Patients, Patience, and Wound Care...

Ever thought that it would be great to have a large room full of people chanting your name? Ever wished that everyone knew who you were? I can't say that I've ever had either of those dreams but the beginning of last week dispelled any dilusions I may have held about them! And you know, people-problems aren't restricted to those in small office cubicles or those in direct contact with the public...it's world-wide. If there is more than one person present, there will be people problems!

For the first three 8 hr day shifts last week, one of the patients decided that it would be funny to perpetually repeat my name every time he saw me, thought he saw, wanted something, didn't want anything, somebody else wanted something, and any other time in between. And it was so funny, that his two cronies soon picked it up, then the young teenage boy two beds down, then the mom of another child nearby! I half-jokingly told him that he was taking my name in vain!!! Soon, the whole ward knew my name and called, "Tobi! Tobi!" (said real fast) all day for all three shifts!!!

I've always loved my name--loved the meaning ("God is good"), the uniqueness of it, and the sound of it. By the end of the third day, I cringed when a friend passed me saying, "Good morning, Tobi." Later that day, I was introducing myself to a new crew member and realized that I was very reluctant in giving my name! I was actually stumbling over saying it! How sad is that?!

On top of that, one of the cronies (I dubbed them the three Frat House Boys!) asked if he could have my shoes. I pointed out that my feet were much smaller than his. What was he going to do with them? He said that he would make it work. I told him, "No,I like my shoes." He then came up with the brilliant idea that he would buy me a new pair if I would give him mine! Why not just go buy his own? At this, all three burst into laughter as if I'd said the funniest thing in the world. I don't know...that suggestion made sense to me.... Later on that day, the same man (through the "head cronie") told me that he wanted me for his wife. I pointed out how that just wouldn't work--the wife in the US and the husband in Africa. Just wouldn't work. He decided that I needed to stay in Africa and started to tell me so. I told him "no"--he just wanted to marry me for my shoes! This got another round of loud laughter and I was able to move on to the next patient!

After three days of all of this, I was more frazzled and frustrated than I have been in a very long time! I expected some friction between myself and other crew members, and even with one or two of the patients. But never did I think that one patient (the "head cronie") and his followers would be able to bug me that much! But they succeeded.

By the morning of the third day, I was begging God to give me strength to step back into that ward and be nice to them all! It was all I could do not to "wrang his scrawny neck!" That third morning, God took me to some verses in Hebrews 12-13 that remind me of why we are to serve others with grace--because God has had so much grace towards me and has given me the sure promise of heaven in addition to the forgiveness of my sins! I tend to be just like that man, perpetually calling on God for needless things repetatively, picking up subjects and worrying over them when I pray instead of using prayer as God intended--for me to turn those worries over to Him to carry. Instead, I hold on and keep worrying and keep reminding God of what I think He needs to do. But God reminded me that He has always had patience with me and always showed me grace, understanding that I was human. I had not been showing my patients, particularly those three, that kind of grace. The question kept rolling around in my mind, "How can I show grace that will make that man want God more?"

The nurses were getting equally exhausted and tired of the wards--A Ward was perpetually noisy without calm enough to think let alone talk to anybody and B Ward nurses were just as tired of "Tobi! Tobi!" and demanding patients as I was! So I shared these verses with the other nurses as we started our shift that morning, and headed into the day ready to try to put into affect those verses. Though the behavior didn't change and I was still frazzled by the end of the day and felt that I had zero grace to give anyone, God had changed my attitude towards him. I had been nice and given him the care that, as a patient, he deserved and even had a few opportunities to tell him sweetly but firmly how his behavior was interfering with other patients' care and the nurses' sanity. I had been reminded of those verses on grace and of my desire to show the kind of grace that would make him want God without condoning his behavior. We have now come to a sort of understanding and God has given me more opportunities to show that grace to him and the others. Still, most of the patients on B Ward still call out, "Tobi!Tobi!" when they see me coming!

I did get some much needed time off over the next two days before starting the weekend day shifts, and arrived Saturday morning to an awesome assignment and break from routine--I got to spend all weekend doing nothing but dressing changes!!! No pills to pass, no patients to assess unless I was changing their dressings! I worked the last few dressing changes on Saturday with our wound care nurse, Ruth. She says that she loves to teach and that appears to be so true! She sweetly explains everything, answering any questions you have, allows you to get in her way and do some of it yourself, and just was very patient and sweet with me. I learned a lot! And her example reminded me of the kind of grace I was to be showing!

Right now, we are dealing with mainly "plastics" patients (plastic surgery) so they all have at least two wound sites if not more and stay for several weeks to more than a month at a time with possible further surgeries needed. The wound sites are more delicate that the ones I normally deal with at home but I really enjoy doing the care! Did you know that, under ideal conditions, a skin graft can grow about 1cm a day to cover the wound bed? In other words, an island of transplanted skin can cover a large open area by growing 1cm on all sides in 24 hours time! That's really incredible! And I got to see some wounds changing that fast this weekend. Here, they also use honey, at times, for wound treatments, something else that was new to me! Ruth explained that honey has a very basic pH and, between that and the high sugar content, it can kill many bacteria. Also, it releases small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, which also kills bacteria. In addition, the high sugar content helps pull water out of the bacteria and dead tissues, killing the bacteria and allowing the bacteria and dead tissues to slough off, leaving the wound bed clean and able to heal properly. Fascinating stuff to me!!! But such is the disturbed mind of a nurse!!! The human part of my brain feels sorry that they have these wounds on their bodies to deal with but the nursing part of my brain is quite glad they do and is enjoying the care! How sick is that?!

These next three nights I'll be on night shift then off for four days!!! My fellow nurses and I are trying to come up with some grand schemes for the time off....I'll have to let you in on those adventures later!