Bad things come in three….at least that’s what I’m hoping for because today was incident number three. Incident one: It was day two for me at the dental clinic. The last patient just before lunch and it was a big case. Multiple extractions, with bone removal and flap surgery the whole works were involved. As I was cleaning up the tray with all the forceps and elevators, and scalpel blade I had the unfortunate pleasure of running the blade across two fingers on my right hand. I’m not entirely sure how it happened because I managed to get two cuts on my middle finger and one on my ring finger. So after I saw the blood filling my glove I panicked and then ripped off my glove and went to find some running water to rinse them under. I told josh in sterilization, who pointed me toward the best running water in the clinic, which then went to find Gini, the dental co-coordinator. As I stood in the corner sink with my back outwards I had a meltdown of all the possibilities that cutting myself with a dirty scalpel blade in Africa where certain diseases are very rampant, would entail. I said a prayer for God to help get me through the embarrassing silly mistake of mine, and to let the result be negative on all accounts. As me, gini, the patient, and a day volunteer (translator) got into the vehicle to go back to the ship for blood work, Christina the day volunteers said “stop crying, It will be ok” At the time I didn’t hear the it will be ok, but after talk with her about the situation (in which we now laugh) she tells me she knew it was all going to be alright. And yes it has been. I got the result back for the test later that afternoon. Negative on all fronts, I am disease free. Thank the Lord!
Incident two: It was the weekend!!!! It was raining as we were heading to the beach at 8:30am. There was a group of about 14 of us who all piled into a podapoda (big van people use for a taxi around here). When we got to the beach it was beautiful! The sun was shining we had gone for a swim and now me and another girl were sitting on the sand wall the tide had created as there were five or so kids sitting around us. I thought instead of just sitting with these kids let’s play, do something fun. So we had a contest to see who could jump the furthest off the sand ledge. Action being easier than explain I went first. Well I jumped. I landed. I lost my balances. I landed very hard on my knees. Scrapping the right knee (note same side as my scalpel blade injury) quite band. It is a crusted over scrap now, with a large bruise underneath that I feel every time I crawl into bed on my top bunk. It was worth it though. The kids thought that few jumps was fun and entertaining before a grandma of them came over to me because she was concern for me knee. I don’t think they have seen such bright red blood.
Incident three: On Monday I went to the boutique here on board. A place where you can drop off extra clothes or odds and ends, books anything really that doesn’t fit in your bag or you don’t want to bring home. The rest can go done there and pick out up to three items for free to take. I found a lovely skirt! It makes the swish-swish sound when I walk. It is fun and flowy. It is also perfect for twirling in. As I was coming down the two flights of stairs from the cafeteria to deck 3 where my room is I was so excited about the flowy and swishing as I was coming down the stairs I thought I would add a twirl at the end. All would have been well except I got so excited with the movement of the skirt and misjudge something and twisted my right foot and ended up on my butt laughing but in pain. Mean while my roomie stood there laughing. (Don’t worry she did ask if I was alright, eventually) But she is very jealous of my awesome new skirt. I believe it was one of these “Serves you right for having too much fun in your skirt.” I sit here now with ice on my foot hoping it doesn’t turn into a purple and blue mess. I think maybe it was my lesson of humility and mercy. I am not normally accident prone so this is all very embarrassing and not like me which I think it seems even more embarrassing. I do recall going for a run with my dad a while back. Not even a kilometer from home and dad decides to jump over a barricade and as soon as he lands he goes down. He has twisted his ankle. We walked back home and put ice on it right away. But when it turned purple and blue the next day I did have a few good laughs. What were you thinking dad!! But now I understand. I will now have a little more mercy or compassion when I see someone who has the unfortunate pleasure of having something like this happen to them. I hope that I will be ok to be on my feet all day tomorrow at the clinic. But also that this is the last, I’ve had my three. My right fingers, my right knee, and my right foot.
Today in the clinic a very cute little boy came in with his mom. While his mom was in the dental chair i got to hold the little 3 yrs old. Very Cute but he did have some abnormal growths on his face. We took pictures in hopes that the doctors on board here will be able to do something for him.
The second picture is on a 16yrs girl and me, who came in on wednesday with a tooth that was so infected we caused her excruciating pain in the process of taking it out because the anesthetic doesn't work as well or at all when here is such a big infection. While we were taking the tooth out the roots broke off and were stuck in the socket. They had a very good curve to the root which made it even harder for it to come out. Every time we went to touch the root to try take it out she would yep, moan, scream in pain. The anesthetic just wasn't working. She was so brave to go through all this. Once we finally had to tooth taken out we had to make an incision on the outside of her cheek to drain the puss that had built up. This means putting a little tube in her cheek so the puss has some where to go. I told her today how brave she was and asked if i could have a 'snap' (picture) with her.
No comments:
Post a Comment