We've Done it Again!!
We have just completed our first day of surgery in Kumasi, Ghana. It is amazing to work with such experienced colleagues, and have such positive outcomes! This is my second mission with the Hearts and Minds of Ghana Team and I am more amazed each day and with each mission at what we can accomplish with team work in a third-world hospital.
Our first patient today was an 11-year-old boy named David. He was a very dehydrated transitional AV canal with aplastic anemia and active conjunctivitis. Because he had been on steroids and was anemic, we had to manage him without the normal IV access we would have in Boston. He was extubated within two hours of arrival in the ICU despite his elevated blood pressure and heart rate. This is a huge accomplishment for both the patient and the team. We are rapidly moving these patients through their post-operative course in a safe, controlled environment. This is the ultimate ICU nursing experience, and nothing I have ever done in my career will compare to this!
Our second patient was a beautiful 10-year-old girl named Favour, who was admitted with a ventricular septal defect. She was extubated one hour after arrival to the ICU. Again, as her nurse I am both amazed and thrilled to be part of her recovery period. Nothing compares to the sense of satisfaction I feel after an exhausting day spent caring for critically ill patients, in the heat of Ghana. These were the first two patients I have had contact with on this mission, and I am amazed by their strength, bravery and resiliency.
Tomorrow, I have the privilege of delivering the donations from my daughter's school to the Trede Roman Catholic School. I can't wait!
Mary Eisenhaur, RN in the Cardiac ICU
