16/11/11 - Visitor Merete 1222 and a whole lot of more challenges!

A lot of things have happened since last time I blogged. Of course its a long time now, but my best excuse is that I had a visitor.

Merete Aarskog from Finse 1222 arrived here on 30^th of October, 24 hrs late because of delay at Flesland (!), but she made it safe here after a night in Paris (not the worse place to be stuck...?).

So that night she was of course a bit tired after the long two days of coming here, so it was early to bed for her case.

She brought a lot of nice things from home, chocolate of course, makrell i tomat, comic books, other candy, mårpølse and other good things I had wished for from home! It was very nice.

I of course had to go to work most of the days she was here, but I took the day off on that Monday after she arrived. On Thursday she went to Zambia for safari, the same safari I went on with my mom, my brother Lasse and my cousin Renathe. She enjoyed a lot! And she has enjoyed my pool and nice house, I think she needed a good holiday with only relaxing! We also went out clubbing some nights (of course) and I think she definitely enjoyed that!

Concerning work, a lot (!) has happened. Grace Chiudzu, the chief doctor of Ethel Mutharika Maternity Wing, came to me on November 3^rd to talk about how I felt about work so far, what I saw as challenges and if there was anything I saw I wanted to change. She was the first person I had contact with when I wanted to come to KCH and work as a volunteer. After a while when we had spoken, and it was a good conversation, she asked me if I had any experience with theatre. And since I don’t, I of course said no, none at all. And she asked me if I was interested in learning and working as a theatre nurse, in the Ethel Mutharika Maternity theatre, and I said of course! That is a big and exciting challenge! And then she asked me if I was interested in working in theatre as a nurse-in-charge, cause the one that is there now is going back to school after new year, and they where really I need of someone! Even a bigger challenge. So I told her what I thought, that this might be too big a challenge for me, but I am willing to give it a go, and I am a fast learner, and I am really excited about it. And I thanked her a lot for the confidence she had in me, I hope I don’t let her down!

So already the next week, November 8^th, I started to have orientation in main theatre in KCH, where they do everything except maternity cases, just to get the feeling and training to be a theatre nurse. And it is so exciting and interesting. I have seen a lot of bad cases, all different things from abdominal emergencies,traffic accidents, breast cancer, hydrocephalus, putting VP shunt on a two week old premature baby, and it is not something pleasant to see. This is just a few of the things I have observed so far, but I stay out of the orthopedic theatre. Many of you might know how I feel about bones and fractures. And for those of you that don’t; I hate it! It makes me sick! Like really nauseas!

So I had four days last week with just observing and trying to learn the routines and the names of all the equipment, the way to hand the things to the surgeon, how to arrange and prepare the table to be most effective and tidy. And I like it so much so far!

So this week, on Monday, I scrubbed in for the first time! And I was all up there, just next to the surgeon, handing him all the things, and it wasn’t that hard! People said that this had to be something I had done before, but I have never! Maybe I watched too much Chicago Hope and Greys Anatomy!

But it is so much fun. So I guess next week I will go to the Ethel Mutharika Theatre and start getting orientated there. Cause I think the easiest part is to know how to prepare and scrub in and handle things over the operating table, but to be a nurse-in-charge will be the biggest challenge I think. I just hope things will work out. I think it will, the chief doctor and Matron are really nice, so I think they will help me a lot. And I have the rest of this month and all of December to be trained by the one in charge now. Cross your fingers for me all!

So today I also took a day off, cause Merete was leaving back home, and I just said goodbye at my gate, waving her off in a car. Hope you arrive safe without any delays! I loved having you here, it was a lot of fun!

So everyone, think about me and my challenges, and if anyone have some good nurse-in-charge tips, let me know!