I woke up bright and early to start my day shift (from 7am-3pm). And for some reason I wasn’t nervous this time, I was ready and prepared for what I was going to do.
Once again, we did handover and received patients from the people on the night shift before us. I was shadowing Caroline Chestnutt and we were going to be nursing four patients. They all turned out to be VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistula) patients, which was extremely different from last year as I did not get to work with any VVF ladies last year.
One of our patients was first on the list for surgery, so we didn’t really have to deal with her until she got back. She was called Betty and she was extremely sweet. She wouldn’t stop smiling even after coming back for the second time and two unsuccessful surgeries. I felt so bad.
Today was the due date for changing the patients beds, so I helped put on the new sheets and pillow cases etc. After this we also had to clean our patient’s wounds. All of these VVF women were on ward A. I knew that ward B had a few babies so between times when we didn’t have to do much, I visited ward B and played with the babies there. They were extremely cute.
During my time down on the ward, I took vital signs and tested the women’s blood pressure and temperature frequently. I am used to that now, and remembered what to do from last year.
About 2 hours before my shift was over, Caroline and I went to collect our first patient from the recovery room. And, praise God, the surgery looked a complete success. I had to hold up the IV bag when transporting her to the ward. We gave her some codine and morphine for the pain which she told us she was feeling.
Soon after, the nurses on the next shift, the evening shift from 2-10, came and we handed over. We prayed and some African women sang to us whilst I was chosen randomly to play the drums. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot.
Tuesday 11th March- Day 2
Once more, bright and early I arose to get to my next day shift. Today I worked with Melissa Stromboulis and we had five VVF patients after handover. I helped to begin with by getting all our patients meds ready; the multivitamin, iron and lactulose. Two of the women needed peri-care again, so we had to clean their vaginal wounds and their catheter. I was surprised when Melissa asked if I wanted to actually do the cleaning. I accepted and whilst doing that, I didn’t feel uncomfortable. God is so good to me like that.
After this, we weren’t very busy, so I went over to B ward to see the cute little babies there. Today I felt like I had more to offer. Yesterday at times I felt a little helpless and useless, but today was good.
We did some African worship again at changeover, which made everyone feel happy, including me.
Wednesday 12th March- Day 3
Today was an excellent day for me. I worked the evening shift from 2-10 and this time I was on a totally different ward so I didn’t have VVF patients. I worked with Caroline again which was great, and I felt like we had more to do today than on Monday. One of our patients is set to go home tomorrow, so we only really checked her vitals, but apart from that we did nothing really with her. Another of our patients was sleepy and we didn’t see her awake much. Again we only really checked her vitals and did a mouth exercise with her. The other patient, however, got back from surgery about half an hour after we started and we did a lot with her.
She was on morphine and other medicines, and we had to alter the settings on those a bit. To prevent her from vomiting up the Benadryl which we were going to give her, we actually sucked out all her stomach fluids. I had never seen this before so it was great. It looked a strange blacky-browny colour and it was very liquidy. Also, we had to clean out the tubes that were in her nose. She had two nasal-trumpets in a we had to put a tube down them then suck out the blood or whatever was down her throat up. It looked terribly uncomfortable so I felt sorry for her. Again, I went down to B ward which is where a couple of kids were and hung out with them. I also was told a few days ago that I could start an IV on a nurse if one was willing. Lisa Sullins had told me a few days ago that she would be willing so I did with the help of another nurse named Ali Wilks. She talked me through it step by step and by the end of it they both said that I did a great job and Lisa said it didn’t hurt at all. Later Ali let me start an IV on her and this time with much less help and again, I did it on my first try so they said I did great. I certainly felt happy and satisfied.
Today I really enjoyed it and had lots of fun.
Thursday 13th March- Day 4
So today was "observe a surgery" day. I left the cabin at about 8:30am, and the surgery started at 9:00am. The man who had the tumour, had to get part of his jaw removed with the tumour. This meant he also had a metal plate put into his mouth. The surgery was successful and I didn’t get woozy which was great.
The surgery last 3 hours so I took my lunch break knowing that I had a evening shift to do. This meant I had a two hour break today. The nurses said not to push myself too far, especially since it meant I would be working all day, plus a day shift tomorrow. But, I stayed the whole day anyways.
I worked with Nicole Oosterhalt, and she was really nice and let me do a lot.
Nicole & I
I was working on A ward again, so we had all VVF patients. I took vital signs often, and did al the paperwork that went with it. I also did three pericares today, which I am getting used to doing.
We were pretty busy, it never came to a point where we had nothing to do, but we weren’t overly busy. I actually enjoy working with the VVF women, especially since they are all so nice and have a laugh with you. Today was a tiring, but fun and satisfying day, I enjoyed it a lot.
Friday 14th March- Day 5
Today I worked a day shift again, and with Nicole again. We gave out all our morning meds, then we had to do vitals and some pericare. However, after we had finished doing these things, we weren’t busy at all; I actually got a bit bored.
I was asked just before lunch if I would like to watch the beginning of a surgery. The woman who was getting the surgery couldn’t open her mouth, so they had to put a pipe down her nose. They did this whilst she was awake, and it looked most uncomfortable. I was allowed to look in the doctor’s scope which had a cam showing down the throat. It looked awesome. I had never seen inside and down the throat before. After that, we weren’t busy at all. It was a good day, but it was boring at times. I enjoyed doing the medical things though, and hanging out with the nurses.
Monday 17th March- Day 6
Today I worked down in post-ops with a good friend of mine called Lindsay. Post-ops is when patients who have already had surgery come back for a dressing change or tablets or whatever reason they need to. It got off to a slow start for me, but the day got better as it went on. I was allowed to do most dressing changes and I would help out also by going and fetching information from the printer or calling other patients in to see us. It was certainly different from working on the ward. My hours were from 8am-5pm. Today was a good experience and a good day.
Tuesday 18th March- Day 7
Today was my last day working on the ward. I worked a day shift on B ward and I was working with Nicole again, which I was happy about. Like every morning, we go round and give our patients their morning meds, before doing anything else with the patients. We got six patients to take care of, but within a couple of hours, two patients were discharged. One of our patents went into surgery and two of our others were going into surgery. This meant that we couldn’t really do much with them because they are NPO, so that means no food; so we didn’t even give those patients meds. Our last patient was our only VVF patient, however we did not have to do pericare with her.
At 10:30, there was a dress ceremony for four VVF patients who were being discharged. We had so much fun! The four women were in beautiful African outfits and we sang and danced and prayed. It was awesome, you could hear them from the other side of the ship. After that, however, we were not busy at all; I did lots of vital signs though. At about 1:00pm, Rebecca “Red” Rouse took some photos of me in action which my mum had requested for our family blog. There were some cool photos and it was great - check out the Flickr link at the top left hand side of the page for more pics.
Today was my last day, and I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to do what I did in these seven days. I thank Kirstie. Red and Laura, but most of all I thank God.
This week was certainly a week I shall never forget.
I enjoyed making this little one laugh after Cataract surgery
BY EMMA COLE
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