(For the record, Sandra has been an amazing voice for me here . . . she's almost loud enough to be heard here in Haiti from Missouri . . . any success can be greatly contributed to her efforts)
Is any one familiar with the little story . . . the man on
the beach, and all the starfish that had been washed up on the shore. As he walked down the beach, he would
throw every starfish back into the ocean.
Another person noticed what he was doing, and forewarned him that there
was no way he was going to get to every starfish . . . there were miles of
shoreline, tons of starfish, and only one person. The man picked up another starfish, threw it back into the
ocean, and said ‘Well, I made a difference for that one.’ This concept is the only thing that is
getting me through these past/upcoming days before I take a little break and
head to St. Louis (that, and plans of Cardinals and the playoffs . . .
woohoo!!).
When I was 18, I went to Hilton Head for our extended family
vacation. In July, the coast is
covered with jellyfish, many of which had been washed up on the shore. My cousins and myself performed our own
little rendition of the starfish story, throwing the jellyfish back into the
ocean. Now, I’m not exactly sure
the purpose of jellyfish within the animal kingdom, but at least we were maybe
preventing people from stepping on them.
[I also think I created good juju for myself as there were several times
I swam into jellyfish on that trip and did not get stung. Unfortunately, my little sister was not
as fortunate with the sea urchins as she was stung by a sting ray . . . a very
memorable trip for us all.]
This past Thursday was by far the most exhausting day since
I’ve been here (on multiple levels).
We were finally able to get the nurse anesthetist to come (a SIGNIFICANT
challenge in itself . . . so frustrating that I still don’t feel like going
into detail). When she said that
she would come at 7:00, she really meant 9:00; When I told her I wanted a
spinal for a cervical conization, she figured I did not know what I was talking
about, so she just did IV sedation.
I don’t think I have every been so frustrated with anesthesia in the OR,
and trust me, there were some challenges during residency.
Even though I was operating, they continued to allow
patients to pay to see me (oh, and did I mention previously, that it was
decided to charge patients more to see me . . . something I was never notified
about, it was only mentioned in passing several weeks after they started doing
it). So . . . following a long
frustrating day of cases, there were 14 people with pelvic pain waiting to see
me. At least we had enough
speculums to screen every one of them.
By the end of the day . . . I was exhausted, however I had
agreed to help the man in charge with a graduate/public health paper. As we began discussing the program, he
mentioned of plans to charge people for screening . . . a fact that I was not at
all pleased to hear about. It’s
been bad enough that the person I’m teaching how to screen is maybe here 60% of
the time (if that), but now charging people just for screening! I’m starting to become skeptical as to
whether or not this will be successful once I leave. I am a person full of knowledge and ideas (especially from a
public health standpoint), and at times I feel as if I have no voice here.
Unfortunately, we are out of LEEP loops, so the LEEPS have
come to a halt (I’ve done maybe 15 or 20 . . . and will be doing a lot more
when I come back . . . it’s a good thing that everyone here has cell phones as
we’ve been keeping track of everyone who needs to be treated). I’ve screened nearly 250 patients. A small number in comparison to how
many people are actually in Haiti, but I’m happy with that number
nonetheless. So . . . I’ve been
doing my best to lead the OSAPO hoarse to water, what if it doesn’t drink? At least I’ve made I difference for the
people I’ve seen here.
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