Monday, February 7, 2011
Early Morning
Early in the morning, about 5:30 AM, I was woken up by my phone. Immediately I knew that it was the hospital. When I am woken up from my sleep abruptly, I don’t think as clearly. I called back because I thought maybe the Doctor needed the Internet stick… he told me to come to the hospital immediately. Still half unaware of the situation, I fumbled around my dark room, trying to find my scrubs. 5 minutes later I was running to the hospital. I walked into Maternity to see a woman lying on her side on the operating table. I took a quick glance at the problem and knew that something was prolapsed. I went into the surgery center and asked the Doctors what the problem was. The woman had tried to deliver at home, but the baby’s position was wrong. The thing that I thought was prolapsed was the baby’s arm. I got a closer look at it later… the baby was already dead. They brought her in to do surgery to take the baby out and to do a hysterectomy. I began preparing her IV and taking her vitals.
As soon as we had her on the operating table, Doctor Roger went out to get blood from the family before we performed the operation. The family had left… she was alone. They did not want to pay for the operation, so they waited until brought her into our care, and left. We still needed blood, and I was not about to send her away. I asked what blood type she was… A+. I rushed to the lab, asking Clara to once again help me donate blood to the woman. I am A-. As soon as I had the bag of blood in my hand, I ran back to the operating room.
The surgery persisted for quite sometime. They finally did a c-section and removed the baby… I always wonder who that child could have possibly become. As they started doing the hysterectomy, they called me to scrub in. I was so excited because usually I just sit around and wait until surgery is over and I have to clean up all of the mess that is left behind. This was my chance to again be apart of the action! I quickly sterilized my hands and put on my sterile gown. I was now a scrub nurse and I felt great about it!:)
You have to understand that I was at the hospital early in the morning, had not eaten anything since the day before, and I had just given a bag of blood, 500 ml. All of a sudden, I felt like I had to vomit. I thought that it was just in my head, and I stayed quiet. 5 minutes went by, and I couldn’t stay silent any longer. I told the Doctors, “I don’t feel so good”. Not a minute later, I was feeling light headed. The anesthesiologist caught me in his arms and laid me on the floor. I had become too weak to stand. This was the most horrible timing! It was finally my chance to be apart of surgery, and i had to get light-headed and pass out on the floor.
As I was sitting on the floor, waiting for my weakness to be overcome, I thought to myself, “this is so embarrassing, I need to get up and help!” I stood up slowly, and told them that I was still sterile!:) They laughed and said they could take care of the rest of the surgery.
The surgery took 5 hours. At the end, I went home to get food in my stomach and to regain energy. The whole day I felt weak, but I knew that I had donated blood for a good cause. As some of you might know, I love to donate my blood to different causes. After I registered to come be a missionary in Koza, I had bad news to come along with it. I would no longer be able to donate blood in America. First, because I would be in a malaria infested country for more than a month, and second, I would most likely contract malaria during my stay. Those two reasons make me incapable of donating blood in the US. I will take every opportunity God gives me to donate to people who need it here because it is my only chance. It is better here than anywhere at this point.
God is protecting me and using me in mighty ways, and praise him for that. My weakness is always covered by the power of God’s strength. I have been neglecting prayer lately and I feel myself becoming more frustrated with things that I use to be patient with. At the beginning of my time here, everyday I prayed that God would keep me patient… I need to start praying that prayer once again.
Posted by Elissa
Letter from Student missionary in Koza #16