My Day

Although today is not typical of all my days, it does show a little bit of what a day can be like for me.
At 6:30 AM Melvin (another pilot) and I got to work so that we could have a 7:00 AM departure to take the program manager and his visiting family to Methelanang to visit one of the missionaries in the mountains (Merrell). I promptly returned to Maseru to take the doctor team of four to a village called Kuebunyani. While en route we got a code one call (the highest priority life or death medical emergency) for Nkau. I hurriedly dropped the doctor team off and was at Nkau about 10 minutes later. I never know what to expect when I get a code one.
I saw about twenty people approach the aircraft bringing with them a lady on the stretcher and two newborns only a couple of hours old. The first baby was breech, and had one leg out and one leg inside. Dr Jen was able to deliver the baby and he was ok, considering he is 2 1/2 months early. They then realized that there was another baby who was breech as well. She did not fare as well, but was still alive as I showed up. Dr. Jen brought the baby over to the pilot seat and continued to do all she could the keep the baby breathing and the heart beating. We waited about 30 minutes for a nurse to run to the clinic and grab a shot of adrenaline. I spent this time praying and trying to secure the mother to the floor of the aircraft, she was bleeding and not able to sit up. The stretcher was to big so we left her on a small mattress and put that on the aircraft floor. I then used two straps to secure her to the floor. The shot gave the baby a fighting chance to make it back to Maseru where she could go to the hospital. The entire flight I was praying and looking back at the nurse who was taking care of the precious little girl. We were giving the baby oxygen and I hurried as fast as I could to Maseru. After the 40 minute flight, the baby was still alive but not doing well. We landed in Maseru where the mother and babies were loaded into the ambulance and taken to the hospital. I still haven't heard if the girl made it or not and so I'm still praying.
Fifteen minutes later, I was loaded up with over 400 pounds of medicine and 330 pounds of coal and took off to Nkau. After unloading this cargo, I got another Code 1 call for a lady from Kuebunyani. I landed about 15 minutes later and loaded up the patient with a doctor. She was also on a stretcher and I had to strap her to the floor as well. I then took off for Methelanang in order to pick up two of the eight people at Methelanang with my program manager. But after only 6 miles, the other aircraft said that it was two windy to land there. I returned to Kuebunyani in order to pick up two more doctors who needed to go to Maseru.
After returning to Maseru, I loaded up with more wood and coal and headed for the village of Tebelong to pick up another missionary who was heading to Maseru. We then headed back to Kuebunyai to pick up the three remaining doctors and passengers to Maseru. I landed at 4:27 just in time to head home and take a well deserved break. I flew a total of 5.5 tach hours and made 12 landings. Now I am ready for bed.