seventeen

I was joined in minor theatre today by a new couple from Canada. It was nice having some fresh faces in the hospital and I had a good time showing them the ropes. It started off really slow this morning. All of us were put into that awkward situation where you can’t really be wishing for people to be injured and need medical attention but we also don’t like just sitting around all morning. I found myself wondering whether or not people didn’t need to come in because they were healthy or because they didn’t have the funds to come in. The whole profession is a little deconstructive in the sense that I am essentially depending on people to be sick or harmed in order to be of any use in this world.

 I redressed a lot of wounds and removed a lot of stitches today and unfortunately didn’t get to spend time with Beatrice. She was arriving as I was leaving for the day and we chatted for a bit and agreed to try for an earlier time tomorrow so I can see to her wounds. I also snuck into the supply closet to have a look around. I can see now why it is so difficult to get anything from the charge nurses: there is hardly anything in there. Maya, one of the nurses, will hand me one surgical blade at a time and when the next patient comes in I have to schmooze her all of again just get another. She is a testament to how supplies are treated in this hospital. The staff will drag out everything that they have to last as long as possible, will use things until they are broken. It was easier for me to respect the system when I saw what the staff has to work with. I have yet to see a handle for a scalpel, everyone just bare hands the blades. It seems like simple things like that are coming up and if anything I’m more motivated to find things to send their way. I can see how easy it is for apathy to build in this environment, after a while of not having the proper supplies the staff adopts their imaginary sign of “what am I supposed to do”. Its daunting really to think about how so many basic things can just be absent from the situation.

What I learned today is that pediatrics might not be for me. I’ve always thought this was maybe not my place in the medical world but today really sealed the deal. I had a 3 year old patient come in who was missing the top portion of his ring finger. He already had sutures and only needed the wound to be cleaned and recovered. The moment that I put on my gloves he flipped the switch into hysterical mode and it took 4 of us to hold him down for something that would have caused him minimal pain. He was glaring at me as he left the theatre in his mama’ arms. She was also angry with me because I made her baby cry and I just kept thinking to myself, no one in that situation liked having me around. I know this shouldn’t matter so much when I’m considering a specialty but I think I’ll keep my interactions with kids limited to playgrounds and chicken nuggets.

I also met a Kenyan man today who was 94 years old. The life expectancy here is something like 58.4 so he was a real anomaly. The students were all going over to have a look because he was still moving pretty good for 94.

The big lesson from today: I should be the kind of person who prefers when people are well, even if that makes me irrelevant, and from my sweet little grandpa who came in the lesson is: people can survive and thrive anywhere.

a wound that I redressed today

I took the stitches out of this one. He had been in a cast for 4 weeks and had these cuts hiding beneath. My congestion seemed to play a major role in being able to help this fellow out

The supply closet for Minor Theatre

 Its about 3 ft by 3 ft closet and this was after a big restock.