Daily joys and struggles...

Well folks, since my phone is kaputt, I actually don't have any way to post pictures anymore. Sure, I could walk around with my iPad and take pictures that way, but that's hardly convenient. It doesn't fit in the pocket of my scrubs... 

So I thought I'd post about some of the joys and struggles I go through every day... 

I don't speak Arabic, only French. A lot of my patients only speak Arabic... so when I'm trying to tell them something, I can either find a translator or we can use sign language and try to understand each other. This usually ends in good laughs. 

This morning, one of my patients, who has a giant road rash wound on her thigh, which we had to remove the dead skin and leave it raw, was trying to tell me something when I came to do her dressing change. I couldn't understand her. She kept saying something like "beshé, beshé..." and I kept looking at her blankly while unwrapping her bandage. Suddently, she grabbed my arm and very gently caressed it. And then the light went on in my head. I have to scrub down her raw flesh to remove the layer of pus. She was saying "be gentle..." I understood. Unfortunately, I can't be gentle... I have to scrub it until it's clean... 

Well, this afternoon, with the same lady, I was doing physical therapy, and showing her with my body what I needed her to do with hers. This resulted in a few hilarious situations in which half the ward (who was watching) laughed with us. She's doing very well, and when her road rash is healed, she'll walk out of here with full range of motion on both legs! 

Another patient has a baby son, an adorable little boy of about 6 months. He was in his dad's lap when I went to do PT. I simply picked him up and he started giving me the most adorable belly laughs! Told his dad what to do, and just kept playing with the baby... :) I asked his name, and dad told me it was "Donné par Dieu" which means "given by God." I thought it was a very appropriate name...

Yet another patient has kidney stones. Very painful. He keeps asking if there's anything we can do to make it stop. There isn't. I told him this afternoon that the pain of passing kidney stones is comparable to the pain of childbirth, and asked him how many kids he had. He laughed and said: "so every time my wives* had a baby, this is what they felt? Now I understand why they screamed!" (*yes, he said wives...)

And then a last little story: when I was on my PT rounds, one of my patients didn't want to get up, she was tired. I joked that she had been in bed all day, why was she tired? Her answer cut through my heart: "I haven't eaten all day... there's no more money..." I hadn't expected that. She had an actual, legitimate reason why she did not want to get up. Why she was tired. 

I went back to my room, got some money and silently put it into her hand... Her eyes said it all. 

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I've been here for over a month. The sounds, sights and smells have become familiar. It's become a routine. I start my day with rounds and dressing changes. Then I go to the OR and check what's going on: hernias, hydroceles, prostatectomies, broken bones. Then I have lunch. Then I do PT. Then I do evening dressing changes, make sure everyone is taking their antibiotics and drinking enough water. Then I have dinner, shower and hit the bed... 

But I forget that they don't have the same luxuries I do. A lot of them don't have enough money for antibiotics *and* food. Or sterile gauze. Sometimes I'm reminded... and I am shocked that I take so many things for granted, and complain about silly, stupid things. So I do what I can. I buy antibiotics, or gauze. I give them money for food. I pray. I talk to them and explain what and why we do this or that. I try to make them laugh and ease their pain. I try to help any way I can... 

I just hope it's enough...