What I do. (AKA, the post that became really wordy)

 

The Eye Team room in the hospital on deck 3

I have not shared much about the work I do here- keeping up with a blog is challenging. In two months of being here on ship, so much has happened that I get overwhelmed with trying to sort out which things to write about. Anyway, this is how my workday normally goes:

I work in the peri-op room for the eye patients. This means that the patients I take care of have already been seen at a field screening (a public location where people wait in long lines to have their eyes checked for cataracts), and also at the clinic (if patients are given a "yes" at field screening, they are given an appointment for the clinic. The clinic is about 5 minutes drive from the ship, here the patient's eyes are checked again, a diagnosis is made and they are scheduled for surgery).

 

Some photos of eye patients being seen in the clinic:

 

So, the patients have waited in lots of lines. (Sometime at field screening people will begin lining up as early as 2:00 am.) They have been to their clinic appointment, and received the good news that yes, we can help them. Finally they were given a special orange card telling them to arrive at 6:30am on our dock on their surgery day.

This whole process is both exciting and really frightening for many of my patients. There are so many rumors about the ship and what goes on here. The day workers tell me that some of the rumors are that "they will take your whole eye out of your head, wash it off and then put it back in." (That is a really common one, and if I thought that I would be worried too!). They know we are a faith based hospital ship, and some of them are concerned about how they will be treated if they aren't the same religion.

Despite the rumors, the hope of healing still brings them to the ship. So promptly at 7:00 am on surgery days I head down to the dock with two eye team day workers, and cautiously lead blind people to the eye room. That means we march up the 42-step gangway, through reception on deck 5, and down two sets of stairs to the hospital on deck 3. Sometimes this is a really long process.

On surgery days patients fill all these chairs

Then begins the process of prepping for surgery. Cataract surgery is done with local anesthetic, and the whole procedure is very short. My job consists of making sure there are always patients who are ready to go to the OR, discharging patients once their surgery is done, and coordinating with the field team and problem solving along the way.

 

(the desk that I work from)

Cataracts surgery is outpatient, and most surgeries are finished before lunch. My favorite part of this work is that I get to be the person with that short window of time with these patients, and do everything I can to represent Mercy Ships well during that time. For those 12-20 patients each day, I have the opportunity to dispel the rumors and fears, and love and serve them the best I can. I am trying to find ways to make the most of the time I get to spend with them. As I learn more about the culture here it becomes easier to relate to my patients.

By far the best idea I have had was making a photo book. (See photos). The photographers here have beauiful images available for us to use, so it wasn't hard to pull together. Without words it tells my patients what we do here on the ship. Once we get past the first busyness of the day, I get out the book and pass it around. Even with vision severely clouded by cataracts, they can usually see if they hold the pages close. The ones that can't see at all usually get enthusiastic descriptions of the photos from the patient sitting next to them.

 

Somehow- after looking through before and afters of cleft palates closed, legs straightened, and even an eye patient like themselves- the ship becomes a friendlier place. Looking at the pictures together opens doors for conversations and many mornings it changes the whole atmosphere of the room.

So that is a bit of what I do. Monday through Thursday are surgery days, and Fridays I spend prepping charts and restocking or helping out with post-op patients in the clinic. January will be busier than ever- we will have two surgeons working, and we have a special day of all children's appointments TOMORROW at the clinic! I will be on ship for surgery, but I can't wait to see some kids soon! :)

If you made it through all of that, thanks for sticking with me!

Suzanne