You Can Do It!!

I have been thinking of what to share for a while now with all whats happening here in Guinea. As you, I work from Monday to Friday and the my weekends are off and everyday is a different specialty.

This week have been very special for me as well as the entire screening team on-board. the Africa Mercy. One of my special moments was having to see all these cute babies and moms coming for their screening appointments for more nursing diagnostic.

On nursing diagnostic days what we do is draw bloods, nursing assessment making sure that these patients are well and ready to be seen by the surgeon who will decide whether or not they are surgical candidates

 So it  was time to draw bloods. To begin with i could say i am an adult nurse because back at home i will work mostly on adults meaning not good at drawing bloods when it’s a kid as from 6 yrs-0 months. But on the ship we see patients of different age groups so you never know.

Now in my team we’ve got great nurses including myself and we kind of work according to the strength of each other. so we all know our limits and who’s best at what and then we go with that but you know there are days were everyone is busy doing something with a patient that you just have to face the challenge that is in front of you.

One of these days was on Tuesday we had patients of different age groups and all of us had something doing and so we had to ensure that blood is drawn for all patients as fast as possible and sent to the lab for testing so the patients can have results before they leave to their various homes before next appointment.

I had already drawn bloods on 5 adult patients on that they and since the other nurses were drawing bloods as well, the process was quite fast as the nurse in charge for that day was making sure that everything goes well. i had just finished drawing bloods on a patient so i went to return the patient’s chart to the charge nurse so i can see another patient.

 The charge nurse told me it was the last patient for a blood draw and then she gave me the patient’s chart but to my greatest surprise it was a 4yr old!!

My first reaction was a question and i asked do you want me to draw bloods? then she replied yes i do! When the patient came in i was trying to figure out how this is gonna happen. Then i heard this voice ” You can do it”. this was the first time i was doing this and so i had to convinced the 4yr old with a balloon so that she won’t cry because i knew it wasn’t gonna be an easy one. i had assistance from two of the nurses  to help hold the child so that she won’t move. And with my tunicate i tied her left hand to better visualize and stabilize the vein  then i saw a little vein and went in with my butterfly needle, it felt like i wasn’t in the vein but i could feel that i am in the vein so i moved the needle a little bit backwards as though i was about taking it out then i had a back-flow!!

This was one of the most satisfying moment for the first time in my carrier just by seeing that back-flow as blood ran into the syringe! Then i understood that sometimes we just have to be fair on ourselves and trust that we can do those things we think we can’t.

The following day, we had patients with different age groups and we had to repeat some labs for some patients since it was a follow-up day. And so i had to follow-up this little 3yr old boy and also draw bloods as well. And again i said to myself ” christel its not because you draw bloods on a 4yr old that makes you think you can draw bloods on a 3yr old but i had to do it. So  again i had help from the nurses to help hold the boy still and nice and as i went in to the vein with my butterfly needle i had a back-flow of blood in the syringe!!

But above all the most satisfying moments of these few weeks is seeing that the patients we screened have received surgery and very happy to live a new life free from judgement, shame an rejection

So this week i learnt a few lessons;

• Never limit yourself because sometimes you can do more than you think
• Always stay humble to learn from other because you might use what you’ve learnt someday for the good of everyone
• Two is better than one.
• Its possible all the time if only you are determined! Its all about team work!!

I will ask that you please pray for us as we leave the ship for the upcountry screening  1week trip to find more patients but this time going into the interior. This will be happening this coming week so please pray for wisdom, strength, security and grace to see all these patients with much love!

Will tell you how the trip was when i return, we are hoping to find potential patients!!And please don’t forget to share, comment, like and donate.