Tenwek Day #11: Our Last Day of Surgery Recap

Hi Everyone... sorry for the lapse in blog posts over the past several days.  We finished our last day of surgery on Thursday, November 17th.  We got the first patient in the OR a couple hours early (5:30 am) in anticipation of doing 3 open hearts on our final day.  The third case was canceled sometime in the early afternoon for reasons I'm unsure of.  By the time we finished the second case, ate dinner, had a final conference with the whole team in the ICU to recap the 2 weeks of work, copied photos to patients and staff who requested them and packed to leave on safari it was 2:00 am.  

With only 4 hours to sleep before leaving, our last day was a mad rush to check out of Tenwek, say our final good-bye's (for this year...) and board the Land Cruisers for the Masaii Mara.  Unfortunately, there was no time to post.  The safari lodge we stayed at this year did not have any wifi or internet connections so I was stranded from the world-wide-web for the last 3 days of our trip to Kenya.  To be honest, it was nice to have a forced break from everything and just enjoy every moment of the last 3 days in Africa.  But more on that later... 

Because of how the surgery cases lined up the previous day, the second case on the last day was my case.  While the first case was finishing up in the OR, I was able to take a much needed Fanta & Mendazi break with my dear friend Bea who joined our Tenwek team this year.  Bea and I used to work together at Children's Hospital San Diego "back-in-the-day".  It was so nice to look up during the cases this past week and see Bea at the table again... just like the good-ole-days at Children's San Diego...

Everything went very well in surgery on Thursday.  Our 3rd open heart procedure was canceled in the early afternoon, so the last surgery of our 2 week visit would be my case.  The picture above and below is of Dr. Agneta comforting our last patient Kip, a 12 y/o boy just prior to being put to sleep for the procedure.

Kip was visibly nervous about the procedure and the unfamiliar surroundings in the Tenwek operating room.  Dr. Agneta was at his side the entire time holding his hand, rubbing his chest and praying with him.  Tenwek Hospital, the patients and our cardiac team are all very blessed to have Dr. Agneta in the surgical residency program at Tenwek watching over and caring for our patients.

At the completion of every surgery, the surgical repair is evaluated in the operating room by one of our echocardiologists after weaning the patient from the heart-lung machine, just prior to closing the chest. 

(From left to right above) Dr. Mike is doing the post-bypass ECHO while the President of Tenwek Hospital looks on.  Dr. Carol (Tenwek General Surgeon, 2nd from right) and Dr. Malik (anesthesiologist) listen to Dr. Mike's verbal report as he evaluates the repair  from an esophogeal probe that is placed into the patient's esophogus, directly behind the heart giving the team a close-up view of the patient's heart and the surgical repair that has just been completed.

After Dr. Mike asks to "dim the lights" in the OR the entire team waits patiently for his step-by-step verbal evaluation of the surgical repair... the direction and velocity of blood flow... the measurements of various vascular structures... and finally... after much anticipation... the cardiac team is relieved to see Dr. Mike display the universally accepted international medical sign language for confirmation of a successful cardiac surgical repair.  Thanks Dr. Mike!

Around 8:30 we transported Kip to the ICU.  The OR was uncharacteristically silent and empty for the first time since we arrived 2 weeks ago.

When little Kip was transported to the ICU and everyone saw how good he was doing the camera's started flashing as everyone celebrated the conclusion of our first-ever 2 weeks of cardiac surgery at Tenwek. 

 

 

From left to right above are our ICU physicians; Dr. Mary (Critical Care/Cardiologist), Dr. Marek (Critical Care), Dr. Andy (Critical Care/Cardiologist) and Dr. Jenny (Critical Care).

From left to right above are some of our ICU nurses; Kristen D., Whitney, Kristen B., and Lisa. 

Kristen B. and Dr. Mary!

After a quick dinner in the guesthouse we had an impromtu conference in the ICU with Dr. Russ and the entire cardiac team to recap our 2 weeks of surgery at Tenwek.  Dr. Russ thanked our entire team, celebrated our accomplishments and gave us perspective on our challenges and losses over the past 2 weeks.  He also looked to the future by sharing the results of a visit by Franklin Graham 2 weeks ago when the first wave of our cardiac team arrived.  We also discussed plans for our upcoming return cardiac trip in 2012.

As we all cleaned up in preparation for leaving in the morning, goodbye's were said... Dr. Malik and Daniel.

See y'all next year!