This will likely be my LAST post from Peru! It is crazy how fast the last month has gone, although at the same time we have done a lot and I'm ready for some rest.
Yesterday, I was with the Oklahoma medical mission in the OR from 8 AM-8 PM. A surgeon and anesthesiologist came down with the team to do hernia sugeries (a hernia is an abnormal sac that protrudes through the abdominal wall that may contain intestines, tissues, etc.). They have been doing 7 or 8 surgeries every day (which is a lot for the same team to do at once). It was a very interesting day but also a very long day. In the U.S., a patient will have different nurses for preop, surgery, recovery, and postop. Here we stick with once patient all the way through their time at the clinic, then take on another when he/she is discharged.
Here's a little summary of what we do where-
Preop: Check the patient in, take vitals, start IV's (I started my first "real" one here, but have practiced on several willing amigas before this), give meds (ex. Zofran for nausea), and get all paperwork in order.
Surgery: Mostly watching, some assisting but nothing huge. The surgeon and anesthesiologist were explaining things as they happened. My first patient had a laryngospasm when coming off the breathing tube- closure of the throat so that no air can pass through. He did eventually wake up with no problems
Recovery/Postop- Anesthesia slows everything down in the body, so it is important to maintain good vitals. Immediately, the patient receives oxygen via mask and is on continuous pulse oximetry. We take vitals every 15 minutes for an hour. Slowly we get the patient to sit up, drink some water, and have some crackers. Pain management is also very important (mostly just with Ibuprofen here). Some patients throw up, others are dizzy. Eventually the patient sits in a chair, at which time we bring in the family to talk about how to care for the patient once he/she leaves us.
Last night we went to a "fancy" place for dessert and cappuccino and stayed up too late doing homework.

This morning I was with social services, which today meant building a house. We were with a group of missionaries from California. The houses are made mostly of bamboo. It was a fun way to end my time here!

The three Marquette nurses who joined in on construction today

The team with the family we were building the house for- this was our progress when we left at noon. The CA group will go back to finish it this afternoon.

All I have left now is our final evaluation with the clinical instructor (in literally 5 minutes)... wish me luck!

Our flight departs from Piura tomorrow morning at 0800. I will be back in the U.S. at 6 AM Saturday morning, and in Chicago at 6:30 PM Saturday. I am excited to see some of you when I get back, especially my little dog ;) I recently received some pretty cute pictures of him via email from my family & realized that I miss him a lot!

¡Hasta luego!

Love,

Hope