This
week having come back from excursion, I am beginning to really feel like I am
truly running out of time. I have been trying to plan my last two weeks and
it’s been really sad but kind of motivating. Each day I have something fun
planned which I hope will help to even out the sadness. Despite being ready to
go home, I really don’t ever want to leave this place.
I
went into my third round of surgeries with one of the student physios from
Denmark. It was her last day and it was cool to observe with her since she had
much more knowledge on human anatomy than myself, and prior experience with
surgeries. She was able to ask questions and explain the previous symptoms of
the patient, what the surgeons were doing to fix it, and what the probable
recovery would look like. I found it so interesting to be able to hear a
patient’s case from start to finish. It helps not just from a learning stance,
but to better understand the pain of the patient. This time we watched two
student doctors operate on a patient. In the past I have seen a surgeon working
with a student so this was a different dynamic. The students turned on their
playlists which really relaxed us all. We were laughing and feeling the music
so much so that at times I even forgot I was in surgery. As we waited for the
next patient, the student doctors and physio all sat in the break room together
and at some point got into a conversation about different countries and their
capitals. They were trying to guess a capital of a pretty well- known country in
my opinion, and with every wrong guess, I was able to correct them and name
which country that was from. They were all thoroughly impressed because as an
American they believed that we often lacked the global awareness that most
other countries had. I have never been so proud to break an American stereotype.
For
Easter, I was able to help out at Red Cross in the burn victims wing. I can’t
even begin to say that I was unprepared for what lied ahead, but I am glad that
I did it. I spent much of my time talking to a little girl who was hooked up to
a machine and had a bandage around her head with her eyes and mouth swollen
shut. I could barely tell that she was even responsive other than the fact that
she managed to turn towards me in her crib as I stroked her leg because even
her little hands were completely bandaged up. Another one of the patients I
played with was a one-year-old baby boy. As I disinfected the games I had just
used with another patient, I heard him crying as he tried to crawl onto his pillow.
My heart broke. Since he was mostly bandaged as well, I could only touch his
hand. But even with that, he held on, stopped moving, and stopped crying. On
this day I managed to make it to three different patients and each one was such
a gift. Having worked with many children injured in car accidents and left to
recuperate in cots for months with few visits from family, I was amazed at
these circumstances. How strong these kids were to battle burns all over their
bodies, some not even able to see or move for weeks. If nothing else, my time
spent here has showed me just how lucky I am to be in good health and have the
funds to travel and afford the necessities. Whenever times are rough, I must
think back to the people I have had the pleasure of meeting and push forward
knowing they would do the same. Having gone to church every single Easter of my
life, this year was unique. Though I definitely would not call myself religious
by any means, I felt as if what I was doing was like church in a way. Interacting
with the kids was not only satisfying but left me feeling happier and more at
peace.
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