Night shift

Last week I did my set of nights and I had a really great night shift. Lately I have been quite tired and I am embarrased to say have felt myself 'living' for my days off. It has been quite a challenge to think about that mindset in a place such as this, and it's hard not to judge myself and my attitude and feel pretty horrible. So after some rest and some determination on my part to try and change my attitude, I went to my night shift praying hard and with a renewed attitude.
The shift began with me as always introducing myself and explaining I was their nurse for the night. As I went around, it was obvious that a couple of my female patients understood very little English. So the sign language ensued. Both ladys had had goitres removed from their necks and so I spent a lot of my time going round doing all sorts of checks of their necks and faces, prodding and poking, trying to explain what I was doing was pretty hard but they were very tolerant! I have noticed that often people with the same types of problem will group together, and my ladies were no different. We had 3 other ladies on the ward with massive goitres who were having their operation the next day. This is the place where their large swollen necks (and whatever else they have problems with!) are not looked down upon, and someone else knows exactly what it is to be rejected, stigmatised and made fun of.
Somehow my night with these ladys was different. Sometimes language and having to point, gesture and simplify can be really hard and a huge effort, often to no avail. But my ladies were patient, and somehow with smiles, points, and showing eachother what we meant we were able to get by, and what's more is that it was fun.
I was also looking after Kossi again, so we had a bit of a play as I went round, he is turning into quite a live wire! He loves to be cheeky now and is a lot of fun.
As I turned the lights out and prepared for the long night ahead, I remembered my intentions to pray for my patients. I snuck around the curtains which we set up to dull the night lights to a comfortable level, I went to see who was still awake. I offered to pray for 2 gentlemen who had been quietly resting for most of the evening from 7pm when I arrived. They were most enthusiastic and so I prayed, one of them ferevently agreeing for all I was praying. Yet again I think the patients were more of an encouragement to me than the other way round! Often you will find that during the day but particularly in the mornings, many of them will dig out their bibles and quite openly pray or read psalms out loud. I love to hear that, and am reminded of their focus every day as they get up, by the first thing that they do.