Pain and Tears

Leo (Today)… a day that brought tears to my eyes. I began my shift in pediatrics, which surprisingly was not very busy. If I say the Q word (quiet) then the night will be interrupted with phone calls to come to the hospital and work all night long. Happens. Every. Time. We finished rounds and all of the nursing responsibilities by 9 am and Miss Bingham told me I could float around and help as needed. I went to female ward because I knew that Allison was on the ward alone today. When I entered, there were only a few beds that were unoccupied. It was a full house, and there were many children. Once a child reaches the age of six, they no longer are able to be admitted to pediatrics. I assisted with rounds and observed the different cases before us. One little girl had to go for a dressing change in minor theatre (minor surgery) before the rounds had finished. Allison and I accompanied her to the surgery. The nurses got her on the table and began removing her gauze, as it peeled away wound fragments and healing material. I said, “WAIT WAIT WAIT” as I held me hands up and begged the nurses to stop. Allison showed them on the chart that it said there was an order for ketamine, the short acting general anesthesia. The nurses halted, and we went to look for Dr. Black. He came in and insisted that they give an injection of pain medication, and proceeded to give ketamine. Allison and I stood on opposite sides of the table and held her hands as she lost consciousness. Then as her eyes began to have nystagmus (trembling of the eyes, a common symptom of this drug) and her grip began to ease in strength, we tested to see if she was out. We gently placed our hands on her chest, where the wounds were and she did not flinch. The burns covered her chin, neck, both shoulders and armpits, down the right side of her chest and over her right leg, buttocks and the right side of her back. There was a good 30-35% of her body covered in burns. We began working on debriding her wounds. We cleaned the entire burn surface with normal saline and removed the tissue that was pus covered. Then we dried her off and covered her with silvadine, a nice thick coat of antibacterial cream that will aid with her healing. Then we took petroleum gauze and covered all of her burns. The importance of using this type of gauze before regular gauze is so that it will not stick and heal into the gauze. After we covered her with the petroleum gauze and then regular gauze, we secured her dressing with tape and moved her to the stretcher. Then we wheeled her back to the female ward and positioned her comfortably on the bed to sleep off her ketamine. Afterwards I had to discuss with Miss Bingham my experience. The tears started rolling from my eyes as the anger came out in tears. Can you imagine what it would feel like if 35% of your body was burned. Now, imagine putting gauze on those burns, letting them sit for two days, and then having someone rip them off. Oh, and imagine being six years old without any social support present. This poor, poor child must have been terrified, not to mention two white girls were standing there by her with surgical gloves on. My heart sinks when I see different situations as such. This is reality. This is life in an African hospital where resources are limited. This is the type of situations I see on a daily basis. I am so thankful for the opportunity to come here and comfort the victims of misfortune and immunocompromised health. Thank you again for all your support. Keep up the good work with all the prayers... because I can see God working. He is healing, and showing me many things. He also has blessed me with such a wonderful group of companions for the mission field.