We'dnesdsy March 14

Wednesday March 14

      Today was Decoration Day, a national holiday on which the Liberian people go to cemeteries to decorate the graves of their deceased family members. As such, we only did one case in the OR: Ainhoa and Diego released a burn contracture on the finger of a little girl. We saw Adamah and wished him goodbye; he is going back tonight as is Ainhoa. In the afternoon we walked to the Royal Hotel for nice lunch; we had a good conversation about Liberia and the people and the pace of change which is  impossibly slow sometimes. But when you think about what they have been through it all becomes more understandable. During lunch, in part because it is Decoration Day, John suggested that we stop and remember those who have passed on during our time at JFK, which we did. 
     As we were walking back through the grounds of JFK the ER residents asked us to help put a suprapubic tube, which was quickly assented to. We decided to show them how easy it was to in the ED...it took 4 of us to hold him down, plus Noah delivering Valium, pentazocin, and ketamine, and eventually we were successful. I personally sweated off several pounds holding his legs down !
      Last night we went to Tajj for dinner with the dorm group; it turns out that one of the new pedi residents is from Duxbury ! We had a good dinner, and then back to the dorm. I think Welky was disappointed that we didn't eat the food which had been prepared for our dinner, but so it goes.
      In the course of the afternoon Anne-Marie called from Redemption to say that she had a 23 year old patient there who needed our help. The woman apparently had a backstreet abortion about 2 weeks ago during which they perforated her uterus and colon. She was admitted to Redemption and placed on antibiotics, but was getting worse. So last week she was taken to the OR for an exploratory laparotomy; apparently the surgeon found pus and stool, but not the perforation, and felt he couldn't do anything more so he closed her up. Anne-Marie saw her yesterday, and noted stool leaking from her midline incision, and hence the call for help. Somehow we will fit her into the schedule to do tomorrow, though it will likely mean we have to cancel some cases.