We hit the road early this morning for a small village a little over an hour away. The morning started off in a really cool way. We have a Cambodian travel agent with us, whom my mom befriended on the bus this morning. After a few minutes of conversation I overheard her sharing with my mom about when she came to know The Lord. About 10% of the population here is Christian. It was so cool to hear how much this woman loves Jesus. She has been completely disowned by her Buddhist family, but that doesn't discourage her, it encourages her to spend more time with The Lord, praying for her parents and siblings. I was in awe.
So when we pulled into clinic, the patients were lining up and gathering by the hundreds. We got off the bus, unsure what to think. Another pedi nurse and myself immediately reached for our stickers and started giving them out. The kids had no idea what a sticker was. We used a two room school to set up clinic. The bigger room was the treatment room. The breezeway was triage, and the smaller room was pharmacy. It was nonstop chaos for 10 hours. I cannot even count the number of patients I saw. Surprisingly, they were a pretty healthy community. A few super dehydrated patients the got some IV fluids, but for the most part we gave OTC pain meds, antibiotics, and I personally had a patient with a parasite. So that was different. All in all the day ran smoothly. We had a great group of Cambodian students translating. We couldn't have pulled clinic off without them. God was so present in every aspect of today, especially the end of the day.
So the curve ball of the day...on our way home we were enjoying each other on the bus and sharing stories of our day. All of a sudden I hear my mom scream, "STOP THE BUS! OPEN FEMUR FRACTURE!!" We looked out the window on what was a horrific scene. A motorcycle ran into a truck. There were 5 bodies on the ground. Now imagine the most intense scene of the medical show you watch, and put that on the streets of Cambodia- that's what happened tonight. Many of us piled off the bus and sprinted across the road. We realized we needed any of all the medical supplies we had. So myself and a few others sprinted back down the road, tore apart our carefully packed medical bags, and ran back to the scene. We pronounced 3 people dead immediately, and moved on to the two that we had a chance to save. That was hard. One with an open femur fracture and an obvious radial deformity. It was obvious he was bleeding out and going into shock. The other guy was in a little better shape, but not much. I jumped in with the team on the more severe guy. We got IVs going, the leg splinted with bamboo and gauze, and we had his head bandaged up like crazy, doing everything we could to stop bleeding. It was a mess. We waited for almost an hour, in the dark, on the side of the road for an ambulance. If I turned around I would catch sight of one of the bodies of the young kids that didn't make it. The ambulance finally showed up (without a back board) and we loaded them up. But then the ambulance drivers wouldn't leave without $60 cash!! Are you kidding!?! So we all reached in out pockets in order to get these kids to the hospital. I'll never forget what I saw today. But it confirmed every urge in me to pursue trauma. It was also cool to see the Cambodians in total shock over this giant group of Americans jumping off buses to save lives. I hope and pray we were a light to these people tonight, despite the darkness of the tragedy.
We got back on the bus in total shock. Silence overwhelmed us until we were able to start talking about what happened.
So. That was today. And while it was hard, it truly was beautiful chaos. From 500 patients in clinic to the horrific roadside scene, God was so present in every moment. What are the odds of 3 buses full of medical personnel to pull up on such a scene. The odds are good when you have a God who isn't dependent on odds.
Tomorrow we will be treating patients in the garbage dump where thousands live in the city. So I don't doubt the excitement of what the day will hold.
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