My first 72hr weekend call is what marked my first baptism.You see,I went into internship with a great zeal ,to learn ,practice and perfect all that apertains my profession.Isn't this what they tell us when we graduate? I still remember my last lecture in medical school ,medical ethics and empathy for the suffering. This was a parting shot for me and as such I felt it was the summary to the 6 years.The same way Christ upheld love is the same way I said ,above all show empathy.
Anyway this particular weekend was full, I mean ,to the brim. It began with a call from the medical ward with a patient treated for severe malaria. The patient had worsened with blood sugars fluctuating, respiratory distress ,deranged uecs and a reduced level of consciousness. Yes ,I still perfectly remember with terrible exactness. I remember murmuring to myself what next in a limited system. No man is an island ,so I called my second on call and the feedback was something I didn't expect ,I was on my own. Am I remember is walking out of the ward . The sun was pretty young. I leaned along the wall ,letting the rays caress my feeble exhausted self. Thinking deeply ,deeper about nothing. I let my eyes follow the rays and admired the sight. Afew minutes later I'm call to certify the patient. I must confess I have never forgotten her face and how she had looked at me expectantly.This was my first loss and I remember gathering strength to see other patients.
Fifteen minutes later ,I get acall from maternity , two women with obstructed labour and a fetal distress. I request a full haemogram and I was informed the machine had broken down. We sent out samples and the agony of the wait time began. My teaching was an emergency should be sorted immediately. The wait exercebated my anxiety ,at this point I thought I wouldn't live through another mortality. I have never prayer that much in my life. I lost count of the number of fetal heart rates I recorded, the number of times I ressured the mothers.Full haemograms came back 4 hours later. All along I was at the maternity ward ,waiting and making numerous calls. By the Time I got them back ,its 4 pm ,no breakfast no lunch ,no shower. Unfortunately their haemograms for some reason all had low hbs. It wasn't a good time to question reliability ,they already act as evidence in case things went south. My first plan of action was to refer the patients to the next facility because we didn't have blood. I call my second on call to inform them of the new development. Shockingly they thought I couldn't think on the side of the patient. In her/his wildest dream i should have thought of a possibility of an ambulance coming towards our facility and request them to get blood instead of us referring. Magical as it sounds. Our next referal Centre was 2 hours away. How is it possible that at that particular minute and second there was an ambulance driving towards us. There had been no referrals from us. I was dumbfounded. The exhaustion of the mothers and their hope instantly killed me. I couldn't fight back my tears. To cut the long story short we did the caesarians at midnight ,and the babies scored.And this marks my first miracle .
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