So, it’s about time I wrote a blog regarding my week of medical missions in San Cristóbal Verapaz, Guatemala. There is so much to tell, but here are some highlights …
April 6th: Traveled from my home in Antigua to Guatemala City to meet up with the Dallas team at the Barceló Hotel
A team of 40 clinic physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, nurses, OR techs, pharmacists, an ocularist, support staff, Guatemalan translators, team leaders, kitchen staff, and stove builders came together for the first time to inaugurate Team Esperanza!
Small world! She works on the hem/onc floor I used to work at in Dallas!
The little things in life that really aren’t so little:
staying in a nice hotel
sleeping in a normal bed that’s not on the ground
air conditioning
eating a continental breakfast
sitting on nice furniture
Can you tell I've been a missionary in third-world countries for quite awhile now?!
The hotel in Guatemala City
April 7th: Traveling to the mountains of San Cristóbal Verapaz
I will NEVER forget what I saw as our buses drove up the mountain and parked in front of the hospital. As soon as we got close, a line of 300 people got on their feet and cheered like they were at the Super Bowl. Elderly men and women, adults, and children instantly had huge smiles across their faces and clapped vigorously. Why is serving worth it? That’s why.
We spent the rest of the day unpacking lots and lots and lots of duffel bags of medical supplies and equipment! We turned empty rooms into a full-functioning hospital in less than a day!
Recovery Room
An OR
Stephan, one of our anesthesiologists
The PACU
April 8th – Day 1: Sick in a hospital cot with a bacterial GI infection and parasites … hmmm, this isn’t unfamiliar at all! Time for another cocktail of ciprofloxacin, albendazole, and secnidazole!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t feelin’ so hot when I left Antigua to join the team, and it went downhill from there. And, you can bet some select individuals, (possibly Luis!), on the team made sure to give me a hard time about taking the day off!
April 9th – Day 2: Day shift in the Recovery Room
My first official day as a nurse. As I recall telling Zonna, my nurse team leader, “Zonna, put me in the Recovery Room. I haven’t worked in a hospital in more than a year!” It took about a day to get my workflow and skills back up to par, but praise God it came back!
By the way, medical missions can be crazy! You don’t have all the supplies and equipment you want, the scheduling is overwhelming sometimes, things don’t flow the way they should, things brake unexpectedly, but it’s all worth it when you hear and see how much the patients appreciate the services and care they receive! Their gratitude is so humbling.
Some tape for the OR!
PACU supplies
The lovely, Shannon!
One of our translators, Ingrid
April 10th – Day 3: Day shift in the PACU (post-anesthesia care unit)
Our two general surgeons, two OB/GYN surgeons, and an oculoplastic surgeon used two OR rooms to complete over 90 surgeries in five days! Impressive! And, we could only fit three patients at a time in the PACU because we only had three large oxygen tanks.
Clay and Luis in the OR
The OB/GYN team
P.S. I’ve never worked in a PACU setting before = Round 2 of getting my bearings!
It still blows my mind how appreciative and thankful our patients were. Even though they came out of surgery groggy and hurting, they still wore huge smiles and made sure to tell us how kind we were and that we blessed them immensely. This is why I love being a nurse!
Coming soon … part 2 of this blog!!!
