Surgery begins

Friday, July 8

Our first “normal” day began with a typical Tanzanian morning tea of bread, eggs, and coffee. The doctors made an early start, arriving at the hospital for morning report. Remaining members of the team followed, arriving to a line of patients waiting to be seen.

Triage, worked primarily by Dani and Lisa, begins the patient's journey through our system, followed by reception as Susie and Noni take vital signs and record the patient’s information. Next they are seen by one of our three providers; Dr. Leslie, Dr. Doug, or Dr. Andrea. We have helpers working with each doctor to record their diagnosis and recommended treatment. Today Anne recorded for Leslie, Paige for Andrea, and Chelsea for Doug. After the patient’s consultation with our doctors is finished, their care continues at the pharmacy where Glennis and Karne dispense our meds under the doctor’s orders, and sometimes with Pati or Susie, who are managing the scheduling of the surgeries our doctors will perform. Occasionally, also, the docs have other recommendations or referrals that may need extra attention by many of us to accomplish. Andrea and Doug spend many busy hours performing our first surgeries with the help of Cindy and Lisa, who circulated in the OR to hand the doctors the instruments requested, and the Tanzanian medical staff providing support. We were relieved that TANESCO was not an additional challenge to contend with today and we were able to complete all three of our scheduled procedures.

As the hospital was closing down, seven of us were able to return home while the other six stayed to finish their work. At the hotel, the early group received a phone call from Barbara telling us we were eating out and the restaurant where we were to meet for dinner. We took two “registered” taxis over to the restaurant, where we had to negotiate (argue) for prices. It was a new and interesting experience for most of us. We went to a lovely Indian restaurant called “The Greens”. As usual, we were on Tanzanian time and spent about 3 hours dining. With the help of a restaurant employee’s vehicle, we all traveled back to the Catholic Center, crawled under mosquito nets and rested our eyes in preparation for another busy day.

Phil. 2:3-4—Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind esteem others as better than ourselves. And let us look out for not only our own interests, but also the interests of others.