Day 6 - Michaelange

Today the stream of patients continued. Some arrived by helicopter, others by car and bus. I triaged a 22 year old woman who arrived from a hospital in Port-au-Prince. Her name is Michaelange and her right leg had been amputated above the knee, as well as having a casted arm for a humerus fracture. She was literally naked, only covered by a sheet. I found that she had a bed sore on her back, and upon talking with her through a translator heard her story. There were no beds in the Port-au-Prince hospital after she'd had her amputation and she had been placed on a cement floor for 2 weeks. She didn't know where anyone in her family was, or even if they were alive. There are so many others with just as sad and heartbreaking stories. This photo is of her.
We continue to do wound care everyday on the tents we've been assigned, plus follow all of the Operation Smile surgical patients. One of my main responsibilities is to monitor if wounds are healing (or not), or if they've become infected and to alert our surgeon. We've had many patients that have been found to have pseuodomonas infections which we're treating with a myriad of IV antibiotics. The O.R. team is going from dusk to dawn. Today more amputations, skin grafts, debridements, external fixators. Speaking of, I have never seen so many people with external fixators (for those non-medical folks, it's a metal contraption that holds fractures in place) in my life. About a third of the camp has them and some of them on more than one limb. I have also never seen so many kids in spica casts (kind of a half body cast to hold their pelvis in a fixed position). Today a man came in with a dislocated mandible fracture and despite our best efforts, we couldn't find any place to accept him to do surgery (since we're not really equipped for that type of surgery). The plastic surgeon here called his maxillo-facial colleague back in the states and got suggestions on the best way to fix it. So they'll attempt to take him to the O.R. tomorrow. We rigged up a c-collar with Kerlix to try and hold his jaw in place. I am truly learning "Mcgyver" medicine here. There is no way to do any sterile procedures in the tents so we just try and keep things as clean as possible. We also keep running out of various supplies and just have to make due with whatever we have. Although I must say, I'm surpised at how well stocked we have been on most things. I continue to be in awe of the Haitian people and how appreciative they are. I see most of the same 30 or so patients everyday and they know me and are so nice and patient with how long it takes us to get to them. I'll say again we need more nurses! There is also a huge need for physical therapists.
I'm so tired, I know I'll sleep well tonight with my ear plugs in and be up by 6am to start all again.