***Warning: profanity and bloody fluids (not mine)...ah I mean bodily fluids. What is WITH the typos these days?***
Today was out clinic/prenatal day and the students are back so it's insanely busy busy around here with blue-scrubbed students shuffling around or purposely evading their supervisor to get out of work (now that's the spirit!), 100+ patients, the two regular midwives and me AND as an added bonus a neighbouring missionary dropped off two women to 'help' IN ONE ROOM.
Oh, I felt so bad for the two women 'helping'. The person who usually checks patients' blood wasn't available, so we enlisted them and then we had to explain how it worked and how to take samples and THEN the machine didn't work after 45 minutes of messing around. Finally they just went home saying 'We'll come back later when it's not so busy.' I knew I wouldn't be seeing them again. Our clinic is not for the faint of heart.
So when I wasn't making sure the visitors were 'having a "good" time', I was tracking down nursing students, filing in charts and generally doing the work of all the students put together because as far as I'm concerned they're incompetent and I don't feel comfortable having them look after my patients. The other day they let a patient go home with a fever that she'd had for 5 days. Her chart said 'has fever'.
I asked "How high was her fever?" Don't know.
"Did she complain of any abdominal pain?" Didn't ask. Ah. Well done!
"So she's gone home then." Yes. "And she's coming back?" Not sure.
"But you let her go home?" Yes.
"Did you tell anyone that she had a fever for 5 days?" No.
"Did you think it was abnormal?" Yes.
Ok. Thanks. I'm glad we cleared that up.
Wait, let me reiterate. Their supervisor is incompetent. Today she actually AGREED with a woman that 'Yes, you probably don't have any milk to breastfeed. Here's a bottle.' I could have strangled her.
I've developed a new talent. I can identify different types of bodily fluids, with 80% accuracy, just by the sound they make when they hit the linoleum. That is, of course, with a distance of at least 18" between the floor and port of departure.
So tonight I was in my room (while Diana and Maricor were with patients) and I knew there was a patient pushing, so I wasn't surprised when I heard a big splash (amniotic fluid) and then the cry of a baby. However, what wasn't normal was that seconds later there were STILL splashing noises. Sure enough our patient was hemorrhaging.
Lord. It was fantastic.
Diana was swearing 'Shit. Shit. Shit.' With each fountain of blood; Maricor was in silent-concentration putting an IV in and I was barely standing upright trying not to slip on the floor. Oh.
The patients' sisters were crouched on the floor around our feet trying to sop up the blood and her husband...well he was making real sure that her Ovaltine didn't have lumps. The other patients were just hanging out--watching through the curtain...eating dinner. It really was a sight of beauty.
Meanwhile the baby is on the counter (where we keep the babies...I'm not kidding.)and I go to see if he's breathing, check, he is. But he's passed red stool. Oh fantastic. Internal bleeding? Fortunately not, but it's a mystery.
SERENITY NOW!
So, on that note here are some pictures:
This is me this afternoon watching the jungle-mountain rain while I counted money.
And this is what I was doing before the catastrophe: sewing. And this is Mave's sewing kit.
I hope my stories, although terrifying at the time and perhaps nauseating, were a joy to your soul.
4 comments:
I miss those days even though they were stressful and emotional. I am so excited that you got to return to the Philippines. I wish I were with you to experience it all with you. I cannot tell you how much I miss it, ALL of it, good and bad alike.
CRAY-ZAY!
Holy crap- you need to write a book about all of this!
We miss you. Aria keeps asking if she can go down and knock on your door to "check" if you're home.
Fun, fun, fun! I can totally relate to the whole incompetence thing! I've been dealing with my own frustrations again with my oh-so-incompetent other residents again. I don't know how many things I've had to redo, or fix, or whatever, and how many conversations with them about different mistakes that have been made or oversights, but there have been a lot in the last few days! I spent tonight putting together a handout on potassium replacement for them, since neither of them seems to be able to figure out this very simple topic, despite us having gone over it and over it. Even today there were orders written for potassium that were not only wrong, they were dangerous - the kind that can cause life-threatening heart arrhythmias! Great! I figure maybe if they have a sheet they can look at where they just copy the orders that I've written and highlighted, maybe they'll get it right.
Whew - that wasn't supposed to be a vent session for me! I was just trying to say I could relate. You're doing great!
About the baby and the red stool...sometimes they swallow blood from the mom, especially if she's bleeding, and it can come out the other end. Maybe that's what it was, since the baby seems fine.
Sorry if that's gross.
Love you Claire, and miss you.
HOLY COW....Claire...are you just trying to scare me? I think you better stay with me! See you soon,
Love ya,
Mum xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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