Merry Christmas!

One of the PT's had a birthday and we took group photos after the party!

The weeks are starting to blur together so its getting harder to remember what has happened the previous week! I had to look at my photos to remember what has happened! I'll get to what I've been up to but first...a patient update!

The first week I got here a woman named Claudine with a massive thyroid goiter arrived. She was admitted as a special case because the doctors didn't think that she would survive until the general surgery rotation that starts in January because the tumor was restricting her airway. She was admitted for 3 weeks prior to her surgery because her blood levels were unsafe to operate right away. She was such a trooper, and everyone started referring to her as Mamma Claudine. I saw Claudine a lot during her time here because she was admitted to the C ward, which also houses the plastics patients that are farther along in their recovery. So Claudine had to live in a ward with the rowdiest of plastics patients, all the while not really understanding why she wasn't getting surgery. Of course it was explained to her that the doctors were waiting for her blood work to normalize but I don't think she had any idea it would take as long as it did! The day before her surgery she got moved to a different ward and I just so happened to see her in D ward while looking for another patient. She had just found out that she was having surgery and was SO scared and didn't have her C ward family around. I comforted her and told her I would come back in the morning before her surgery. When I went back the next morning, the OR team was prepping her for surgery, tears were streaming down her face and she was clutching her Bible. I gave her a hug and I told her that I couldn't wait to see her after surgery. Unfortunately, she was discharged before I got the chance to go see her.  On Thursday I walked down the gangway to go out to the rehab tent and saw a bunch of the plastics patients sitting under the tents waiting for their visits. As I was hugging the patients I saw a face I recognized but it took me a minute to recognize Claudine! I just exclaimed "C'est Joli" (It's pretty)Everything about her has changed, her hair, her smile, her confidence...and no doubt she probably feels so much better! She wasn't even my patient but I just love the before and after transformation and I'm so happy for her! I'm so glad I got to see her before she was discharged!

Claudine before surgery

I just love how her sassy personality shines through after surgery. 

Claudine after surgery and after a makeover :)

My favorite part of the week was working with the Carpenter Joe, and his friend GK. We have a young patient named Rubain with a severe deformity of his leg. His leg was so big from elephantitis that he couldn't hold it up on his own. His ankle was completely dislocated and he was walking on his Medial malleolus. His left leg is 17 cm longer than his right, and he has to use a walking stick to move around. Poor thing said he wanted to be able to run like the other boys after surgery, so he can play football with the rest of the kids. The surgeon's plan was to de-bulk the elephantitis to make the leg smaller and relocate the ankle joint and place a pin in it to make it a more functional foot/ankle joint. I knew that he would be non-weight bearing after surgery and  I also knew that he wouldn't be able to  hold is own leg up after surgery which would rule out using crutches. So I asked the carpenter to build a knee walker. I had a pipe dream of a knee scooter but wheels are hard to come by here and wheels are not really functional in a place without sidewalks and smooth surfaces to wheel on, so I settled for a knee walker/platform. I took a rudimentary sketch of what I wanted and I was given a masterpiece! I love that I work somewhere that I can ask a carpenter to build me a custom piece of adaptive equipment!I also got to learn how to use a Japanese pull saw, purely because I was hanging around while Joe and GK were working and asking too many questions.

Joe working on the knee walker, you have no idea how HOT it is in his shop. I'm so grateful for his hard work in the sweltering heat!!

After giving Rubain the knee walker he was SO happy to be able to get up and walk around. I think Joe and GK were even more excited to be able to help a patient in this way. Joe told me several times that helping this patient was his priority and everyone else would have to wait. GK told me that this was the best thing he has done since he has been here, and I'm pretty sure he has much more important things to do... like, keeping the ship running! I'm going to call communications to take a picture of Rubain with the walker tomorrow, I don't have any pictures of him using it since it's a holiday weekend! EDIT: We got a photographer to come take group photos of us up on Deck 7!

At the moment, Joe is STILL working on perfecting this bad boy!

I love this photo because you see how much GK just loves Rubain!

I love how excited Joe is to see Rubain enjoy this walker!!

Don't you just LOVE that smile?!

What a champ!!

Sideview of the knee walker, they even made it adjustable and put a rocker bottom foot on so it's a more functional "heel to toe" type gait pattern.

They've modified it since this but you get the idea! We even got foam from the head engineer and they upholstered the foam!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration on the ship! Complete with friends, overeating, FaceTime family calls, and Carols! The Christmas eve Church services at the Hope Center and on board were fantastic! The bells group played another song, we sang Alleluia(the Cloverton version with Christmas lyrics), and read the Christmas story from Luke. There is a Christmas tradition aboard the ship, we put a shoe out on Christmas eve and it mysteriously gets filled with treats! I woke up to find a lot of candy and cookies, and a wooden Christmas Ornament in the shape of Cameroon! It was so fun to have some presents to open! My sister sent a package for me but it's been at customs for a week so...I'm not sure I'll get it anytime soon!

Christmas morning pastries and coffee

Two of my faves

Christmas Lunch

Christmas lunch

Christmas eve dinner with the rehab gals

Pretending we were somewhere cold!

I tried to make bizcochitos for our Christmas eve party, they didn't taste like legit NM bizcochitos but they were good cookies...I mean good little cinnamon-sugary biscuits. 

This week the first plastics block ended :( But it will start again January 20th. Some of the team went home so we took some photos of the first block team!

The whole gang!

Daily rounds crew!

My partner in crime, Chelsea the OT on the plastics ward. We were taking a much needed coffee break!

The rest of the photos are just photos that are cute and Christmasy!

Sassy little Kari

Zidane is my actual Favorite, ssssshhh!

This is the face you get when dance behind the photographer

Merry Christmas!!

My favorite little buddy Zidane colored this and then said that it was he and I. If you look closely he wrote SiSi underneath the girl and his name under the boy. It's a spitting image of us.

 And...since I work in a hospital and have a lot of healthcare worker friends I want to share this photo because it cracks me up! This photo is on every single bathroom stall wall on the ship, even the bathrooms in my room! Number 8 is the best, but if your urine actually looks like this, I think you're past dehydration and maybe have rhabdomyolisis or kidney failure....but drink up!

I can't believe this but after this week I'm half way! Time sure has flown! I'm hiking Mount Cameroon this weekend and I can't wait! I have 3 days off so we're hiking it over 3 days and hired a tour company to take us. I feel weird hiring people to hike but there isn't really a way to hike it with out hiring these guides. I can't wait to update you on my trip! Until then.. I miss your faces!