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Up anywhere in the world, it sends a strong message. and it means many things. potential revenue for the host country. a form of international medical diplomacy. and lots and lots of grateful patients. patients like marlene maxwell, who had her life-saving operation right here on this ship. for vital signs, i m dr. sanjay gupta. thanks for watching. ....
There s no question things are going to be busy on the usns comfort. they plan ten to 12 operations per day. the first group came in yesterday. one of those patients was marlene maxwell. consider this. 24 hours ago, she had never even been on a ship. and today, she s going to have an operation on one. doctors will be removing mar len s thyroid today. for eight years, she s dealt with pain and discomfort that has just gotten worse. for three years, she s been waiting for this operation. a big part of this mission is collaboration between the united states and each host nation. that includes jamaican surgeons and nurses coming onboard the comfort. first assisting on marlene s operation today is dr. natalie wiley. she is an ear, nose, and throat surgeon and head of the kingston public hospital, where the surgical screening took place the day before. marlene, who we talked to ....
The comfort come to jamaica? does anyone see that as a threat or a concern? i don t think so. i think the whole of jamaica welcomes the u.s. comfort. if they could see more patients, if they could do more surgeries, if they could stay longer, if they could leave the ship with us. leave the ship. i like that. for marlene s operation, dr. whylie will be scrubbing in with lead surgeon dr. michelle morrison. she is a commander on the united states navy. they operated together on one patient this morning. i have her scrubbed in with me today, just kind of showing her how i would do things and i ask her, what would you do differently here? what is the interaction like in the operating room? excellent, excellent. we are surgeons. and, you know, the practice of surgery is universal. she s a girl surgeon like me. so, you know, we were it s a really good environment to work, and to share as well. ....
Anymore. if you didn t have this operation ever, what would happen to you? it would turn to cancer and kill me. that s what they told you? me say that. because it get bigger. to i can t control it and turn cancer. i wish you luck. you look like you re in good spirits. yeah, man. they treat me nice up here. they treat you nice? nice, nice, nice. kimberly is very nice. kimberly is very nice? yeah. kimberly is lieutenant junior grade kimberly stoops, marlene s nurse. she s 27 years old. and on her first deployment with the comfort. i know it s scary for a lot of these patients coming on to a ship that they re not familiar with. i mean, a hospital in general is scary, but then coming somewhere where it s not your territory also as much, and then seeing people in uniform sometimes can be daunting. so they ll try and break down those borders, introduce my name, and if they have any ....
Questions, please let me know. i ll try to explain things thoroughly before i do them so that i don t try to catch them off guard. this is five, six weeks into a six-month mission. yes, sir. that s a long time. it s a long time. family, friends, you miss people back home. of course. of course. it s hard to be away, but it s also great to be knowing that we re doing really good work here. a lot of mixed emotions. you have those days where you do miss home, but then you come in and see someone s smiling face like marlene, and just so much you can do, and it really brings you up again. after all the waiting, it s finally time. nurse kimberly, marlene, make their way from the overnight ward to the surgical floor. good luck. congratulations. a handover. some goodbyes and well wishes. and marlene is now in the hands of the operating room nurses. the operation she s waited so long for now just moments away. ....