Day Two, and Our OR Debut!

So we are all sitting around having some pizza now, reviewing our day.  So far we've got:

It was long.
We learned a lot.
Surgeries went well!
We really need prayer for a young lady that we saw this morning-- see below.
Tia is "a little brown girl, but has a lot of blond moments".  According to her.  A direct quote.
Beth accomplished her goal of going in to the OR today-- no loss of consciousness or anything!
Both Elliott and Sarah first-assisted vaginal cases.
Tia did two vag-a-thons-- pretty much by herself.  Which was one of her goals this week!
Heidi was pretty much bored in the OR today because Tia was operating-- which was pretty much one of her goals this week!

Mitzi led some awesome devotions this morning, really focusing us on why we are here.
Eli played basketball with the other kids in the hospital courtyard with a 50 cent ball and a makeshift hoop made of a plastic bag, some wire, and an IV pole!  (Beth, by the way, is the best. mom. ever.)

So anyway, speaking of why we are here… Please help us pray for our second (of only two-- also pray for that, as I'm not sure why things have been so slow down here; even for Tom!) patient of the day, Maria Imelda.  She came in with her husband with a complaint that went somewhere along the lines of, "my head hurts, my eyes burn, my arms hurt, my hands burn, my feet hurt, and oh how my back aches, and… well, you get the point!"  One of those "positive review of systems" type people for those of you medical types who know what I mean, or a "macarena" patient for those of you who know what I mean by THAT!  So I ask her if she has any gynecologic problems, and she sweetly says that she just heard there was a team here that was supposed to help women with their problems so she came.

OK, now what?  So I ask some more detailed history as the team starts doing a very thorough physical exam, and try to pinpoint the problem.  The husband can't really tell me what the worst problem is.  It's more of a, "If it's not her eyes, it's her head; if it's not her head, it's her hands; if it's not her hands…", etc… Then I got around to what I really wanted to know.  Are you in a Church?  They are.  An Evangelical church.  Have they accepted Christ?  The husband has; the wife hasn't yet.  Go figure.  I look at the husband and tell him I think we've found the problem.  He nods and kind of grins in conspiratorial agreement.

Maria Imelda comes off the table, and we get to have a great teaching moment with Tia and Elliott.  We were all in a hurry to get up to the OR (We had heard that the spinal anesthetic was already put in, so it was REALLY urgent that we get up there and not waste time, but isn't that always the way?!) about "positive review of systems patients".  There are three things we always have to consider, and I am embarrassed by how many times I have failed to do so with so many patients in the past and at home.  Abuse didn't seem to be the issue.  Neither did depression in this case, but we discussed both of these concerns before bringing up the real problem.

Maria Imelda lacks the peace of knowing Christ.  So we talked about that-- while Tia and Elliott went up to prep the patient, I had the privilege of helping share the gospel with her, which her husband helped with.  We prayed together, and she cried very emotionally.  I really think that some seeds were planted, and we need to pray they landed on fertile ground.  I love my job.