Screening Day

 After arriving at the hotel in Amman at 1am, I got a quick deep night's sleep and was on the bus to the hospital at 7am.  This what most buses in Jordan look like, event he city buses. The bus drivers definitely have a flair for interior design, more on that later. :)

 The first day of the mission is the Screening Day where families from all over the region and some from surrounding countries bring their children to be evaluated for surgery. The selection process is based on a series of criteria from age, what the surgeons and anesthesiologists on the particular mission are trained to perform, whether the child is medically stable enough to undergo anesthesia/surgery, etc. When we drove into the parking lot of the hospital my heart dropped to my stomach and my heart swelled with a mix of emotions to see hundreds of parents and children who traveled from far and wide, sitting under a large tent in 95 degree heat waiting to be evaluated for surgery. It was incredible to know that we'd be able to help so many of them but terrible to think that some would be turned away for reasons that were beyond our control.

The hospital we worked out of.

Families waiting to be seen for surgery.

 

Beginning of the screening process. 

One of our youngest patients-Yousef, 3 months old

This little guy definitely wasn't camera shy.

 I was in the vital sign station taking kid's weight, height, temperature, pulse, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation to determine whether they were stable enough to undergo surgery.  We had volunteers from Jordan and the Peace Corp to help interpret, all of the families spoke Arabic and very few knew English.  I'm terrible with language especially when I'm tired I start to combine words and say things backwards, I used my best charades skills that day and learned my first 4 Arabic phrases.
Salam=Hello
MushiMushki=Don't worry
MushiMushki Habab=Don't worry baby (don't worry, I only said this to the children) :)
Inshala-God Willing

Beautiful little girls, Shaema and her twin sister who came along to support. 

This little guy lit up the room from the moment his father carried him in, flying like he was superman. Check out his mini tunic, so cute I can't even take it! :) 

Little fashionista :)

Another supportive sister. These two were dressed in the prettiest little matching dresses. 

 In addition to being completely sleep deprived and in a foreign country on the other side of the planet, it was a complete shock to the senses to be immersed immediately into a new culture.  It was completely different than anything I've experienced before.  Among other cultural difference I'll get to in a later post, I was so intrigued by the variety of clothing on both the adults and children at the screening day.  I asked one of the volunteers about all of the children being so dressed up and she explained that the family's see the opportunity to have a free surgery as a great honor so they are wearing some of their nicest most presentable clothing.  Quite different than showing up for surgery in the US. :)

OR set up

Our first Jordanian Meal. Mensaf-fatty rice with pine nuts and herbs topped with boiled lamb in yogurt sauce. Best cafeteria food I've ever had!

Operation Smile Jordan poster

The play area set up by our childlife specialists. The kids had a blast, most of them were covered in smiley face stickers by the time they got their vital signs taken.

Approximately 145 babies, children and young adults showed up to be evaluated and 80 were scheduled for surgery.  Surgeries performed on our mission included cleft lip repairs, cleft palate repairs, lip/palate revisions, burn and scar revisions, repair of webbed fingers and toes, and removal of extra digits, and a few others.  It was great getting to know the team in the midst of this exciting day.  Off to a great start!

One of the volunteers who was a medical student from Amman so kindly offered to pick us up at our hotel and show us around downtown that night, we managed to muster the energy to make it out on our first adventure in Jordan.

An American in Paris....for 2 1/2 hours!

When I found out I had a 6 1/2 hour layover in Paris on the way to Jordan, I thought to myself "there is no way I'm staying at that airport!".  So i found a quick way to get into the city and spent a lovely afternoon roaming around.  It was a little tricky finding an outfit that would be romantic enough to frolic around Paris in but still be appropriate to arrive in the Amman airport. ;)
It was a really rainy day but mother nature was on my side and skies were clear from a few minute after I arrived in downtown until I got back to the airport, what a blessing!
I took the RER to the St. Michel stop and took a stroll through the twist and turns of the Latin Quarter.  I stumbled upon a few restaurants and cafes we went to on my first trip to Paris last winter and picked up my favorite, an almond croissant and cappuccino, at one of the cafes and took it over to enjoy the view down the River Seine.  I continued on to Notre Dame to take a few pictures before walking up the hill to the Luxembourg Gardens.  It was my first time visiting the gardens, they were absolutely stunning.  I took in the view and found a nice little tree to sit under and write in my journal.  It was a glorious and peaceful afternoon.  It fun and liberating to roam around so comfortably in this foreign city.  I was even asked out to lunch by a handsome man sitting nearby, I didn't have time to go since I had to get back to the airport but it was flattering nonetheless. :)

On my way into the gardens I had my new phone in my hand(that I'm still figuring out how to use) and accidentally took this picture.  In the process I discovered the setting that allows you to turn the lense around to take pictures of yourself, this provided for some amusement. :)

                                                         Hmmm.....where to next???

                                                             The little tree I sat under.

I was a little nervous about being an American woman flying into Amman by myself at 11pm at night.  Luckily I was seated next to a lovely nurse from Operation Smile, Shawna, on my connecting flight from Paris who had been on 2 other missions with the organization.  She filled me in on what to expect and we both felt better about starting off our adventure in the Middle East together.  All was smooth and easy once we landed, exchanged our US$ for Jordan Dinars, went through customs, and our suitcases were sitting at baggage claim.  Adam(our fearless mission coordinator) was just outside of security waiting for us with a big hug and got us a taxi to the hotel.  Ahhhh......we made it!

June 20th, 2012
Today a life long dream of mine is coming true.  I'm going on medical mission to Amman, Jordan with Operation Smile.  I will be serving as a nurse on a medical team made up of Plastic Surgeons, Dentists, Anesthesiologists, Pediatricians, Nurses, Social Workers and other volunteers from all over the world. Over 100 cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries will take place on children from all over Jordan in the next week.  I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity.  I can't wait to meet the families, little patients and experience the culture and history of Jordan.  
Assuming I have a good wifi connection, I'll be blogging throughout the mission.  Stay tuned! :)