Days in the Operaing Room at Moratai

Just a note:  Our internet hook-up is down more than it is up.  Think of old dial-up internet then it is about 50% slower than that.  Please do not forward me any cute internet stories or jokes, I cannot open them and please take me off of any mass lists for emails right now.  What I would love is news from home. I feel so far away and removed from any normalacy that it would be great to hear about what  you are doing at home.  Email me me_jennings@hotmail.com  THANKS!!!!  Melinda :)
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July 13th, 2010  Today we finally got patients. This morning all the different teams started to go out to Moratai – medical teams, dental teams, engineering teams, vet teams, and the surgical teams. They either traveled by helicopter or Bandaid boat. There was excitement in the air after being at sea for the past 8 days. Those of us who did not go out with the Surgery Team (SurgCap) got the OR's all ready to go. Everything is either tied to the floors or the walls (bulkheads) so it is safe during the time we are at sea. We had to undo all the ties, wipe down all our rooms, mop them and get them stocked and ready to go.

The patients started to come aboard the ship around 2pm. Each patient comes with an escort so they do not have be ever be alone. They are required to wear masks until after they have been cleared of tuberculosis. All patients and their escorts get a chest x-ray first thing. First they come to CASRAC (causality receiving area) and are screened. If they are free from TB they can go to the next screening area.

I finally got a case around 4pm a 5-6cm facial nevus. (A large black, bumpy birth mark about 3 inches in diameter. This gentleman was in his 20's and just got married 2 weeks ago. He and his wife were very sweet. I worked with Dr. Lim a plastic surgeon from Virginia. He is very efficient and good to work with.

We have to do with what we have on the ship as often we do not have exactly what we need. Notice the make-shift toilet

 If we don't have what doc's want they just have to make do with something else. There are no reps to run over supplies and no overnight FedEx for us. I made a bunch of head donuts for positioning out of blue towels and kerlix sponge rolls today. If we don't have it we create it. Often the surgeon asks for something that we don't have. We did not have gasket we needed and so I suggested we try stretching a glove over the port and it worked. Here we are definitely living the motto: Reuse, Make do, Do without. I think surgeons in the states need to do this more often as so much can go to waste.

On the 14th I worked plastic surgery all day and was able to see my first cleft palate and cleft lip repairs. They went well and these 2 young boys actually looked like normal children after wards. What a blessing! One of my cases took 5 ½ hours. That is a long time to be in surgery!  I worked with an Indonesian Nurse named Heru who is in the picture below.  We did a lot of cataract surgeries, hernias, hysterectomies, masses, thyroidectomy and a couple ganglion cysts. We ran 5 rooms and I think did around 15 surgeries. We can only do surgeries that have a short recovery time as we are only here another 2 days. I am bone tired. 5 am is super early for me. I'm thinking I'll be in bed by 8pm tonight.

15th: Today was a wild surgery day. I had a patient that had a uterine fibroid that was as large as my head. She looked about 36 week pregnant. I think no one in the states would let a fibroid grow so big without seeing a doctor and this poor woman has not even had the opportunity to ever see a doctor. It was the most exciting room as far as unusual cases go so I had a ton of visitors all taking pictures. I even got quite a few myself. The case took us 6 hours and had all sorts of complications. I finally kicked everyone out so we could just do our case and not be a tourist attraction. It is much different here than the states.

16th: Today was our last OR day in Moratai. Days are busy and I had not been outside in 3 days. The Navy and the NGO surgeons have been fabulous. All my days have been pleasant – just very long at times. Luckily we finished by 3pm so a couple of us sat out on the deck for about an hour just enjoying the sun. When I am in the OR I seem to forget that I am on a ship in the middle of the Pacific ocean on the other side of the world.

17th: I found out this morning that I will be part of a SurgCap tomorrow in Ternate. We will all be helicoptered in to our site. I am so excited to go by helicopter! We will be finding patients for our next 5 days of surgery. We did around 49 surgeries in Moratai in the last 3 ½ days.