Day 4 and 5

So what exactly is my role on this mission? Working in the CAMTA "kitchen". This is dirty business people (literally) but somebody has to do it. That somebody is me and 5 other lay volunteers. Hundreds of instruments are used by surgeons to perform surgery on patients everyday. On a typical day, 8 patients will be operated on (4 adults and 4 peds) which means 8 sets of instruments will need to be cleaned and sterilized. The minute a surgery is over, the OR nurses bring all the dirty instruments to the kitchen for cleaning. Folks, this is not a job for the fainthearted. Initially, I was fighting the urge to gag every 5 minutes. By the next day I was hardly fazed. Blood, little bone pieces and tissue is all over the instruments and it all has to be thoroughly cleaned before sterilization. My team members and I create an assembly line and pass the instruments along 4 stages of cleaning. Once cleaned, they are wrapped and placed in an autoclave for sterilization for about an hour and a half before they  are considered ready for the next patient. One wrong act (e.g. overlooking a teeny weeny spot of blood) and the team has to redo the entire process which delays the next surgery. Not fun.

All decked out "Breaking Bad" style cleaning OR instruments. With Rebecca, Karen and Dan

OR Instruments just before a surgery. Nice and clean courtesy of CAMTA lay volunteers.

In the wrapping room. Couldn't tell you exactly what I am wrapping!

In between cleaning instruments, I sometimes get an opportunity to meet some patients. Ronal is a curious six year old boy who needs surgery on his left leg. (I forget for what exactly!) He watches everything and everyone around him. Nothing escapes him. It is hard to coax a smile out of him but when he does smile, his whole face just lights up. You can tell he knows that something big is about to happen. His mother has explained to him how the surgery will allow him to run and play just like other kids.

With Ronal, his mum and CAMTA translator, Adam.

By end of day Wednesday, mid-week fatigue sets in. It's an early night for me tonight. I can hardly believe the mission is halfway through. Time sure does fly when you are having a blast!

Miss my boys...

Buenos noches!