--------Let Go And Let God---

--------- Part Two ------ Let Go and Let God

I arrived here yesterday with two specific challenges (don’t ya just love how we can turn a problem into a challenge just by changing the word? ) Try it—it actually works! The word “problem” sounds so final, so unfixable. Somehow with “challenge” comes hope and a sense that we have some say in the outcome.

In any case, back to the two challenges: the first Michael is finding a more comfortable place in my life, though I imagine it will be an ongoing process. The second has to do with my work in the Pediatric Ward at St. Francis Hospital

I was delighted when an opportunity to split my time between Public Health and Peds came along. Having been a Pediatric Nurse for so many years, I missed using my skills and definitely missed caring for ill children.

Shortly after my vacation there was a Continuing Education Class from an MD connected with the Minister of Health on “The Leading Cause of Deaths in Children in Uganda”. The answer was decidedly Malaria, which almost every child in Uganda has had once or twice. The outcome depends on the severity of the illness and, the timeliness of the treatment.

During his presentation the Dr. said that they had come to our Pediatric Ward some 4 or 5 months ago and randomly took x amount of charts as a survey. The results were astounding on many levels but what knocked me off my seat was the % for doing heart rates (pulses) on the children was only 8% and the % for doing respirations (how many breaths one takes in a minute) was a whopping 0% !!!

If indeed more pulse or respirations had been taken, they were not recorded and any medical person will tell you “If it’s not been charted, it not been done.”

This was my open door to work in Peds and I jumped at the chance In April, I started to go there after lunch and take and teach how to take Vitals (Temperatures, Heart Rates and Respirations) on every child. Since I have had so many years experience with listening to “breath sounds” I threw that in as a bonus, in hopes it would give the medical personnel some extra information on which to they could base their treatment...

The response has been mixed and when I say mixed I don’t mean different reactions from various people, I mean different reactions from individuals depending on how what I do or say affects them at the time.

Most greet me with “Welcome” and “Thank you for the work”. One Charge Nurse even encouraged the nursing students to learn how to do Ob’s ( Observations) , or Vitals, by taking turns going thru the Ward with me. Their response is one of surprise that I know “how” to take a pulse or respirations on a child or that it is done at all. I find most of the nursing students willing and anxious to learn, it’s the trained nurses and Clinicians(like our Nurse Practitioners ) and M.D.’s (except Dr. Leonard Ssenyonjo) who seem uninterested in anything I have to say.

OK, so what is the challenge I face? To save all the lives of all the children in Uganda? Nooo To get all the medical personnel to like and respect me? Nooo

My challenge is to touch each child with love, smile at each mother as she nurses her sick baby, report my “observations” to the Charge Nurse, then simply “let it go” and leave it in God’s hands.

I am reminded of the adage “Let go and Let God” and my humorous interpretation, which is “I am perfectly willing to Let God, as long as I don’t have to let go”

Not so funny when I realize that in regards to my afternoons in Peds, I’ve been exemplifying my interpretation, not the original adage.

I usually return home between 5 or 6PM frustrated and a bit angry at everybody, mostly myself. All the classes we had on how cultures differ can not prepare you for what appears like apathy in treatment.

My primary aggravation, as I walk home in the evenings, is the non-aggressive treatment of an elevated temperature. Initially it is good to let the body attack the microorganism itself just as it’s best not to treat diarrhea in the beginning, in hopes the body will heal itself BUT-yea, “but” , when the temperature goes on and on and is very high, the child becomes dehydrated, gets weaker and sometimes dies.—unnecessarily? I can’t answer that as I am neither God or a Physician. I do know that there are simple ,basic things that can be done to hydrate the child and decrease the temperature. : like tepid sponging, encourage fluid intake, IV fluids and alternating between Tylenol and Ibuprofen.

The only one that is done here is “sponging” and that is done by the caregiver (usually the mother) who often has little training in how to do it.

The past two weeks, I have had the honor to work with a nursing student named Habeb, who actually obtains* hot water in another part of the hospital to mix with the cold for sponging a child and teaches the mother how to do it.

*It seems that the solar system installed in the brand new Pediatric Building, only gives warm water in the mornings, nothing but cold water the remaining hours. I don’t know if it is the way it is set up or if it is broken and I am afraid to ask.

Sponging is the only treatment for elevated temperature, while you wait and see if any of the antibiotics hit the spot. Drinking water or anything is not encouraged, in fact I rarely even see a drop of water at the bedside. The explanation is the difficulty in obtaining good drinking water and lack of education regarding it’s benefits.

So, it brings me back to my original “challenge”, How do I serve in silence, or at least truly “Let it Go” at the end of the day? I already know the answer----Do all I can and leave the rest to God. ----------------–I just don’t know HOW to do that!

This is not a rhetorical question. I am really interested in your response.---all of you, not just my spiritual sister Mary Johns (smile) Come on, figure out how to make a “comment” or send a response to my email address.

Blessings and Thanks (in advance)

-----------------------------------------MARIE-----------

My abode while staying at Lake Mutanda

PSS Next Time I’ll share the joys of having four American Medical Students, Two Law students from Holland and One young woman from Germany, , all staying in the guest house for one to two months. The main joy being “Yahoo, I can talk fast, without measuring each word for clarity and simplicity!”

---I am having a 4^th of July Party on Friday for all of them, as well as other from Kisoro Hospital, so there should be many photo opportunities.

----In spite of our dear President Bush, I am proud to be an American and hopeful for the future of our country.------------ GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!

Time for the generator to be turned off and go Nite Nite