Tuesday – I had a day off from coaching today, so as I sat at breakfast with the group of doctors, nurses and ultra sound techs that I had joined on this trip who are working at the local hospital I asked Dr. Stice if I could be of any use today? She said ‘yes’ and that I could be a runner between the two hospitals. I thought, sounds decent, I’ll have a bash at that. My room mate Tony had a spare pair of scrubs, so after bombing back to the room, quick change and bombing back upstairs we were ready to go.
On arrival to the hospital the doctors and nurses started prepping for surgery, my main job was to help Michaela continue reorganizing the store cupboard in the old surgery, which is where Dr. Stice would perform her skin grafts.
There are a lot of burn victims in Kenya due to people cooking with open flames, Dr. Stice had four surgeries that day and perhaps the worst was a little boy, no older than four with severe scarring from burns on his face, arms and hands. His arms and hands were so bad that he wasn’t able to use his hands at all. I have mentioned before that the sound of children’s laughter filling the air must be the greatest sound, well certainly the sound of a child crying must be the worst. There was a little girl, maybe three who was going into surgery, as she was leaving her mother and walking towards the unknown, her crying and screams filled the corridor to the theater. It certainly is a sound I won’t be able to forget in a hurry. If you look deeper in why the little girl was crying, you have to consider, not only the fear in the little girl, but also her mother who she was leaving, as well as the little boy who was waiting for his surgery. It’s hard to imagine what was going through their minds.
I do have to say what a great opportunity it was to be around all the medical team and watch them go about their business. When you think of the nature of their work, and how life altering it is, how much pressure they must be under to perform and the stresses it places on them all emotionally, you really look at them all in awe. Great great people doing wonderful things, and truly making a massive difference!!
Throughout the day I worked with Michaela, a former soccer player who I coached in Omaha for Toro Soccer Club, and who also trains at Mick Doyle’s gym with my good friend Matt Bentley, a small world huh? She has done a fantastic job cleaning and re-organizing the storage room.
When you imagine a hospital one of the first things that come to your mind is that they epitomize cleanliness, your view might be slightly changed if you were to visit where we were working.
During the day, we handed out gifts that the doctors had bought over with them, to the children in the children’s ward. Certainly not a happy place. Often there were 2 children to a bed, mothers with them, a hot and humid concrete block. Luckily we were able to put a few smiles on children’s and mothers faces :).
Today had highs and lows The highs have to be in watching the work of the medical team that Dr. Stice has assembled, operating often against resistance from the hospital staff, but still working hard and pushing forward for the greater good. Definitely the lows are when talking to the doctors how many of the current cases could have been prevented if they had received the correct procedure or diagnosis initially.
I feel very grateful for being allowed to witness the work of the medical team and I feel a massive sense of fortune for every patient that was able to be seen by the medical staff from Omaha that day. Omaha – a smaller city in the middle of America making massive difference in people’s on the other side of the world!
footybriggsy 