Day 9

The last night of work was great. We started the night off with group pictures and a little fellowship. Some of my team left out early this morning and we would not get to see them before we got back to the campus. It was kind of emotional to say the least. We shared funny stories and pictures, then exchanged email and mailing addresses. Some of us took pictures (I took over 500 so far) and others forgot, so we are all going to put them on shutter fly for each other to see and use. The 20 minute drive from the campus to the clinic was a quite one for once. I opened our last trip out with prayer and we were off. We had 2 new people to the "A" team, as we have named ourselves, they didn't have the stories to tale like we did. Once we got to Bercy we got patient reports from day shift and started our rounds. I was honored to be given the pediatric wards last night. All though those tents did not have the volume that once did, I still got to play with the babies and make a few more last minute little friends. I did have a few adult patients to tend to as well. One of them had what we think is cerebral meningitis and needed to be taken to a hospital. I got to play with baby Sue again one more time last night. He is such a happy little baby and so malnourished and under weight. I wanted to put him in my bag and take him home. As the night drug on, we noticed that all of us were getting short tempers and things bothered us more than usual. I guess having time to sit back and think about things because we did not have much to do was a bad thing. I yelled at an old man that kept taking his IV out, all 4 of them I put in. I finally just wrapped his hand up so that he couldn't touch things. Another young man did not want his second IV and fought me for a while... the IV won... all 14 gauges. Each of us walked around checking on one another, both mentally and physically. We took a lot of breaks and went back to the "staff lounge" and hung out. We at cookies, took a few power naps, ate some more, slept even more and made more rounds. Around 4:30a it all broke lose. We had 7 patients come in, all in bad shape. One was brought in on a motorcycle and was unconscious. Her left foot had been dragging a her big toe had been sanded down to the bone. We worked on that and her cholera both the best we could. I little boy cam in and we was unable to get any IV accesses on him anywhere. 2 of the docs made 5 attempts at an IO and could not get it. I put an NG tube down his nose and gave him fluids that way till Dr. Trey got the IO in place. That was one sick little boy and he pushed all of us over the edge. We knew after he was stable that it was time for us all to have a mental health day to ourselves. Once I got back to the base and deconed myself like I have done for the past 9 days, I ate a nice breakfast and tried to get online. I was pulled away by the head of security who wanted me and Dr. Lance to go with him to the new clinic and do a site tour and see how the flow would be there. It is a great new clinic and will be well organized and staffed. After that we ran around to a few more places so I can take yet more pics of the place. The poverty I saw I will never be able to explain by word or picture. We returned back to the dorms at noon for lunch and a nap. We have 40 new medical personnel coming in tomorrow after we leave. I need to clean up by bunk area and get packed for the long journey home.