Busy days

Paige Bolman writes:

It has been a busy few days here in Kigali! The first patient is doing great and has already been transferred to step-down. Her husband Vincent has been quite a delight to have around with his positive attitude and his handy trilingual skills. I think everyone has thoroughly enjoyed his presence.

Two more patients were successfully operated on yesterday, one more this morning and yet another is in surgery as I write. Everything is running relatively smoothly though we have had our share of minor challenges, if you will. The power at the hospital has a tendency to flicker and/or go out for short periods of time in the evening. Although concerning, the expected electrical flickers are well managed by an extremely well prepared staff of perfusionists, surgeons and anesthesiologists. The hospital generator and back up generator work very smoothly. All in a day's work...

Although the two-a-day surgery schedule is tiring for all involved, everyone seems to be in high spirits, and those were undoubtedly bolstered by a lovely afternoon surprise. In between surgeries, some of the patients from last year's trip stopped in to say hello. Just a few hours after liver for lunch (not my cup of tea), Erneste strutted down the hall trailed by a handsome Jean Paul, Vedaste, Samuson, and an at least 3-inch taller Djuma. To any passerby, they looked like a group of regular, healthy guys and each beamed with smiles from ear to ear. Even for those of us that were not here on the first trip, it was an incredibly emotional reunion. In contrast to the physical state of the current patients, to see these men looking so healthy was easily enough to make me cry like a baby. The reality of what Team Heart is giving to each patient became as palpable as the incoming storm in the air as we snapped pictures with Kigali's hillsides in the background.

The second surgery should be getting done in the next few hours and the ICU will be bon-a-fide busy with patients instead of with just paperwork and trying to keep the machines working... As if that doesn't provide the nurses with enough to do! Pizza, which has come to be a common staple here in Rwanda, should be arriving in the ICU in the next hour, courtesy of Andy and Natalie. The rest of us are off to find something to eat and attempt to rest before another busy day tomorrow. Send good wishes for the two patients going under the knife if you have a spare moment, and thanks for reading.

Ceeya's Postscript: My daughter, Paige, said it beautifully. I would only add that there are moments in one's life where one realizes that an experience is likely to be as rewarding as an experience can be. When such moments occur, it is important to recognize and savor them. Today, for me, and for the members of Team Heart, was such an experience. Having just completed a challenging operation on an incredibly sick 15 y.o. girl, and then seeing several of our patients from last April, all looking healthy and having returned to productive and happy lives, was highly emotional and gratifying. I only hope for my daughters that they, too, are able to experience such a feeling in their lives.