Some sad moments

Yesturday started off as a typical work day on the ward. I was assigned to working with the translators/floating between the wards. In ward 'A' one of the RN's asked me to come over to double check a little girls heart rate. The baby was registered under the infant feeding program awaiting cleft palate surgery. As I was checking her pulse she moved her arm purposefully and I was thinking, why is a baby making such purposeful movement then I looked up on the wall sign to see that she was 1yr2months old - I was shocked, she looked maybe 5 months old. Because of her cleft palate she was severely malnourished. A few hours later she apirated (choked) on her milk, and as she was too weak to cough to clear her throat her airway was blocked and she coded. Our code team attempted to resuscitate her but were unable to. It's kinda crazy to think how at home she would've been in PICU with feeding tubes, central lines, etc. to prevent this from happening...and for free. As the parents don't have have money to pay for health care, many do not receive the care they need and because the ship is a specialized surgical ship it has limitations and is unable to provide all the specialties we have at home. It's hard sometimes to not get discouraged and overwhelmed with the need, but rather to focus on the amazing stories of many of the patients lives that are changed.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalms 139:13-16

"You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." Psalms 39:5