Tenwek

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Hebrews 3:4
I came upon this verse yesterday before going in to work at the hospital last night. It reminds me of Tenwek's motto for lack of a better word which is We treat, Jesus heals. Before each surgery the team in the OR prays with the patient, entrusting the outcome to God. This verse is applicable to really anything in life but has been a particular reminder to me here as I fight for control of everything. I have lead up the nursing portion of this trip ever since the second trip here. Those who know me well know I tend to carry responsibility heavily at times (something I have been able to see more and more lately, especially with the help of friends pointing it out...yes walking in community is a joy, right). In my role here I am asked a million questions about how to do this, where to find this, can we get this med or this piece of equipment. But I tend to carry the responsibility further in terms of is everyone having a good trip, do they enjoy this, is it overwhelming, are they doing everything right, how will this all reflect upon me? So yes, I may be in a leadership position, but ultimately God is in control of each patient we care for an is in control of each person on the team and their experience and in control of my idenity. I am glad I do not have to carry that weight.
I sit right now in the ICU. Kristen let me borrow her computer for the long nightshift. Long because all of our patients are doing so well and are resting. We have four left in the unit but hopefully they will all go to the floor by tomorrow so we will start the week fresh. Our patients from Friday, Jehosophat (or Jo-Jo as Anna nicknamed him) and Micah both had great nights and great days. Today they did one surgery on Chelea and repaired her mitral valve. She has already taken chai and sat up in bed.
Last night I went through all our patients' charts to learn more of their history. I learned about how many years (yes years) they have been experiencing symptoms of heart failure. What this means in real life terms for them is that they cannot work or go to school or have a job. Many have had symptoms for four or so years and have just been on medicine to try and help their symptoms. Having this surgery means literally new life for them.
Crazy things happen in this place...patients do remarkably better at a faster rate than we see at home. As I witness this each year I still wonder if it is the Kenyan people or simply God working in each case to enable many to get helped during these weeks. Eunice, one of our patients who sleeps in front of me now had work done on multiple valves and had horrible lung pressures before her surgery and was on bypass for four hours (a very long time) yet she got her breathing tube out a few hours after surgery and was drinking water and talking.
We are a skeleton crew this weekend...the first week people have either gone home or are on safari and the new team will be here tomorrow. Today I pulled my hair up into a bun before work and when I got here both Kenyan nurses asked me if I had shaved my head...they are fascinated by my coil as they call it.
We went to see all our patients tonight and all are doing well. Duncan suffered a small stroke but his symptoms seem minimal...he wanted to make sure we knew what had happened and kept lifting up his weaker arm over and over. And he wants to know when he can go home. We went by the women's surgical ward to visit 2 of the women and had to shake a ton of hands and got a huge good-bye when we left. That is it...hoping the rest of the night will go by quickly!