22 June 2023 – Thursday – Day 4

The day began with one of the volcanoes in the distance erupting smoke in a big plume. Great entertainment! I have seen that volcano spew fire in the past.

The OR day began smoothly. Around 11:30 one of our anesthesiologists who was doing cases in a room became quite ill with serious GI symptoms. He was unable to continue working. In fact he needed a IV for hydration. Nancy had been giving him a break so she simply stayed in his room. Kim, our administrator, went to talk with the sick doctor about getting an IV for hydration. He agreed once he was able to leave the bathroom.

That left me alone to arrange for lunches for our 3 nurse anesthetists, and to cover the PACU and start cases. I was really busy. Finally around 4:30 one room ended so that we were able to have 2 doctors to cover all the action. 

We have had a Guatemalan anesthesiologist do cases in one room for a few days this week. It hasn’t been exactly the same as having people from our own team. The second case yesterday afternoon was a difficult airway. When the case ended I walked into the room to help wake up the patient. The patient was barely moving air on a mask and there was much excitement. I took over holding the airway adding some positive pressure to the airway. Slowly the patient improved. I had asked the surgeon if he thought he could do a tracheotomy if we needed it. Of course we didn’t need it. But…it made the end of the day very stressful. 

The whole team went out for dinner to a wonderful steak restaurant. Our table of 6 ordered a tomahawk steak that is supposed to be for 4. So we added a small strip steak. We had a roasted cauliflower and a plate of chorizo. We had plenty of food. Since Friday is a short day, there was lots of drinking too. A fun evening for all of us to unwind.

As we walked home with leftovers, Nancy offered the steak bone to a person walking their dog. It was clearly well appreciated.

One more day of a few cases and clinic to see all the patients done during the week.