Second Screening Success

I found myself at 4:30am this morning in the dining room grabbing some breakfast for a good reason. We were on our way once again to do a screening because we were running out of patients to help. The last two weeks of surgery have seen great results and wonderful changes in many lives.

Although the painful memory of our last screening day is not 'fresh' it was still present as we made our way through the dark yet busy streets of Sierra Leone at a ludicrous hour to a new screening location in the city of Freetown. My thoughts turned with respect to our crew who had been doing security since 4pm the day before and all through the night. Amongst them were 'pre-screeners' who were going along the line that continued to grow through the night checking on each person's condition. The purpose of this was to send away those we could not help, in doing this it made the crowd more manageable.

Michel and I found ourselves once again in Plastic Surgery and also General Surgery. We had put out word and pictures to let the people of Sierra Leone know the particular conditions we could help with and Goitres/Thyroid growths was one of them. My emotions began to surge with frustration though as I received news that before the ship arrived the government has agreed to ensure that at least five pharmacies in Sierra Leone would be stocked with the medication that needs to be taken daily after thyroids are removed. If a person has their thyroid removed without this medication available they will die within five years. Sadly the government has not held up their side of the deal and we find ourselves with no medication so at this point sadly unable to treat huge disfiguring goitres. There is still hope that they will provide the medication yet we will just have to be patient and pray for a miracle.

Everywhere I looked I felt shock fill my body, surrounding me were the saddest eyes I had ever seen. The people of Sierra Leone who have been in hiding for years had come to seek help-many hid behind material blankets but others sat knowing full well that we saw them.

I have learnt as a nurse to become a master at guarding my facial reactions, it has taken years to develop this skill because I believe it is very important for people not to see shock or disgust on my face. My hope is that they will see love and gentleness. I am learning to look into people's eyes and appreciate them and value them before looking over there body with an objective medical eye. I know this is essential because many have not had another person "see" them for years let alone touch them. Nothing prepared me for Abdul though, after introductions I began to scan his body and as I noted his kneck had not goitre protruding out of it and that his hands were not contracted from bad burns I felt puzzled about why he had come. I was not prepared though when he removed his hat carefully to reveal a bulging tumour sitting directly ontop of his head. I was suprized as I felt my ownjaw drop open.

Thankfully our prayers were answered as cloud cover was wonderful in the morning and we were reasonably comfortable sitting outside examining patients. The definition of desperation hit me as I realised that the same woman from an hour before was sitting again before us. After giving her the sad news we were unable to help her one hour before she had gone out the gates and joined the end of the line again in hopes of a 'second-chance'.

As we were packing up a nurse came to me and said "here's your last person" I turned to find the sweetest little five year old girl-she stretched out her hand and placed it in mine. I was amazed to look down and see that on her right hand was eight digits and her elbow locked into position unable to bend or flex. Her grandfather sat next to her looking at us with hopeful eyes and it was a lovely way to end the day of screening as we booked her in for surgery on the schedule this year.

Thankyou for reading:)