Today is the first day I have woken up way early in the morning..I thought my time clock was past the time change, but apparently not :) It isn't too bad because I work at 7 so I would have to wake up soon anyway.
This year our surgeons and turnover times between cases have been faster so they have been finished with the second surgery around 5 or so instead of the 10 or so of years past. So today we will do 3 cases. I don't live in the reality of the cardiologists in the clinic and honestly I am kind of glad to avoid their tough job. They screen countless patients and are at the point where we have found plenty of patients for the week and are now telling patients that they can't have surgery right now. Last night they were weary from the burden of their job. And I don't blame them. So we jointly decided to push things a little and try to do 3 cases each day for the next 3 days to get a few more cases taken care of. I would rather be really busy and have helped 3 more people. They have scheduled a few patients who they expect to be very sick for Thursday and Friday, which are the nights I am working :)
Yesterday I felt myself getting frustrated towards the afternoon, not at anything in particular but just felt my patience waning. Sometimes being there all day, teaching the nurses while making sure the patients' are getting good care, answering everyone's questions, etc just puts me over the line on patience. I am praying that the Lord would bring me the patience I need...I know it is not something I can muster up. Even in the midst of that yesterday I laughed at my impatience when I looked around and saw 4 sweet Kenyan nurses at the foot of the new patients bed working on charting, asking about their pulses....God is doing great things here and I am blessed to be a part of it.
Our second patient yesterday, Agnes, is a young Mom. As soon as she got her breathing tube out she was literally praising God. She wanted me to pray for her. Then she kept saying "I am so tired, so tired, praise God" in her sweet Kenyan English. Agnes has had symptoms from her Rheumatic Heart Disease since 2005. Our first patient, Lillian was a bit sicker for a few hours, but she turned the corner and got her tube out and of course immediately wanted water. She is also a mother (yes, so far we have done all female patients ;) of 4. The oldest is 14 and the youngest a baby. She lives in Eldoret. I look forward to getting to know these two ladies a bit better today.
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