20th August (Wednesday) - You're probably thinking why is the title awkward... I'll come to it in a while. First, since we came rather early, the nurses asked us to give a hand in bed-making and sponging. Okay, at least the day won't be dull. The first bed making was done for a cute little girl who's being discharged today. Then there's a sponging and bed making for another patient. This patient...he's rather stubborn. He refused sponging or bed-making, even though there's a really strong odour in the air. I thought about leaving him to continue with his sleep and come back at around 10 or so to give him his sponging. But my friend, who has been working in private nursing care, is much more firm and pushed with a little force to get the patient to let us sponge. In the end, he complied but not whole-heartedly.
First of all, he's has a fractured arm. The littlest movement is enough to cause him gasp in pain. Then when I asked him whether he's comfortable in a position that is nearly the same as one of my regular patient, he said that he can't feel his legs. Hmmm.... So the other two girls, a friend and a staff nurse cleaned him while I helped him with his teeth and face while changing water for them. The water... The moment they dropped the cloth into the water I saw dark colours and tiny black spots. I took a look back at the patient and I felt sadness. How could anyone be so inhumane? The patient's skin is filled with dark crusts and poor hygeine. Then I found out from the staff that he has been bedridden for two months and no one bothered to care about him. Is something like this even possible?! Can anyone be so insensitive?! And for the two months, no one bothered to turn him and as such, bed sores have developed. In all of my three years of nursing, I have never seen a bed sore as bad as this. Wounds, yes, but bed sores, to the point of necrosis, once, but this is worse. It took us three rounds to sponge him clean, and again. we cannot move him too much cause of his arm, and because he couldn't feel from the waist down. All of us were the same size, so it took a lot of man power. Remember, he wasn't wholeheartedly helping us from the start. He often say he can't move and because of that we have to turn him together with the linen. At one point, we needed to sit him up because he couldn't turn. When I asked him to grab the railing for support, what happened was he grabbed... ME!!! He grabbed my arm so hard til I could feel my arm being crushed by his strong grip. My friend and the staff was outraged that they told him to let me go. I swear to you, it took a while to get the feeling of my arm back, thank God there's no blue black bruises. That's the one thing I'm scared off since I was once gripped hard by a patient back in my first year and it took 3 people to get him to let go off me. Anyway, after an hour or so, we finally got him freshly cleaned and his bed all tidy up. Thank goodness for that, and he went back to sleep once we are done. Funny guy. :D
Then we were given a chance to observe dressing by the staff nurse for the little girl who has a foot brace. I entertained her by using her little snail doll to distract her as the CI and staff nurse try to remove the bandages and dressings that has been wound tight all around. She didn't cry at first. But at the last part, she started screaming and crying. My friend and I tried comforting her but she's really scared and kept crying til the Sister and her mother asked me to get a supp Voltaren. While I managed to get the med nurse and went to get the medicine, another staff called me to take a patient to the clinic for a biopsy. It's my first time taking a patient to the clinic and i hoped I don't screw up. I was hoping to see a biopsy unfortunately it;s taking a long while and I couldn't be away from the ward for too long. So, once I handed everything over to the day-care nurse, I walked back. Yes, I walked back on my own since it was taking too long for the van to come back. I will admit I'm a little scared because there were cars all over and some guys laughing,wolf-whistling and leaning on the horn at me as I walked down the pavement. Precisely why I don't like walking alone back to the hospital, but there's nothing else that can be done.
When I'm back, there was a Hari Raya feast to be held, so we were all rushing around, carrying the furnitures, cutting the food into bite sizes, tidying up the cups and plates and cutlery, decorating and such. Sadly, I have to confess one thing. I don't like spicy food, and most of the feasts are sambal and curry-based. In other words, my kind of nightmare. However, I feel so bad for not eating anything so I took a chance and tried curry mee, the only thing that seems okay to me. Big mistake. Because I haven't eaten anything, my stomach was empty and the moment I ate curry, an hour later i ended up having major stomach cramps and running to the washroom. The Sister was very worried and asked whether I needed any medicines or a professor and I begged her no. Ugh, at this rate, I'll never touch curry ever again!!! :( Curry-phobia. I wonder if it's something to do with the excess coconut milk in it...
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