Ellen Thorp, trip secretary here. Today was a long and wonderful day. The first surgery at the pediatric hospital began at 8:am and the last surgery ended at 7:30. Dr. DeVries is amazing to watch. Her last case was four hours and she remained highly focused in spite of the hour or fatigue. We all stand in awe of her abilities, including the Mongolian staff. We are all a little more comfortable with each other as the days go by. Today we showed them pictures from home and the Mongolians were really interested and curious. They spent a lot of time studying the map that Janet Vogt (nurse) brought, asking where we were born, where we live now and how long it takes to get from city to city. We have a terrific interpreter, Zaya, but we are also finding ways to communicate without words.
Dr. DeVries completed five surgeries today. One of the surgeries was slightly delayed when the local folks plugged in our Bovie machine and it started to smoke...a lot! The cameras whipped out to document the event as if we were at Disneyland. Anyone want to donate a new machine???
Our day at the Maternal and Pediatric Hospital ended in a very touching manner. At the end of our clinic day (Sunday) there was a dad who had waited in the hallway and wanted to carry our bags down the three flights of stairs for us. His little boy ended up being our first case yesterday. We remembered the child well because he was very upset and crying before he was put under. The child did very well. I had the pleasure of seeing him this afternoon when a few of us handed out crayons, coloring books and Beanie Babies (all donated). Hours later the father and mother met us as we were leaving the hospital. We were pretty tired but our spirits and our hearts were lifted when they approached us with flowers, chocolates and Mongolian dolls. Then the dad insisted on carrying our bags out again. I don't think we'll ever forget them.
Hospital No. 1 had a visit from the new Minister of Health today and that slowed things down a bit. They completed three surgeries, one of them a five hour kidney stone procedure. The doctors at that hospital speak more English than at the Pediatric hospital so it's easier for them to form personal relationships. The Hospital No 1 staff took all of us out to dinner at a Mongolian restaurant. One of our members ordered horse ribs (they were out). Dr. Nori Kuratani order a soup that had many different organs in it; we renamed it "Donor Soup". The evening was lovely including a musical performance by one of their doctors and another by our own Dr. Blake Hamilton.
We are all looking forward to tomorrow!
~Mongolia2008
No comments:
Post a Comment