Well hello everyone. I am yet to quite get my blog sorted (not too long now) so thought I'd better get myself organised and tell you what has happened in the last few days....now where was I?
Monday was another day of orientation stuff around the ward and my head was full of information. then the evening was spent doing yet more form filling and sorting bank accounts etc etc. Tuesday was my first official day on the ward but I was extra to the numbers. It's so different here, but so similar too, it's quite odd.
All I can say to you nurses out there is that discharges are a dream (so far!). takes all of 10 minutes, miracle! I've had quite a mix of patients so far, but yesterday I was with orthopaedic patients. Lots of casts and neurovascular obs, ooo I felt so at home! The only crazy thing was that they were all tiny wee little kiddies from age 2 to 15. Wow, I hate drug calculations for kids, my head hurt such a lot I can't tell you! The kids were so adorable though, plus I got to play bubbles and colouring and all sorts of great stuff, brilliant!
I'm having to train my brain to change it's ways in so many nursey things, so I can't imagine what I'll be like to work with after I come back. Although there are resources, they are sometimes pretty scarce so we really have to be careful what we use. we have a slight situation with antibiotics in particular, in that the supply is limited, so we have some people with infections which we don't have the right antibiotic to treat them with. What is fantastic is just to see how much praying comes into it all as a result! Every shift starts with us praying together, it's lovely.
Another surprise I keep getting is that the kids can have their parents or a caregiver stay with them, and they sleep under the childs bed, so every now and again a person pops out from underneath my patient when I am doing a dressing or something, very random! Also the other way round is that some mums come to have surgery and are still nursing babies, so we have them on the ward too! It makes for the mum's recovery being pretty fast, and for us effectively getting 2 patients for the price of one (plus having a baby to play with ;)!
The wards themselves are at the bottom of the ship so there are no portals to see outside, plus with the aircon it is a very strange environment for the patients used to being outdoors in the heat all the time, so at shift changeover, we talk those that want to onto the upper deck for fresh air. More games and general chit chat ensue.
I am still astounded by the type of problems people come in with, it's pretty amazing. Sadly today one of our smallest kids was told that they could not perform any more surgery on a huge growth the size of a tennis ball in her eye. She had to be referred to the palliative care team for help at home. That was a pretty tough situation today, and we all felt for her mum. We can only trust that this little girl will be well cared for as she goes home too. Another person was found to have HIV and so her surgery was cancelled and she has been referred for treatment too. We have a team of trained counsellors who are called to explain and support patients in these situations, the set up for that kind of thing is great.
We had a couple more screening days at the beginning of the week so surgery will be hotting up again fairly quickly. It's quite an amazing sight, the patients come and register in the tents pitched on the dock next to the ship. They are seen and screened, and given a date to return as appropriate. It is a pretty overwhelming experience for most of them, and much of the process involves explaining things like how to use a western toilet as many have not come across them. It has been known for people to actually try to stand on the seat to go to the loo! I had great fun teaching a gorgeous little 4 year old how to use a tooth brush and how to shower today. Needless to say, we both got a little wet!
I have managed to venture off the ship again this week and took a walk up the road near the dock. It's very very busy with cars round this area, and by I cars I mean anything that is made of metal and has 4 wheels, some are pretty ricketty! It was scorching hot but it was really nice to get out and about and see life. I'm booked on a visit to a local orphanage this Saturday which is something one of the crew is involved in as part of Mercy Ships, it's linked to the church I went to last week too. Sat night some people are running a Kayley on the dockside, and I am hoping at some point this weekend to get out and have a meal in a local restaurant.
Well, I think that is probably about enough blabbering for now. I will love you and leave you!
Thinking of you all. Please keep the emails coming, it's so nice to know what is happening!
Big hugs xx
PS this isn't my official 'newsletter' but feel free to forward it as you like :)
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