Jailolo - Days 6 and 7

Days 6 & 7 – Today was the last clinical day and probably a good thing as I was spent. Started earlier and worked through lunch so we could finish early. The hospital staff had a party for us at the local beach. Seemed like many of the patient today were coming in just to come in and get meds. Actually that is okay and not discouraged because a major part of our mission is to spread goodwill and develop relationships. Just seeing and meeting the people helps develop relationships in the long term and will help allow future missions that can do more medically. That has been hard for me to understand as a provider as I feel so focused on the individual patient and as I have written about, those cases where I felt helpless because of not being able to do much medically. The bigger picture is also quite important, and many would say more important. Of course, there was at least one heartbreaking case for the day. A young man and his wife came in from a village 2 hours away. He looked like he was on death’s door. Wasted, ashen, sweating, barely able to walk, having much difficulty breathing, and coughing. After some questioning is was apparent he had known TB, had begun treatment in his village, but because of misunderstanding had only completed 2 months of the 6 month treatment regimen for it. I had previously seen active TB cases, but nothing like this. True consumption you read about from the age before antibiotics. He would be an ICU admit in the US but that wasn’t available here unless he could afford the hospital in Ternate, a 2 hour boat ride away (which he of course couldn’t). Because he was so weak, my only thought was to try and get him into the hospital here and hope he somehow got proper medications. You can get them for free at the health clinic which is not nearby but it was totally unclear if he could get them at the hospital (ironic don’t you think). Anyway, I had the interpreter ask the staff if admission was possible and at first I was assured that it was and that nursing would come and get him. After some time someone came and took him away (they didn’t bring the wheelchair). It was the ER doc from Tuesday. All I could do is cross my fingers and hope he would be taken care of and continue on seeing other patients (long line waiting). We ended up going later than expected in order to see everyone and at the end, one of our own went down with heat exhaustion. Had to be helo’d back to the ship after stabilized. We all were certainly ready for the beach after that. The beach was beautiful, or I should say the views were incredible. Unfortunately, trash is dumped everywhere here, including on the beach. There was a pier however and we were able to jump off it into the ocean. The water felt wonderful and for the first time in a nearly a week I didn’t feel sweaty, sticky, and dirty and I did feel relaxed. So relaxed I missed the dinner that had been prepared. The next day was a day to get packed up then back to the ship. One helo was down so our departure time was delayed until early afternoon. Our commander arranged for a tour of the island which was great. These are the Spice Islands and it is season so as we drove we saw blankets stretched out everywhere with cloves drying on them and the scent was ever present. The last stop was a sacred place on an isolated beach where the Sultan’s birth home was located. It was quite nice and because it was isolated, no trash on it. An elderly lady, her daughter and grandson were sitting out and she waved me over. She said in Enlgish “My name is…..” so I thought she spoke English. I asked her something and she again repeated “My name is….”. She was very cute and invited me in for coffee. I so wanted to say yes but we had to leave. I do have a picture with her I hope to post soon when I have better internet service. By early afternoon I was on the helicopter back to the ship and our mission was over. Although I couldn’t wait to have a hot shower and sleep in a relatively comfortable bed and cooler air, it was sad to leave the team I had been with all week and the people we had tried to help all week. I do want to say that our team was really fantastic, from our commander on down. If I had more time and space I would have written about them. Many very interesting and dedicated professionals whom I had the privilege of working with.