Well just in case you thought I never actually work here is the evidence. Down in the hold inside a hot, airless, container, counting endotracheal tubes of all shapes and sizes! Thankfully I had a delightful Dutch colleague helping me out. It took us about 9 working hours to complete the job! Sometimes it takes a job like that to really get to know someone and we learned much about each other and our families in that time.
So the weeks of work have continued at a slower pace but with different surgeons, some general surgery - mainly hernias, a little max-fax and being ninvolved with dressing changes on a young girl who needs to be sedated for her dressing changes. She had surgery to separate out her toes along with skin grafts. She is just terrified of the dressing changes but the areas are beginning to heal well and if she needs dressings after the ship leaves there will be 2 of the day workers from the ward to help. They are going to one of the local hospitals having been taught here and will be carrying out dressing changes for some of the other patients too.
Last Tuesday I had the privilege of showing a friends film to the whole crew on the ship. Called Dawn of a New Day it focuses on the work of a South African Plastics surgeon who comes to the ship twice a year for about 5 weeks each time. The film follows him as operates on 3 patients in Benin (where the film was shot). Not available in the UK until the end of November, I had a personal copy as I shared a cabin with Ryley while she was staying on the ship filming. I was exceedingly proud of her. The film is quite amazing. A quite unashamed plug...
Saturday being November 5, it was decided that the Brits would celebrate Guy Fawkes night and have a fun evening. Guy Fawkes was duly made out of a disposable boiler suit stuffed with waste paper and a balloon covered with fabric for his face. Quite a handsome fellow. Silly games in one of the area of the communal areas followed the dinner of BBQ sausages and Jacket Potatoes. Its amazing how much fun can be had if one is simply creative and also quite educational in terms of what people have with them to loan out. The chocolate game with dice hat scarf and gloves, custard in a large serving dish with Werthers buried within, pin the bonfire on the Houses of Parliament, except we used magnets (its a ship - it has lots of metal!!). One the UK anaesthetists who had been on the ship for 3 weeks was a great cake decorator so we even had Victoria sponge decorated using M&Ms complete with Guy Fawkes, a bonfire and fireworks. A joint effort between Louise and myself and jolly tasty! We didn't manage toffee apples but the caramel sauce made to go with the slices of apples made an excellent substitute. A quiz to test our 'Bonfire' knowledge was fun and yes, there were prizes. To cap the evening though, somehow sparklers had been found/bought/brought and we were able to go down on the dock in the dark to light our sparklers - complete with scarves, woolly hats and gloves - of course!
This week I am giving a lecture on Airway Management and no, that's not about managing airlines but patient airways! I'm involving one of the young anaesthetists here and we shall have some fun with 'Bob' our dummy!
As I write we have just 7 days left of surgery so next week will be much quieter again but there's still plenty to do as all the ship has to be packed for sailing.
No comments:
Post a Comment