Final Week
Carrying on from the Bunce Island trip, on Sunday myself and Mia made it our mission to get Heather off the boat as her first week of cataracts was a bit of a chaotic mess and she was feeling a bit stressed so we decided just to do something simple and decided on heading out to Bread avenue to get decent nonship coffee as well as some decent cakes and pastries. I invited a new person to come with us after I saw her post on the main community page wanting to get off the ship. Turns out she was the peds doctor who was here for two weeks but spent her first week on call so she wasn’t able to get off the ship. I got myself a pineapple smoothie which was pretty good but not as good as the mango smoothie that I had earlier in the trip and a plain croissant. I also tried a Snicker cake thing which was so so I think I’ll stick to the croissant. We got there to find Nellie and some others were already there and then halfway through our time some more mercy ship people showed up after church. Seems it's the place to go for a taste of home.
Afterwards, we were going to check out the big market again but turned out it was closed so we headed to Lumley beach to a place that everyone said had amazing ice cream so thought we would find out for ourselves. It was. I got the wildflower and melon it actually tasted like real fruit, not artificial fruit, and was so refreshing. After that, we decided to head back as it was getting rather hot and we were all getting pretty tired so decided to head back to the ship. We did meet up for dinner though, we would enjoy the sunset and take our dinner out onto the deck just for a change of scene.
Monday there was no maxfax so I was back in paediatric general for the day with the doctor that we had met on Sunday. Being kids there wasn’t much to see while some children have massive hernias the ones that we were operating on weren’t. We did have a lymphocele which was on one of our adult patients the week before. She used an interesting technique of injecting methylene blue between the toes and waiting for it to travel up the lymphatics so they could then identify where the leak was. It didn’t seem to work this time but was still interesting to see. I was feeling pretty tired so after work just sat and chatted with Stieg and Mia for a bit and played a game. Also had a meeting with some of the other Kiwis as Fiona wanted us to come up with some sort of promotional video.
Back in Maxfax for the rest of my time on the ship. Today we only had two cases a removal of a palate mass and a mandablectomy. Cheryl did the soft tissue mass as she is still new to the theatre and I did the manadable which was another pretty decent tumor on a young guy which protruded from his chin a fair distance. He will certainly be pleased to have that removed.
We had two new surgeons who were lovely and entertaining. One has been here multiple times and the other is his first time. I can’t remember where the second one is from but the returning one is an oncology max fax surgeon from London, I feel like he needs a tracking device on him. He’s so social, chatty, and carefree it's so hard to get things done as he keeps disappearing. Its good coz theres no pressure to get everything perfect but it is also slightly frustrating.
I think because it's my last week I’ve been pretty tired and everyone is starting to get pretty tired so in the evening we just played a couple of rounds of rummi cup and chatted before I went to my room and started packing.
Deddy had the day off so Jenny was back as she had wanted to do something different and was in eyes for a couple of days but as she had spent 6 weeks in Mafax it made sense for her to come back when the team leader was away. We only had soft tissue stuff just three smallish cases mostly lipomas so we finished on time which was good as we had planned to go out to the View for dinner.
I wore the dress that I brought from the market which I hate dresses but getting better and a lot of people said they liked this one lol as Steig pointed out it was far nicer than some of the others they tried to sell me.
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We had a cocktail that went straight to my head, I think the others did as well because besides Ben who finished off some of the others everyone really only had one. What we have noticed about the African menus, is it may have a great selection of food options but might not have half available at the time of ordering, so ended up with the Alfredo pasta, which was so-so. The DJ was probably the best part playing a variety of music that everyone liked, we were convinced he was playing different songs to see which ones would finally get everyone out of their chair to dance. Nellie and Ben were first up but by the end of the night, everyone was up even Steig who I think really needed it as he had been having a rough time with his new roommate.
There was another big case happening with a couple of different parts, which was super interested in but I didn’t know what part to scrub for. It was a 12-year-old with a mandable tumor which is quite unusual for the size it was to be in a child. The plan was to remove the mandible to create a new one out of his 5th or 6th rib. I didn’t realise this but according to Dr Gary Parker, the rib can grow back as long as the pleural lining is salvaged and re-sewn shut. He said he knew someone who had used the same rib at least 6 times for different procedures. So I decided to scrub for that part as I wanted to see them remove the rib and how close it is so that it grows back. This is quite a common case in children with these tumors rather than using plates that way as the child grows the bone grows with it unline the plates which would probably leave the child looking odd as he grew. It wasn’t the longest part of the case but certainly interesting. I am going to miss these sorts of cases.
Heather, Steig, Mia, and I decided to go out for another dinner just us, as Heather was craving pizza and she missed our first pizza night out when Kate was leaving so we decided to go back to the ice cream place as had been told the food there was super nice, and it really was.
My first Keke experience was a bit of an adventure and my last ended up the same way. There were four of us and usually, they can only take three people at a time or four if one is a child. We did find one that would take all four of us so we thought great… that should have been our first clue. It sounded like it was going to die at any moment and as we struggled to get up the hill it finally broke down. Steig thought this was a good time to try the keke out for size while we decided what to do. We did suggest we pay a portion and catch another one but he insisted he could fix it and we could carry on so we did. Well after some more struggling we got up the hill. I think he took us a different route to Lumley as I had been there a couple of times but this looked completely different, which would also explain why we got lost on a particular turn which then resulted in him getting into a yelling match with someone and then also a police officer. So it's not just a recommendation for the rule of three people but an actual law and of course, now he had just been busted breaking that. The police officer threatened to take him away, we tried to say we would catch a different Keke that we didn’t know and not punish the guy but the officer said the rule had already been broken. Steig then asked the officer how much the fine would be for the guy though he said he wasn’t going to pay he just wanted to know. He asked this while holding a wad of cash. The officer kept saying no he wouldn’t take it and that was that… so I thought. It happened so quickly but when we were sitting down at dinner retelling the story Heather and Steig confirmed the officer did take the bribe and that while he was waving his hands around he just slipped it into his pocket. Also explains why he wasn’t happy that Steig tried to get his picture afterward lol.
Last day I was still working unlike some of the others. We had two cases of a parotidectomy and a right hemi thyroid/goiter, so obviously despite needing to pack and get stuff signed off, I scrubbed for the thyroid because again they are nothing like the ones back home. This one weighed around 200g which is small for the type they usually do but far bigger than any I’d seen so far. It was pretty vascular so messy and long about four hours so just the way I like them lol. He will certainly be feeling better after that however apparently when we arrived at the clinic to see if he was eligible he was more concerned about the lipoma growing above his eye. The goiter wasn’t noticeable as such until he lay down, which the doctor made him do so he could look at his eye properly. It was then pointed out the thyroid would kill him faster than the lump above his eye so they decided to do both.
After work, I had to finish packing and have a room inspection which I stressed about far more than I should have. Maria wanted to do a video thing for Fiona to recruit I said I would do it as long as I never saw it lol. I was also bringing some Christmas letters from their family home so needed to collect them. I spent a bit of time having a final chat and game with everyone before heading to bed as I had to be up at 0300 as we were leaving the ship at 0400 and was determined to get a little bit of sleep before.
Come 0345 down at reception where I got a lovely surprise, they told me they were going to but I did tell them there was no need and I didn’t expect them to get up that early but all my friends were down there waiting for me to arrive. They walked off the ship and down to the loading bay where the car was waiting to take us to the airport. It was so lovely to see them all there and made me so grateful for the group of friends that I had made on the ship. I arrived with Steig and it felt odd leaving him behind but I know he's loving his time there and will be one of the locals before he finishes up. I'm hoping Anna will come to NZ as I think she would love it and the travel she’s just that type of person. I also plan on visiting Heather in South Africa because why not lol we just got on so well same with Mia and I already know I love Denmark so to go back and not lose my camera this time would be an experience.
Talking to them all as this was our first time, we have all enjoyed it and expect that we will return, so perhaps need to coordinate the next round lol. I know Anna has already extended and to be fair if I didn’t have a job and the animals I would have done the same thing. It was so nice working in an environment that despite the cases and changes in staff was not stressful, was enjoyable, and still felt like a holiday even though I worked Mon to Fri and was on call. The patients were so grateful for everything there was no sense of entitlement that you often see from patients back home and you knew that what you were doing was truly going to make an impact on them. I visited the wards one last time so I could see our patient with the facial tumor because I wanted to see how he was doing and to let him know just how much helping him impacted me and my future practice. It was great seeing him look like an actual person and to see that he would be able to resume the life that he had prior to its growth. It is a case that will stick with me and I know many of the others involved for the rest of our careers.
Despite the horrible application process and wanting to give it up, the enormous amount of vaccinations I needed, and the endless tears, I have to say Fiona was right. I’d get to the ship and find everyone would complain about the same thing but it would all be worth it in the end.
