Princess Royal

I completely forgot to blog about this - then I was looking through the pictures on one of the ship computers today, and remembered. Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, was in Sierra Leone last week and decided to pay a visit to the Africa Mercy! The ship was a flurry of activity as wards were scrubbed, floors mopped and waxed til they sparkled, and everyone practiced their curtsies. I've never seen this place so clean and shiny. I didn't meet the princess, but some of my friends were working when she toured the hospital...so, I know someone who met the princess. That counts for something, right? ;-)

I think the missionary kids were a little disappointed that she didn't wear a tiara.

In other news, Kadiatu smiled and laughed today. That made me very happy. We have lots of pikins with NG tubes on D ward right now, and they've been kind of fussy the past few days...understandably. But today they all started feeling a little better and having some fun. My little one in bed 9, Esther, pulled her nasal trumpet out last night, but she did not go back into respiratory distress so all is well. At the end of my shift, I learned that she was actually not the one responsible for the nasal trumpet coming out, but her mischievous neighbor, Muka in bed 11 was. I guess the little guy decided he was a nurse last night and that Esther's airway was fine.

21 weeks down, 4 to go!

A few little stories from the ward this past week:

"Nurse" Shaka is a man who had a giant lipoma removed from the back of his neck. He told us he's a nurse at a local hospital, and perhaps he is. The other day he was found adjusting the IV drip rate for another patient. Later on he and another patient from the ward were found in the ICU with a patient on isolation, all three of them having some heated discussion about who knows what. Concepts like "patient confidentiality" and "isolation precautions" can be difficult to communicate sometimes.

"Fanta Man" was a confused elderly patient who kept things interesting for D ward the past couple of weeks, doing things like holding intense conversations with the soap dispenser and attempting to escape the hospital. Ali has some pretty hilarious stories:

fanta man

the continued adventures of fanta man

It's been encouraging to see little Kadiatu's spirits improve. She's a 5-year-old girl who had facial reconstructive surgery to correct damage caused by noma. She was NOT a happy camper over the weekend. Her wounds need some time to heal before we can let her put food in her mouth, which means tube feedings for a week. On Saturday, anytime I touched that NG tube (or her IV, or her bandages, or pretty much any part of her) she would scream bloody murder. That night she ripped out everything that was attached to her, so Sunday she took another trip to the OR to have it all replaced. When I saw her again Sunday evening I saw her new NG tube was sutured to her face and safety pinned to one of the braids on top of her head. Poor pikin. She didn't seem to be screaming quite as much Sunday, but still whimpered throughout all of her tube feedings. Rhoda and I took turns holding her while the feedings were going, and she managed to get through the shift without ripping anything out. Tuesday and Wednesday Kadi ventured outside when we took the patients to Deck 7, but she spent the hour just sitting in her caregiver's lap, looking at the water. Today on Deck 7 she actually played a little bit, went for a ride on one of the tricycles, and walked back downstairs by herself instead of being carried.

We're coming to the end of the Sierra Leone outreach, and the hospital will be closing in 3 weeks. It's strange to think that we only have 3 weeks left of NG feeds, sterile dressing changes, chlorhexidine mouthwashes, cleft lip babies with their adorable little steri strip cat-whisker faces spitting medicine back out at us, singing with our patients, praying with them as we send them off to the operating room and celebrating with them when they come back transformed. As things wind down we're starting to tidy up the wards, scan all the charts into the computer system, and get ready to pack up the ship before the sail in December. It's bitter-sweet, but I'm glad I'll be here until the end. I think that packing up and scrubbing down the hospital my last week here will help me say goodbye to this place, bring a sense of closure to my time here. It was definitely a big transition to get settled in here on the ship when I came, and now I begin another transition as I prepare to come home.

Mama Isatu

Isatu is a patient everyone on D ward has come to love. Sadly, the surgery we did on her jaw was only palliative, as the tumor was cancerous and will likely return. Shortly after surgery Isatu's wound opened back up to form a fistula through her cheek into her mouth. This led to a prolonged hospital stay, scrupulous wound care twice a day, and three weeks of tube feedings instead of only one. Despite her situation, Isatu always had a bright smile on her face. I would often hurry through the ward, focused on some task or other, and hear her call out behind me, "Rooot!!" I'd turn around and she'd be waving excitedly, eyes twinkling. I'd go over to her bed, get a hand squeeze or hug, and remember again why I'm here. Last week her teenage son (or maybe grandson, I'm not sure) was here to visit her and she was very excited to introduce him to all the nurses.

"My pikin, my pikin," she said, pointing at the young man. ("Pikin" is the Krio word for baby, or small child). Isatu gestured to Hannah, another nurse, and told her "your brother."

"My brother?" Hannah asked, confused.

Isatu nodded. "He my pikin. You my pikin. Your brother." Then she pointed at me, "You all my pikins."

Isatu now has the feeding tube out and is eating normal food, her wound is healing up nicely, and we were able to send her off to the Hope Center yesterday afternoon. I'll definitely be going to the Hope Center for a visit this week. :)

What did you do this weekend?

Living on a hospital ship, in a city where we can't exactly hop in the car and drive to the mall or movie theater (even if we could, there's a curfew when everyone has to be back on the ship for the night), we find ways to make our own entertainment. Sometimes that entertainment involves taking a cup of tea outside and watching the dive team fish a wayward forklift out of the water down below. Sometimes a huge group gets together in the Starbucks cafe for "trivia night," and teams answer random trivia questions while drinking frappucinos and sharing snacks. Once we had a film festival, where everyone submitted homemade movies and we all dressed up to go watch them together. There are lots of card games, movie nights, and "tea at ten" parties. This Friday night, a group of 20+ ladies gathered in the Queen's Lounge, armed with pillows and chocolate, and spent 5 hours quoting along with and giggling at the antics of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Saturday evening a few of us carried our plates of food up 3 flights of stairs and had a picnic on the top deck. We watched the sun set, then lay on our backs on a blanket and watched the stars come out. Today we're going to be very busy laying out by the pool and soaking up as much sun as possible before another busy week begins. :)

Midnight rambles

It's been a week since my last post, and I don't really know what to write about at the moment, so here are some random thoughts before I go to sleep:

I think I'm becoming somewhat institutionalized, eating in a cafeteria. My stomach starts growling at 12:00 and 5:00 every day.

I went to fabric street yesterday. I bought some fabric. A pickpocket tried to get in our bags, but was unsuccessful. I carry a bag that zips up all the way for just that reason.

There's dried baby drool all over my scrub top right now. I don't really care.

People from England will never approve of Americans' pronunciation. I wonder what they'd think if they visited Texas? ;-P

We've had triple max-fax surgeries the past few weeks, which means D ward has been busy...and we're overflowing into C ward and B ward.

I now automatically introduce myself as "Root." Nobody understands me when I say "Ruth."

I walked into C ward today and heard my patient from last week, an older lady named Isatu, excitedly call out "Root!" I looked up and she beckoned me over, a big grin on her face, and grasped my hand and gave me a hug. I love moments like that.

I miss my boyfriend. Six months is a long time.

My boyfriend sent me jalapeno cheddar cheetos. I'm trying to make them last at least a week.

I've started looking at nursing jobs online several days a week. Which probably doesn't make sense, cause those jobs will be taken by the time I get home. But I can't help myself...

I went to a local church service on Sunday. It was really long, and I was tired. But I didn't fall asleep, cause they had ushers patrolling the aisles, on the look-out for people who fell asleep, and nudging them awake and shaking their heads at them disapprovingly.

This is Aminata. She's the princess of D ward. The drool on my scrubs is hers.