It is a special thing to be anointed by God. Rev. Silverio opened up the Word this morning to Psalm 133. In the psalm, King David talks about the pleasantness of brotherly (and sisterly) unity. He says that unity is like precious oil on the head. Silverio describes the power and the process of anointing and talks about being consecrated for the work of the Lord. He says that the work we are doing here in Antigua is the Lord’s work and then asks the team to stand in a circle to pray and meditate while he anoints our hands with oil. This outward sign of inward consecration sticks with me the rest of the day.
As we arrived at the Obras this morning each of the surgeons made rounds, checking on yesterday’s patients to make sure things are progressing without incident. The rooms for the recently operated are around a courtyard and are run by members of the FIP team as well as the many local nurses who work full-time at the hospital. Nurses play a vital role in the work we are doing here. Not only are they in operating rooms during surgeries assisting during critical moments, but they also are in charge of patient care in preparing these anxious people for surgery. Caring for the patient in the PACU (Post Anesthetic Care Unit), where they are the first faces seen as these people wake up from their operations, is another vital role they play. Nurses monitor, administer, comfort, reassure, and even sing to calm crying children.
One of the children we saw today was Dulce Adrianna, the little girl that has been breathing through an over-sized trach tube for the last two years. Dulce is a tiny four year-old girl with huge eyes that roam around the room with fascination and apprehension. Her eyes have been the only way to communicate for the last two years, but they speak in imperative, interogative, exclamatory, and declarative bursts. She required a tracheostomy two years ago for a presumed case of pneumonia and upper airway obstruction. Her mother says that she has been unable to afford any follow-up since. The trach has kept air from passing over her vocal cords, preventing her from making any meaningful sounds – even while crying. Dr. Manish Wani, our ENT for the week, had hopes for a simple procedure to remove the trach and open her airway. During surgery the large trach was removed, and Dr. Wani along with Dr. Erez and Dr. Johnston, our anesthesiologists for the case, worked to see if Dulce could breathe through her normal airways again. They cleared the airways, pumped air into her lungs, and implemented many other surgical techniques that I couldn’t hope explain. What it boils down to is that since Dulce has been using a trach for two years she cannot breathe without one today. The team was able, however, to replace her adult-sized trach with one that’s appropriate for a girl her age. This new trach will allow air to pass around it, and, if she puts her finger over the opening, she’ll be able to start talking again. Dulce woke up in the PACU with one of our nurses beside her – caring for her after the procedure. The most beautiful sound of the day was when the nurses could hear Dulce cry for the first time in two years. To calm this precious little girl down, the nurses tried all they could, but, in the end, Dulce’s mother put on a sanitary hat and garment and climbed into bed with her daughter who soon fell soundly asleep in her mother’s loving arms. This might not be the outcome we were hoping for today, but Dulce’s story is definitely not at an end, and the surgery performed today is still life altering. The doctors are hopeful that she will be able to breathe without the tube within a year.
Dulce’s case reminds me of our team’s limits: our access to equipment limits us, our imperfect knowledge of patient histories limits us, and our finite knowledge of the world of medicine limits us. It’s at these times that I’m also reassured that, although we have great physicians on the trip, we serve an even greater physician. He’s not only a great physician because he can heal our bodies. More importantly, he can heal our being. All we can hope to do in the O.R. is make someone’s body function better than when it entered. The Great Physician promises us that he can help make us completely whole: both body and spirit.
Please continue to pray and support our team and the many patients we have yet to serve this week. Today is a perfect example of both the need and the power of your prayers.
-Joel Bacon 4/4/17