The joy of a child's laughter

Hello again! We made it to Friday. Today I was on the male ward, and it wasn’t so busy in the morning. Of course once you say that things will pick up. After lunch we had many new admits and were able to carry out the doctor’s orders from the morning rounds. Not much had changed, and we just had to hang the usual meds for the patients. There are two young boys who have fractured the  head of their femurs and are in beds next to each other. They cannot have surgery because we do not have the resources available for a total hip replacement, and so we resort to traction. The young lads have to lay in bed for six weeks while the bones ossify and heal. Imagine laying in a bed, unable to get up and walk around FOR SIX WEEKS! And these boys are a joy to work with. They never complain—they sit there and endure the pain and boredom. One of my nursing friends came up with the idea of using balloons to do ROM exercises for these kiddos. So we used beach balls and have them pass or bop the ball back and forth between each other and ourselves. Their smiles light up with joy. Also today we brought paper and scissors and showed them how to make snowflakes. Then we made a contraption to string the snowflakes above their beds. The grandmother of one of the boys is always with him and she tells us thank you about every five minutes. They are just precious souls. 

The highlight of  my day was playing with a little tyke in the corridor. I stopped to say hello (jambo) and then he came and gave me a large hug with his little arms. I sat down to his level and he put his hands on my head and his bright white teeth came out with a huge smile. He was a joy to my eyes. And then I had this idea, maybe he would like to use my stethoscope and listen to my heart. I'm sure these children have no idea what this tool is used for, so I put the plugs in his ears and held the diaphragm to my chest. Almost immediately all I could hear were giggles. He kept putting the scope to my chest and bursting out with laughter from his working lungs, which many of the children at the hospital do not have. It’s a joy to hear laughter when you are surrounded with those in pain. He brought happiness to my heart and as I walked away to return to work he followed me. I scooped him up swung him around and his laughter resounded off of the walls. I set him back down, said goodbye (kwa heri) and continued my duties.