Sunday, November 4, 2012

Ready for round two

Just a short note before we head to bed and start a new week. The second wave of people arrived today around 1:00 and we got to spend some sweet time together before we get to work. We unpacked all the extra bags full of more supplies and re-stocked the ICU. The ICU and OR are ready for round two but we needed to meet as a team to discuss the patients. I'm not sure the exact number but I'd say we had a stack of papers on 50-60 kids, 28 of which we discussed doing surgery on...and that's not even including the ones that will show up this week in clinic in need of surgery. Sadly, the truth of it is that we can only do 2-3 cases a day, meaning around 12 patients total. So, of the potentially 100 children screened, 12 will get surgery and about 4 will be cathed. All to say, that's a HARD decision to make and one we have to remind ourselves that, ultimately, is not our decision. Tonight during our bible study we spent some time talking about how we felt like we were "playing God". It's tough to go down this list of names and cross names off knowing we (Mary, Mike, Ron, and Tom the cardiologists) have to tell them they are not a candidate for surgery and they may not live a long life.  I don't mean for this blog to be depressing but this is the reality and although there is SO much goodness here, I think it's important people understand that there is SO much more that needs to be done. We prayed for wisdom and discernment as we make tough decisions and trust these are the patients God has brought to us to treat. Tomorrow we are doing surgery on Dotto, the boy I mentioned in a previous blog. We will also do surgery on Chepkoech Songok, who is a VSD repair, and Malvin Mwangi, who has severe subaortic stenosis. I'll let you know how they do!

Tomorrow will come early as Kari, Kristen, Nez, Leah, Brittany, and myself are going to hike up to Montego at 430am to catch the sunrise. We have to get back by 8am to take Lilian, Agnus, and Julia to get their follow up echos before the go home. We have checked on all our patients each day and they're all doing great! They send their love to you all! Hope you have a blessed sunday and say a prayer that my fantasy team whoops up on Shelby's team ;) love to all!

No comments:

Post a Comment