Inventory, Poking, Sutures, Oh My!

September 10, 2010:

This past week has been “Training Week” for both dental team and nursing team. And when I say nursing team I really mean Rachel and I. The dental team has been learning about anesthesia and extractions. On Monday and Tuesday they had lectures and videos to watch on all the procedures. Then on Wednesday and Thursday they where able to apply all that they had learned. They practiced the anesthesia on themselves and then pulled teeth out of a pigs head.

While the dental team poked each other in the mouths, Rachel and I did some poking of our own. First we went over IV’s and then practiced on each other. When our arms were tired from being poked we asked the dental team if they would volunteer. Gladly they did J Following IV’s was injections. At first Rachel and I thought we were only going to have a lecture over the injections… nope. We first went over the technique and then we stung each other: once in the arm and then in the butt. The needle prick wasn’t bad, what really hurt was the sterile water that went in. Boy, that sucker really stung!

At first Rach and I didn’t know why it stung so bad, but then we later learned that the water had no electrolytes, so of course it was going to sting.

The Doc let our poor bodies have a rest and told us that we could wait until the next day for anesthesia. Thank goodness. Ha ha. So the next morning we went over the two types of local anesthesia we would be performing. We had a lecture over deep wound anesthesia and we practiced digital anesthesia on each other. We both chose our left ring fingers and numbed them up.

They got so fat and heavy. The feeling was so weird that it made our stomachs a bit queasy. Not only did we learn how to numb cuts but we also learned how to sow them up. The Doc showed us three different sutures and then the dentist (Dr. Fillmann) taught us how to do them. We learned the simple suture, the Pak suture, and the no-scarring suture. We did all of our sutures on the pig head that the dental team had used for their teeth extractions. I never imagined myself doing such a thing… Holy cow! It was so AWESOME!! I’m so addicted to it. That night I couldn’t stop thinking about it and going over the sutures in my mind.

When we weren’t poking each other we were diligently working in the pharmacy doing inventory. And when we weren’t doing either of those things we had our noses in the med book studying the meds in the pharmacy. The Doc wishes us to know as much as we can about all the meds. He told us that we are his right and left hands, so if he’s busy and something comes up we are to take charge. That’s a lot of responsibility… more than what I asked for. But I guess in the long run it will help us a lot. I just pray that God will lead us both in all that we do.

The inventory alone was a battle we feared we would never win. There was so much stuff in there and very unorganized! We had everything from Love Lube to children’s chewable vitamins. It was our job to go through every single thing and count it. Whether it was capsules, tegaderms, or vials everything had to be counted. So much!! We had to separate things in categories, label drawers, and remove the expired stuff. It took us a total of 38 hours to finish it. But when it was done we jumped and shouted for joy J

I have been told by the Doc that our first clinic is this coming Monday. I’m so nervous. He told us that we would learn how to package up all our tools, meds, and supplies for the clinics. And that we would be able to apply all that we learned on real patients! I’m excited but at the same scared to hurt someone or disappoint the Doc.

I’m super excited for the time when we pack up and start the traveling. Which I think will happen here in a week or two. But at the same time I’m really bummed to leave behind our new friends. Hanna and Janessa will be located at the base and I will miss them dearly. It’s so AMAZING how all of us SM’s have bonded so closely in just a week! We’re a tight knit family already. And it breaks my heart to know that we won’t be all together all the time. And the locals that have been teaching us the Peruvian ways will also be staying at the base L I wish we could all travel together…

Well I guess you can’t always get what you want. But I know God will bless both teams; the mobile and base.