It’s definitely been an exciting week in the hospital! I got to see a ton of deliveries, and even a few c-sections!
Monday was pretty slow, but Tuesday we had a ton of patients come in. Throughout the day, I saw 6 patients, which is much more than our usual 2 or 3. Now that I’ve been there for a little while, I’ve been able to help out more around the ward and the nurses feel a lot more comfortable with me.
Wednesday we decided to “give back” a little more and go help out in the pharmacy for the day. Because it was the same day as the diabetes clinic and all the patients were renewing their monthly medications, it was crazy busy! We had a very very brief orientation, and then we thrown in filling prescriptions. After the first 5 or so, we got the hang of it, and were soon flying through each one. We still got stuck on a couple, especially with some of the doctors extremely messy handwriting, but the pharmacy staff was super nice and helpful. The day went by fast, even though our pile of charts was huge right up until 4 pm. We’re going to go back again next Wednesday, another diabetes day, so we’ll know most of the medications ahead of time.
Thursday was again a little slow, but Friday I got to see my first c-sections! I was helping out transport a patient down to theatre (what they call the OR here) and the midwife I was with asked if I wanted to stay and watch, so I readily agreed! We changed into scrubs, booties, masks and caps and went in to the OR with the doctors. After a little complication trying to explain to the nurses that I was there just to observe, not assist, the surgery got underway. It was definitely interesting, and even though I was nervous beforehand about feeling lightheaded, I was totally fine. The c-section only took about 45 minutes, and right after it was finished, the doctor told me he was just heading to another, and I was welcome to join! It turned out I got to scrub in on 2 more, and I learned a ton in both. Even though I was exhausted after being on my feet in an operating room for about 4 hours, it was definitely worth it.
This weekend was pretty relaxed, yesterday Sally and I decided to head down to a Saturday morning market, which was more of a tiny local farmer’s market and tea garden. It was actually one of the most adorable things I’ve ever done, we each got our own little teapot of chai tea and some rhubarb cake in the pretty garden. After, we headed to Pick n’ Pay (a huge grocery store chain in SA) for some lunch staples and headed back to the house. Today, we were feeling a little more adventurous, and decided to go for an epic walk. It turned out to be a little more epic than we originally inteneded, and after 2 hours of walking and getting a little lost we found ourself at the center of town and grabbed some lunch at Nando’s (another SA chain that has delicious spicy Portuguese-style chicken). Now we’re just relaxing, catching up on our daily logs for our project and looking forward to dinner.
I’m definitely excited for our next two weeks at Eshowe before heading back to Durban to finish up the semester. I can’t believe I’ll be home in only 3 and a half weeks!
