One of those days...

So even in Haiti you have "those days" and today was one of them! The Haitian staff didn't seem to want to work today, and we had less international staff than usual. Needless to say sometimes a language barrier is a good thing so hopefully they couldn't understand all the mumbling under my breath. To their credit though, I think they just found out that May 28th the CTC will close so in about a month they will all be without jobs. But it did make for a LONG day. I was feeling down until just before we left a little girl probably about 5 or 6 came in unresponsive. I quickly stuck a line in her and opened up the fluids. After about 500 cc I finally could feel a radial pulse. She slowly opened her eyes to see this white girl hovering over her which would normally freak the kids out but she just smiled this sweet angelic smile...and then I remembered why I do this and that it is SO worth it! (As you can see in the picture...she is doing much better now and definitely hasn't lost that smile!!) Also met the cutest Haitian boy who has Down Syndrome. His name was Daveson and he became my little buddy. I played balloon volleyball with him and had him listen to his own heartbeat. His little giggles would just melt your heart! Makes all the rough stuff worth it! Finishing out my last 2 days here then off to home Saturday!

So we had another round of goodbyes this morning...yuck! Miss the crew already and I swear I will hear someone come into the lounge and think it's someone who is gone already. The good news is, the next round of send-offs will include me! And I still have Nicole here to help me keep my sanity! So apparently word has gotten out that next week the SP CTC will no longer be accepting transfers because we got slaughtered with them today...I think about 15 in one hours time. But the triage tent rocked of course with Dr. Andrew, Dr. Taina, Sheriline and myself keeping the flow going! Apparently I started an IV on a famous Haitian comedian...of course I didn't find that out til after I sent him to the back. I do have to say I didn't find him very funny! :). A sad note to the day was a father telling one of the nurses that he wanted to send his baby to an orphanage because he has 7 other kids and can't afford this little one. Our staff tried to help him out by giving him formula and diapers but next thing we know he made a phone call to someone who agreed to take the baby. One of the American nurses took it pretty hard because she's been taking care of this little one for days. Next thing we know the Haitian nurse comes back from discharge with the family's address and phone number and gave it to the nurse like she could come take him with her. Reality really hits home here sometimes! But tomorrow is another day so we press on...

Mountain top experience

So the girls finally convinced me I should take the day off since I haven't had one and looks like with the staff coming in that I won't have a chance to get one. Since I got here, I've had my eyes on the mountains behind the compound. So today I decided to head out early in the morning to beat the heat and see if I could make it to the top. I asked one of the guys on staff here if it was ok that I headed out by myself and he said that was fine although he told me it was harder than it looks. Apparently he had no idea who he was talking to! Just no one tell my mom I did it alone!! I didnt want to take the path so just decided to pick a point and start heading up. Needless to say my legs bare the scars of the thorn bushes I encountered. It was an amazing hike up and the view was awesome! I decided to just sit up there for a while and enjoy the view but more importantly the quiet! I'll have to post some pics when I get home. The trek down was actually harder than heading up as it was a pretty steep decent. Took me about 2 hours total and it was so worth it! Decided to take it easy the rest of the afternoon and took a nap, read a book, and watched a movie! Heading into my last week here and it's bitter sweet...

Resurrection Sunday...

So I woke up at 4 am this morning so I got to enjoy the sunrise over the mountains! What a great way to start Resurrection Sunday. After a quick breakfast we had a nice Sunrise Chapel before heading to the CTC. Last night me and one of the girls made Easter bags to take to the CTC this morning. Once we gave out the bags, I think the parents enjoyed them more than the kids. We also got to pass out some stuffed animals as well...one of the nurses actually carried hers around all day! Most of the day was uneventful and we sent some of the team home early to enjoy the Easter holiday. I am proud to announce I got over my Peds slump today...got an IV on a 4 month old twin today! Finally came home to a nice dinner and then chapel to close out the day!

Goodbyes

So we sent some of our team home today. Funny how you get close to people in such a short time when you are working together like we do. So we said our goodbyes and headed out for the CTC. Beginning of the day started slow again. Headed in to Peds and enjoyed some time playing balloon volleyball with some of the older kids. Then things started to pick up. Even got to show a new nurse how to start an IV! Then we got 2 critical patients within minutes of each other...and then ambulances started rolling in! And it's definitely not like the States. Each ambulance brings 5 or so pts at a time. At one point we were running out of spots in the IV tent. Thankfully the wards at the CTC are more forgiving then the floors at the hospital. As soon as we got an IV and started some fluids they were ready to go back...no need for long reports! I have to say the Dr and nurses I worked with today were ROCKSTARS! At the end of the day an ambulance pulled up lights and sirens so I of course start pulling stuff to start an IV and hang some fluids...I was in the zone! All of a sudden the Haitian doctor starts laughing and looks at me and says 3 little letters - ORS - which means they look good and just need to drink oral rehydration solution. Can't say I wasn't ready though! Decided to spend the rest of the afternoon holding and playing with cute babies! Looking forward to Easter Sunday in Haiti. We will be working but sounds like we are having a Sunrise Service so sounds like a great start to the day!

You should never sleep in Haiti!

Part 1

So I decided to hit the hay a little early last night since I haven't been sleeping much. Bad mistake!  Apparently about 10 pm there was an accident just down the road from the compound.  One of the SP security guards saw it and came back to the base to get the medical team.  They only took guys so I probably wouldn't have gotten to go anyway but I sure would have tried!  A large dump truck had broken down in the middle of the road and a truck carrying a load of bananas and passengers ran straight into the back of the truck.  What appeared to be the driver had basically severed his foot and another person had possible hip or pelvic fracture.  Our docs and nurses ended up throwing the patients in the back of the truck and transporting them to a nearby hospital. I'm a little jealous to say the least so no more sleeping for me!

Good Friday...emphasis on the GOOD!

Off to the CTC we went this morning but for me that didn't last very long. We did have a couple of really sick unconscious ones come in early but then the day slowed down dramatically. About noon they asked if I wanted to go home early and since most every one else is leaving tomorrow and wanted to stay I left. Had a nice lunch and then one of the SP staff asked if we wanted to go to a small nearby orphanage. I had planned on jumping in the pool but this sounded like a much better option. It is run by a set of brothers who were orphaned as children. After the earthquake they saw there was a great need for someone to have a place for the many children now orphaned. They currently have 15 kids - 10 boys and 5 girls. It was so much fun to just be able to play with them and love on them. We did alot of singing and dancing!! One of the ladies had some candy so we got to pass out treats too. Once we got back to the compound we were able to enjoy some down time and watch an amazing sunset. And to round off the day we had a worship service and the Lord's Supper in the outdoor chapel...it just doesn't get any better than that!

Is it over yet?

Well I felt every one of my 12 hours today! When we arrived at the clinic today, there was already an infant with an IO in place who was looking pretty bad. While trying to bolus the baby the IO went bad. That started the decline for the whole day. I lost count of how many times we attempted IV sites. Eventually we got a scalp site. Another great reminder on why Peds Is not my nursing of choice! The difficult Peds cases just kept rolling in. We even attempted a couple of jugular sites too. By the end of the day we had most every body looking a little better but it was going to be a slow process to get them to looking great. The nurse I worked with today, Touissant, asked me earlier in the day if I knew Spanish and I told her 'just a little.' As the day was winding down we were both getting tired and all the IV misses were getting to us. I looked at her and in my best Spanish said 'no mas' which means 'no more!'. We both just started cracking up and thankfully there were no more! Tomorrow can only be better right?

Crazy day...

So I was in triage again today and we started out pretty busy. I think we admitted 5-6 in the first couple of hours. We even had one patient come by ambulance...lights and sirens too!! After that things got SUPER slow. The Haitian staff was playing all kinds of music for me and I got some time to work on my sunburn! Finally they decided to send a few of us home early...who knew you could be budgeted hours on a mission trip! I was ensured my pay would not be docked though! ;) The ride home was adventurous to say the least. Apparently the city of Titanyen (where our compound is located) decided to riot because they want electricity so the traffic was crazy and there were hundreds of people walking the streets. The usual 20 min trip took about an hour and a half I think. We weren't sure we were going to make it to our road since we had crossed over to the oncoming traffic side to get position - not uncommon in Haiti at all. Eventually we were able to push our way across. Wasn't scary or anything...just crazy! We had a few new team members arrive yesterday and found out this morning one of them is from Indy...yeah for more Hoosiers. Well off to dinner I go.

Moving day...

Today started out kind of slow. I was banished to the triage tent where NOTHING was going on! So I did get to work on my tan (aka sunburn) a little. I had the best Haitian staff to work with. The nurses name Sheriline which is funny since my name is Sheri Lynn! We had a nursing student, Magaretta working with us too who was amazing! I told her I wanted to bring her back to the States to work with me. Part way through our shift they decided they wanted to spray the tent 'for malaria' which I assume means for Mosquitos. So we had to move all 25 patients from one building to another...good times. Then as always when I'm in triage the bus pulled up and unloaded! Ok so really it was 8 transfers from a local hospital. We were told they would all just need orally hydrated and then could be released...so not what showed up. Four of the patients already had IV's going and several had NG tubes in place. We immediately admitted 4 of them to the Peds ward. Then a very sick baby showed up with probable pneumonia that we transferred to a local hospital since we are only equipped for cholera treatment. They wanted a nurse to go with the baby but for some reason they wouldn't let me go! Go figure! That's the main highlights of the day...back at it tomorrow!

Life in the cholera ward...

So we headed back to the CTC today and I was back to the women's ward. Sounds like tomorrow I might get moved to either triage or Peds. I'm hoping for triage! Had the same patients as yesterday so it was nice to see the change in most of them. Our side only had one admission and a couple discharges so the pace was kinda slow. The other nurse and I fought over who gets to do vital signs. I did get a chance to have a thought provoking conversation with a nurse from the states and a nurse who is here with SP for several months. It was great to just be able to talk with people who 'get' the whole Haiti thing! The conversations were challenging and encouraging at the same time as well...just what I needed!

Just another day in paradise...

So today was my first day at the CTC and besides all the bleach water everywhere and LOTS of buckets of diarrhea and emesis it wasn't much different from a day in the ER. Hung lots of IV fluids, started a few IV's and got meds from the pharmacy! The CTC is setup as 3 separate areas - the mens ward, womens ward, and the children's ward. I'm very thankful for all the Peds nurses we have here...I got to hang out with another nurse in the Womens ward which was the busiest today. We were working with Dr Daniel, who is Haitian, and a couple of Haitian nurses and translators as well. Discharged 3 ladies in the first couple of hours I was there but had to admit a few more later in the day. The whole CTC only had about 20-25 pts today so it's definitely slowing down. In the afternoon when everyone was settled in, the Haitian busted out some Michael Jackson tunes and we got a few of them to try moonwalking...good times to say the least! It was funny to see change of shift there...in most ways it seemed much like our change of shift in the ER. Everybody sitting around catching up and laughing. One strange difference is the doctor gives report to the nursing staff and walks bed to bed with them to give them the updates. I'll stick to our American way I think! One lesson learned today...always bring Zofran ODT with me. We had a young girl today who wouldn't stop vomiting. As the Dr and I were talking, he mentioned something about us not having Zofran in the pharmacy. It jogged my memory that I usually bring some along just in case. I thankfully had a couple tabs in my handy first aid kit. After about 15 minutes of taking the med the young girl was thirsty and wouldn't stop drinking...in an hour she looked like a new person! Well more adventures tomorrow...

I made it...

So had an uneventful day of travel other than not sleeping last night. Got here about 5 pm with all my luggage which is more than some of the others can say! The compound is nice here except no air conditioning so I'm going to guess I won't be doing much sleeping for the next 2 wks, but sleep is highly overrated! We had lots of fresh veggies and fruit tonight for dinner. Gotta love that. Then the medical crew got a little orientation so we can head to the cholera treatment center (ctc) tomorrow at 6:30am. We have a staff lounge where we can hang out at night and be on the Internet or watch dvd's. I would be just fine with no TV for 2 wks. So far only 2 drawbacks to this organization...none of my usual friends are here and there is no roof to sit on...whatever shall I do at night! Well that's the scoop for the day...check back tomorrow for another update!

It's been a while...

So I did a mission presentation the other night at my sister's church for the children's AWANA program. As much as I am not a fan of public speaking, I really enjoyed it...I guess if you love something enough the talking part comes easy. After the presentation a lady asked me if I had a website and I was like "no," but afterward remembered I had this great blog I never write on! So figured I would put a little update on here and hopefully will get a chance to post a little on my trip coming up. I leave in just over a week for my next adventure to Haiti and will be there for 2 weeks. This one looks to be a much different trip. I will be heading to Citi Soleil, Haiti with Samaritan's Purse to work in a cholera treatment center. I will be working 12 hours a day (or night) for 12 days straight. Looks to be an exhausting trip, but I am totally excited about the trip. Looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me this time around!