And return as we must...

I've been back on the ship for 3 weeks; I think that means a Uganda recap is overdue...

The first thing I noticed was the smell. I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac next to Lake Victoria and inhaled deeply. It was not the stench of the port or of the day's catch from the fishing boats next to the ship. The air was fresh and the smells so familiar that if I closed my eyes I was walking through Bumwalukani to the clinic once again. How was it that scent of the air I haven't breathed in four years can bring back memories that strong? Here, this is the Africa I first loved.

 

Outside of the airport, I was greeted by the familiar face of Dr. Joel, a pediatric intensivist from UVA, and the hour car ride into Kampala was spent catching up on the last many months of living life serving the people of Africa, each in our own setting so different, but the calling the same- love God, love people.

Let me set the stage for this little holiday from the ship and reunion in Kampala. A team from UVA has joined with a team from DC Children's for the past couple years for 2 weeks at Mulago Heart Institute in Kampala to do pediatric congenital heart defect repairs. Last year when the team went, I mentioned that I would love to do something like that. This year, I just happened to be a couple countries to the west and maybe volunteered to Dr. Joel (who has moved with his family to Kampala for 2 years to serve with Samaritan's Purse) that I could get leave from the ship and would love to come. Graciously, I was allowed to join.

The first week of surgeries were done in the cath lab. The majority of these were PDA closures and diagnostic cath procedures for children with VSDs. The first days were spent organizing and setting up the ICU, getting used to working 12 hour shifts again (I know I'm spoiled here...), getting to know the Ugandan nurses we were working with, and playing with lots of cute kids :)




Prescious, dancing to the music and coloring!

Christian

That first weekend, I got to babysit Joel and Kristy's kids for a night and spend some time with their family, hearing about their life in Kampala. It was encouraging and refreshing for me, to hear people committed to their calling, but honest about the struggles that come with it.

That weekend also brought the arrival of two more friends from UVA, a fancy dinner from Samaritan's Purse, and the kick off to the surgical week.

Ross, Me, Dr. Joel, Dr. Jeannean

The week focused on VSD closures and Tetralogy of Fallot repairs. Though it wasn't without its setbacks (a whole day of cancelled surgery due to a power outage) and frustrations, the week concluded with 8 successfully repaired children!

Note the bowtie...

 

Going into those 2 weeks, I had no idea what heart surgery in Africa looked like. At the end of the 2 weeks, my heart and my mind were left reeling. Is pediatric heart surgery in Africa possible? Are the limitations we have greater than the potential for these people? Is the loss we suffer justifiable by the progress we are making and the amazing outcomes we have? Having seen these two weeks, I think that at least to a degree, it is possible.

And my answer to "How was Uganda?" despite the frustrations and sadness that you inevitably experience when you practice medicine here, is always that I would do it again.

Not just because being brought back to Uganda filled me more than I would have imagined. I love watching the shock that people experience the first time they step into this reality slowly melt into a compassion that I'm not even sure they knew they had the capacity for.

It's also not because my bathroom for the week was bigger than the bunk space I 've shared for many months. Or because I could eat real bacon every morning, along with the most delicious fresh fruit. Or even that I could walk outside in the fresh air to the gym next door and use the elliptical out on the balcony. Then grab a coffee on the way back to the hotel and shower for more than 2 minutes. Then go to work with the people who taught me how to be a real nurse, how to critically think and how to care deeply for my patients.

 

 

It was not even because after the day's work was through, I gathered around a table to eat delicious food with fascinating new friends. To share about my life here on the ship, and be reminded constantly of how blessed I am to be here.

It is because I believe in helping to bring a better quality of life to the people here.

It is because at the end of the day, regardless of the outcome, we were able to touch these families' lives forever. To be even given a chance at hope is more than they have ever had and to know that their child was valued and fought for, these things they do not forget.

 

"Hello" - Sugarland