It's a Surgery Thing

This week Project Perfect World will do 20 surgeries (including 5 scoliosis surgeries) in 5 days. The

kids are all impressive, but I had the opportunity to get to know 3-year-old Katy particularly well.

I met Katy in clinic on Sunday. She came up to the administrative group running the clinic from a makeshift table; sat down on the bench next to us; and said, “hola!” For the rest of the day she participated as if she was one of the staff (sometimes we wished she wasn't quite so helpful). We were immediately charmed.

I ran into Katy again when she came with her family for surgery on Wednesday. She had hip dysplasia (a dislocated hip) that caused her to walk with one foot on her tippy-toe. Project Perfect World’s Dr. Schwend planned to surgically put the hip back in the joint and cast her in a spica cast.

Katy’s surgery went well, and she came to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) with an epidural. The local nurses who take care of our patients on the patient floor are not trained to maintain epidurals so we kept Katy in the PACU for six hours to allow her to take advantage of the pain medication as long as possible.

It was in the PACU that I really got to know Katy – she is a charming, patient, savvy young lady.

When we told her she could only have a little water for now, she rationed the water she had. She lifted her sippy cup to visually measure what she had left before she took a sip – only a sip. She had remarkable self-control.

We gave Katy a stuffed unicorn to play with, and she asked if there was a toy she could take to her sister. Initially we thought she was the sweetest thing ever, but her father quickly set us straight. He said that she had figured out that if her sister had a toy too, she was less likely to try and play with Katy’s. Pretty smart for a 3-year-old.

Katy’s parents expressed their deep gratitude to Project Perfect World for helping their child. I too was grateful to get to know such a great kid and to be a part of her care.

We also had a heroic rescue today by one of our OR nurses, Lisa. The OR teams were working away when they heard a loud CRASH. Lisa ran out into the hall and saw a man’s legs hanging from the ceiling. He had been doing some maintenance work and had taken a fall. Dust and debris was everywhere.

Lisa quickly wheeled a gurney under to catch him and yelled, “drop!” Somehow he understood her command in English, and let go. He dropped onto the gurney. Lisa saved the day.

Only in Ecuador. 

Quote of the day: A local Resident serving as a medical translator was telling us that there is no call system for physicians in Ecuador. He said that if you are shot on the weekend, the laws prohibit a surgeon from caring for you until Monday morning. He summed up the problem by stating, "It's really easy to die in Ecuador."

Below are more photos from Roberto. They are far more descriptive of this experience than my words.