The week.

I apologize for the hiatus in my bloging, between inconsistent Internet and time, it has been a few days, but now I can update on my first week at the hospital. Because of the Easter holiday, I have Friday (Good Friday) and Monday (Family day) off, which makes for a 4-day weekend. I like this schedule of working 4 days and then having 4 days off, I think the US can learn something from all these Holidays.
The Hospital...
It was a good week; each day I was able to become more settled, understand the hospital and flow of things. Even though there will be some things I never understand and that is just from living in America my whole life and now working in a hospital in Africa. Because I have never worked on a burn unit before there are things that I needed to learn about burns themselves, the many dressing changes, etc. It is a hard unit to work on because burns are such a horrible thing. I know when I have burned myself on just the oven it is only a tiny burn and will leave a tiny scar, but I know how much that hurts and the healing process is only a couple of days. So when I see these children with 15-50% 3rd degree body burns, my body and heart hurt for them. It is painful and the healing process is long. There is a child that has been on the unit the whole time the Child Life girls have been here (February) and finally was able to go home for the first time Thursday and will continue to need dressing changes and surgeries for many more months and even years.
Many of the burns are from hot water or fires. I have been told that during the winter months, fire burns increase from shack fires, families just trying to stay warm. I have only been here a week, still figuring out what I think. There are a lot of differences with the hospital, how things are done, cleanliness, lack of supplies/ equipment, but there are a lot of similarities as well. The nurses and doctors care about these children and are devastated when a child does not make it, which unfortunately happened on Wednesday. The patients and families have the same issues that they do in the states: patients are by themselves because their families live too far from the hospital and have to go home to work, there are moms that will not live their childs bedside, sleep in a hard back chair, rush to take a shower while their child is sleeping, the patient’s fight with each other and for attention from staff (they really do just want to be loved), they are scared to be in the hospital and have the common fears that being in the hospital bring, patients having self-esteem issues, and the list could go on. One huge difference is they live in South Africa, which leads to cultural differences, but I’m learning to adjust and make the most of what I can.
I have had a lot of really good Child Life interventions this week as well. Child Life does make a difference and the hospital and staff have noticed as well and definitely want the program to continue, which is great news. I love getting to just play with so many of the children. They really do LOVE bubbles. We carry bubbles around our necks and that is the first thing they ask when they see you… “Bubbles, can I have your bubbles.” We don’t have a lot of games to choose from, but Candy Land and Connect Four where the favorites this week. I enjoyed getting to feed breakfast and lunch to some of the children. Preparing patients and families for surgery. Language is definitely an issue. Many speak English, but several speak Afrikaans or Costa (don't think i'm spelling this right). Caroline (the child life girl that started the program) and I went with a baby and mom to surgery and because of the day we were not able to meet them before hand. So we are standing in the theatre (OR) hall and at the hospital one parent is allowed to go with the child while they are falling asleep (we don’t even have that at Phoenix Children’s). The mother was young, it was the patient’s first time for surgery, mom didn’t really know what to expect, she did not want to go back with her child (we think because she wasn’t sure what was going to happen and said she doesn’t like to hear her son cry). So we prepared the mom and supported her through the process, sat with her until it was time and took her into the theatre. It was a normal interaction for us, but for the mom it was huge, we took the time to explain and make sure she understood what was happening and afterwards gave us both a hug. And showing affection especially to someone you just meet is something that doesn’t happen. That is why I do what I do; we made a difference today inn that mother’s life, helping to make her child’s first surgery a positive experience. The stories could go and I will share more later and pictures, but I want to get this posted before my day of activities begins. I love you all!