Pushing the trachea

I had seen a picture that Dr. William had taken of the patient in his consult room. Yet I still wasn't prepared for what sat down in front of me.

It is ENT week in the ORs at Hospital Loma de Luz. They have been taking out thyroids and tonsils and parotids since Monday. Great stuff all helping our patients with their expertise. One of the best parts about their team is they come complete with Anesthesia, OR nurses, and residents and they all come with an attitude of excitement. Ready to help however and wherever they can.

I recognize that it is a fantastic week for so many patients while simultaneously recognizing that my introverted brain is starting to produce its own white noise from overstimulation.

Instead of taking up position in the OR, I find myself more mobile. Running around the hospital helping where extra hands are needed. There have been emergencies which I do take care of, but for the most part, I am working out of an office. My office isn't quite recognizable, as we waded through the biomed room to resurrect the ENT equipment for clinic. I've shared my office with ENT all week. It's been more than one occasion I am being consulted for a patient while simultaneously ENT is in the office scoping a patient. Everyone is flexible, and there's an unspoken understanding, that we are working with the space we have. The team leaves tomorrow, and today is their last day of operations. Yet, still word must have gotten around... as it somehow usually does, that there is a specialty brigade at the Hospital. That's how Jose Maria came to be sitting in front of me.

Dr. William had originally seen him in the general clinic and very easily made the discernment that this was a patient for ENT. When he sat down, there was a moment when no one spoke as we all appreciated the very ominous strider emanating from him as he very intentionally focused to breathe in. The ENT doc finally started in on his questions and Jose Maria took his hand and physically pushed his trachea straight, explaining it was much easier for him to breathe and talk in so doing. The compression from his mass was not only displacing his trachea, but it is also closing his esophagus. When asking if he had eaten today, he responded he hasn't been able to eat in days. Jose Maria is added on for this afternoon in the OR. After the visit a short-term visiting nurse from the Netherlands, asked me if I had prayed for Jose Maria yet. I hadn't at the moment, but since then... I'm not sure I'll stop praying for him.

Much Love.