tuesday, February 16, 2010

February 16, 2010 - Weekend et al

Interesting weekend and on into today.
About lost a patient today. She respiratory arrested, heart slowed and nearly stopped, aspirated, had full blown pulmonary edema and was coughing out foam for over two hours, and nearly died. Thankful to God that she survived. It took a team of people, all trying their hardest even if they didn't know really what they were doing. I appreciated their willingness to help. There were even some in the room just to pray and sing. But she made it - and was sitting up talking this evening.
Thankful.

Lost a 14 y/o gal this weekend from a snake bite. Green Mamba. They tried traditional witchcraft first, and then as she was dying they brought her in. That was my Sunday morning from 1:30-5:30. Then, today, a little baby came in with malaria and pneumonia. She, too, died. So it hasn't been particularly calm around here.
But otherwise the operations are going well.
One large cystic lesion, supposedly an ovarian mass, disappeared when we gave her a spinal and placed a foley. There was some mild levity when after the patient was prepped and draped the surgeon discovered that the "mass" had melted away - and the foley bag was popping! I was getting reading to scrub the "difficult case" and noticed there was a bit of consternation at the table as the surgeon-in-training tried figure out what happened to his patient's tumor. One look at the urine output and everyone realized what had happened. The patient was an elderly lady with diabetes, and her bladder does not quite work so well anymore. It was a bit of a relief actually, after fighting to save the other gals life for a couple of hours. Thankful for the small things - and the resident learned a valuable lesson in the mean time (and I may need to look at all the ultrasounds first!)

Sunday was fun as we took a break and went tropical fish fishing up a tropical stream in a tropical forest :-)
Didn't see any snakes - thankfully - and had fun catching the little guys. The larger ones there were going to feed to their cats, and the small ones were going in the fish tank. A bit different than going to the store to pick out you
r favorite fish to stock the aquarium - and a lot more fun!
Dr. Renee is doing wonderfully well. The residents have thoroughly enjoyed her teaching, and she enjoying their humor with them. She is great in the OR's and in class - and they have learned much, much more than I could have hoped. Very thankful for her work here. She leaves Friday, and then it is just me and the guys till Keir comes back next week.
Thankful for many things this evening - especially for God's grace in helping save the young lady's life today. Sad about those who have died. Praying that in all of it God will be glorified. Terrible to see what sin does to people, and how it destroys. Thankful for God's provision for LIFE through Jesus. It is not religion, but truly knowing the one True God, who is there and does speak. Thankful for His hand in my life. Realizing more than ever how He is the one who holds me in this life - for HIS glory.

PS - I'm still not quite used to the little geckos jumping off my door as I enter my house :-) Always something to keep you on your toes around here!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm cheering for Dr. Renee, for the patient who overcame death, the removal spiders, the catching of fish, and the sweet children in your pictures. I'm glad that in a day God can offer both the sober reminder of life's brevity and seriousness along with it's eternal nature and heartwarming joy. Thanks for sharing! MJG