What surgery can do!

This little boy came in for surgery this morning, carried by his father. Scared of course!

He cried when he was taken from his father, a normal thing to expect! They held him down on the table, to give him anesthesia. Looked a bit brutal, but it was done with care. And not long after the anesthesia he was sleeping. The doctor drew up the lines to cut for the operation, and they started. Didn't take long.

I must say that during the surgery, toward the end - I had tears in my eyes. What a miracle. Have a look for yourselves. Words are not needed!

Alih Johnathan

Yet another story that has touched my heart.

This boy born 21.10.13 at 06.15 pm; was 3119 g, 50 cm long, 34 cm around his head and 32 cm around his chest.

The family doctor that helped with the delivery, is part of a medical team from the States. She did an amazing job, if it hadn't been for her I'm not sure he would have been alive. It took some time for him to be delivered, so they needed to use suction to get him out.

When he was born, he was cyanotic and had to be revived. His mother had been holding my hand and was now squeezed it and was wondering if he was alive - if he was breathing. I told her just to keep strong, and that we were helping him to breathe. We were 3 people that worked on him at times - and after a while he took a little breath. But we kept giving him cpr. We understood that he would live, but wanted to put him on oxygen. The midwife did a check up on him, and then...........we saw that there was something in the back of his head that definitely shouldn't be there.

On the visiting medical team, there are a few pediatricians, so I called my dad and asked him to go get one of them and come to the hospital. And he did! The pediatrician and the family doctor checked the little boy and talked, didn't understand all the lingo - but they said this needs to be kept humid so we tried to find some things at the hospital to do that. We needed to wreck our heads to find things to use, because apart from them meds that are used while delivering - the parents to the child needs to bring EVERYTHING.

The doctor on duty was called, and came after a while. During the time of waiting, they thought they had found out what this little boy had, possibly: Meningiocele or Encephalocele. Look it up =). And the doctor said that it sure looked like that. My heart went out to him and his family.

They were told they needed surgery, and that it's not possible here in Antsirabe, meaning they would have to travel to Antananarivo (Tana) - 4 hours away in local transportation. I went home that night thinking about this little boys destiny. I told the mother that I would drop by the next day on my way to the pre-post operation unit.

When I came the next morning the baby was feeding and the mother was at good heart. I asked them what they wanted to do, and they said they would c, concerning the surgery - because they needed to gather money for it first. I went to the head midwife and told her that the bill for the surgery would be taken care of, but that they would have to pay for the rest. The midwife called the grandmother of  Alih Johnathan, and told her the news, and then we told the mother. They had money for the bill at this hospital, so they payed that and went to take public transport to Tana.

And now time will show what happens! I will keep you posted =).

The latest new is that he will get the head scan tomorrow, and then surgery!

Second week at the hospital!

This week has been interesting in many ways. I've been at the "New Building", which is a pre- and post operation unit. There are male, female and children, in this ward but in separate rooms. The left wing belongs to the ladies, and the right wing to men - the children are mainly put with the ladies, but sometimes it's full and then they are put where there is room.

The ward has 16 beds divided in 4 rooms, and 2 single rooms. The ward is run by 2 nurses, and 1 nurse during the night shift, which starts at 2 pm til 7 am next morning. During the day there are 2 ladies that are doing the cleaning, and they are also responsible for the transport of the people that are going to the the operation block.

So this week has been quite something. First day I was with the nurse that was responsible for changing the bandages on the ward. There were some heavy infections and some were not complicated. The next day I helped the other nurse with the medications. We took all the journals, read what they needed, wrote it on a double paper and went to the Pharmacy. They kept one copy and we had the other. The meds we had written were charged to the people, because they have to pay for everything that is being used. And they have to pay the bill before they can leave the hospital.

When you come to a hospital here in Madagascar, you always have people with you because they are the ones that takes care of you. The medical stuff is taken care of by the hospital, but the rest is the family or relatives. They stay by your bedside at all times, so there are often more than one person that comes. If you don't have people with you, there is no one that cook for you and you don't eat. And they are also the ones that help you to the bathroom, the shower etc. So it's good to have a large family!

This boy fell about 10 meters (30 feet) and broke his vertebra, and can't feel his legs. But he's in good spirit despite that. I have had the opportunity to talk a bit with him, and his father that is there with him all the time. He is 11 years old, and don't know if he'll walk again. I'm praying for a miracle, that he'll be able to walk again. =)

I told him that even if I'm at a different ward next week and the following weeks I would come and visit him now and then. The picture is taken with him and his family knowing that it will be sent to people that will see him, and hopefully pray for him.

As a future nurse I saw that his heals needed some relief, to prevent wounds. So I talked with the people staying with him that they should put something under his feet, so that his heals would stay off the mattress. They understood the problem, and found a blanket and put it there. I also tried to explain to them that since he couldn't move his feet, it was good if they could bend his knees some times during the day also. A few things to help this boy and his family out.

So many stories!! And I'm sharing one at the time!!

Summary of the first week!

Went to church today, left after the offering - which was a bit over 2 hours into the service. The benches are of plain wood, not made to sit on for a long time =). It was good to hear the songs again, and cing so many ppl in church.

Anyway!
My week at the maternity ward is almost over, I'll go back on Monday. I've been able to assist in 3 births, and in the "block" for 2 c-sections. It's amazing to watch a child fill his or her lungs for the first time. These women are brave, there is not more to say about that. Not that other women giving birth are not brave, cuz they are. The women giving normal birth here receive no pain-relief - even if they have to be cut. They sew without any relief. With a c-section, they get epidural.

The stories are many and here is one of them:
This boy's mother came in and was in visible pain, she got checked and pretty much ready give birth. She was told to go shower, and then go to the delivery room. From the time she came out of the shower until she had this beautiful boy, it took about 30 minutes. Healthy baby, 3005 g, 48 cm long. A birth with no complications!

Right after she had given birth, I helped feeding the premature babies. There are two of them. They share one cot, one of them has reached his birth-weight and is now 1160 g. He was born the 15th of September. He's mother passed away 3 days after his birth, not because of the delivery but because she had TB.
The other one is a girl, her twin is with the mother at home cuz she was bigger. This little one is now 1240g, tiny but both growing.

While feeding the little ones, a lady was brought to the maternity ward - she was in need of an acute c-section. She had a healthy baby boy 3373 g, pale but well.

Next week I'll be at the pre- and post operative ward. Have no idea what to expect!!

First day!

Don't worry, this is not going to be the norm. =)

Today I came as told right before 8 am, but the doc. H was no where to be seen. So I wanted around for about 30 minutes, with lots of other ppl (they needed the doc, but I didn't)
When he came, he greeted me and said - come follow me, and I did. He walked over to the maternity ward and walked into the office. Two midwifes sat there, and he told them this is a Norwegian lady how is going to doing an apprenticeship at the hospital, and she will be with you here this first week. Then he left, so there we were. They didn't know they were having someone coming, but welcomed me.

So what to do, I'm not a midwife student - but very happy that I had worked at the maternity ward in Kristiansand this summer. That helped a lot, cuz some of the expressions where familiar =). The midwife at work told me she had worked as a midwife for 19 years, so I knew it would be an awesome day.

Many ladies came to get checkups, 2 ladies were in the waiting room for delivery (don't know what's it called in English =).) They both came to get check ups, and one of the ladies needed to go into surgery asap. She got prepared, then into the "block" we went. The lady was terrified, and she couldn't stop crying. When they tried to give her anesthetics, she got even more terrified poor thing. Anyway, she got a healthy boy.

Then more exams, before the midwife was called to come urgently. There was a lady that had been transferred from a different hospital because she had been in labor too long, and the baby was in distress. She came walking into the ward, after a shower =). The midwife told her to get on the bench so that we could prep her for a c-section. But when I looked, the baby's head was already visible - so too late for that. So she walked around the corner to the delivery room, and gave birth to a baby boy.

Fantastic day, it was amazing!

First impression of the hospital!

Well, what to say =). This will be awesome!

I went over to the hospital today to meet with the doctor that is heading up the apprenticeship. Had to ask a few people to find him, and they said he's over at the "block". Didn't mean anything to me, but I followed the directions they gave me - and ended up in front of the surgery unit. Ups! And yes there I saw "the block unit", had to wait for someone to come and told them I was looking for dr.H. They were very kind, and told me they would notify him. He was still cutting =). So I waited.

While waiting, there came a man out from surgery with a metal bowl, and he called for the relatives of the person in surgery. They jumped to their feet, (remind you this is outside) and they came toward the man. He showed them the content of the bowl, (I was kind of curious, but didn't go over to look, but I really wanted to) and said that there were still lots and lots of the lumps were they had been cutting. He told them that they would send these lumps to a lab in a different city to get them analysed, then they could start the treatment. Then he went back inside with the bowl, and the relatives sat down outside.

I was told to go over to a different building, to wait for dr.H. Something I did. When he came he asked where my uniform was, and I told him it was at the place I'm staying. Come back tomorrow at 8 am, with the uniform and I'll show you around. "Where do you want to work?" he asked. Which I responded, I'm still a student.

Lots of new experiences and I believe
challenges!

It's Thursday the 3rd of October, and fall is defenetly here. Tomorrow I'm leaving for Madagascar for the last apprenticeship. These 3 years taking a bachelor has gone by so fast.

But first a little update on the Moz trip.

The time spent in Mozambique was awesome, it was a team of 38 =) yep a large team. But it went very smoothly, because of grace and the teammemberse were mainly families. 38 individuals would have been a challenge. We were able to help out with a womens conference, which is the first in the history of the country. Usually it's the men that are participating in conferences.

A funny story.
The conference was held 30 minutes drives from the Pemba base, so it took some effort to get there. But one day, under the gazibo there were some men sitting. They were asked why they were there, and they told us: We heard there was a conference, so we wanted to join. =) (The food is always good at conferences =).)With a smile, and with lots of grace one of the ladies in charge gently told them they they had to leave, because it was a womens conference. The didn't want to leave at first, but were told that they had to go. So they left, but not empty handed. They got a soda, and some fruit.

Back to reality:
The bachelor degree paper has been handed inn, and I've had 2 days to just relax. Good and needed.

Now that I'm going to be traveling and doing some new stuff, I'll be updating the blog more often.
The apprenticeship will be in a hospital, not sure which ward - but all that info will be given on Monday. That's when I start, not sure at what time - but hey it's only Thursday today.

And maybe I'll be able to see some fantastic animales?? Follow the blog and see!