By Brenda Mulife
Wishing was the order of the day when I first started schooling at Boitekanlo College, I could not wait for the internship period to arrive, a long time did not pass and the moment I had been waiting for finally came. My continuous internship started on January 26, 2019. My internship was at Princess Marina Hospital, they were scheduled for Friday’s and Saturday’s night shifts at Accidents and Emergency ward. Most of the nights were amazing until one night when I thought all hell had broken loose. I was relaxing after attending to one of the patients when I had the sound of sirens signaling an emergency I quickly jumped off my sit to attend to it. A horrifying sight was before me an old woman was lying on the bed, lifeless and hopeless I got emotional but then I remembered she was here so I could assist her. We quickly examined her and got to find that she was suffering from abdominal hemorrhage. We were a team of 15 that was 4 doctors, 4 nurses, 2 paramedics, and 5 students. We started with the first cycle of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) where we did the chest compressions, administered oxygen, cannulated her to administer the IV fluids, gave CPR drugs and monitored her vital signs.
As a paramedic, I was a major player in the chest compressions. I administered the chest compressions as if my piece of mind depended on her life which it did. I was out of breath, sweating, but there was no sign of her breathing or any sign of life. It was only when the doctor told me to let go when I realized that she was long dead. That night was not like any other, I couldn’t breathe, the room was suffocating, I saw darkness and I left the room in a hast, I needed to breathe, I needed to wake up, it felt like a dream, I felt so useless. When I got outside I could not hold myself anymore I let the breath and tears I was holding to fall, my heart was racing and I thought it was going to leap out of my chest. This was the first death I witnessed. I got scared for my life. The saying that says, “There is a thin line between life and death” that saying is real and I witnessed it. At that point in time I felt useless especially when I remembered the look of disappointment, sorrow and pain her relatives showed broke my heart further and I continued to cry. “They brought the woman having faith that we could help her but we let them down”, I told myself. I started beating myself up that it was all my fault, “if I had done the compressions many more times perhaps she would be better” I thought to myself as continued to sober. After some time of crying, I told myself it was her time and I could not do anything about it. I then told myself to do the best I can and leave the rest to God if I wanted to survive in the profession. I pulled myself together and went back in to help prepare the dead body for the mortuary.
Life in the hospital is about life and death. One of the nights still at Princess Marina Hospital, A woman was screaming the hospital to the ground and I remembered that cry, a cry of a woman in labor. I at first got angry at the noise until I saw her and I froze, my thoughts were correct, the woman was in labor pains. She was a mess, tears falling as if there was no tomorrow, holding on to her husband as if her life depended on it. I observed and assisted the woman to give birth through normal vaginal delivery. Before that, I had seen one delivering through the cesarean section. With delivery, I found it quite fascinating and frightening. The interesting part is when the woman is saying all the bad things the husband needs to know about himself. I remember when the husband was telling his wife to be strong and claim down. I remember the killer look she gave him before she screamed in pain and agony saying “ If you could learn to keep your pants up this would not be happening”, Okay, now that was unexpected, I wanted to laugh but the look she was giving us could send a rat running to its hole so I held myself. During her contractions one minute, she was screaming the second she was laughing and then she would cry out loud. I could see she was going through hell and coming back, the courage, hard work and resilience she showed were fascinating. After hours of agony, screaming and crying, a cry of a baby echoed in the room. The smile she showed was worthy a million times. She was crying tears of joy as she held the baby near her heart as if afraid it would disappear from her sight. After a period of smiling, I realized one thing, and I froze, “Oh! No”.
I was a lady and sooner or later I was going to go down that same road. The feeling sent shivers down my spine, involuntarily I pressed my legs together as I whispered to myself “not me”. In childbirth, they are four stages stage one is the beginning of contractions to the full dilation of the cervix. Here we cannulate, give IV fluids, monitor maternal vital signs and monitor the fetus heart rate. To check the dilation of the cervix we do vaginal examination using the index and middle fingers. Stage two is from the full dilation of the cervix to the delivery of the baby. The delivery of the baby is quite frightening especially when the birth canal is fully dilated to enable the baby to become out. The first time I saw it, my eyes automatically opened widely and I got goosebumps. The sight was not appealing at all. Stage three is the delivery of the placenta. The placenta is where the exchange of gases and nutrients take place just to mention a few roles. When the baby was delivered I checked for its completeness of the lobes and membranes both from the maternal and fetal side. Stage four is one-hour post-delivery where I had to perform fundal massage, uterine contraction, check for bleeding and took vital signs. With the cesarean section, I just observed the doctors perform the operation on the woman, removed the baby and stitched. Which took about two hours.
During my internship, I got to realize one thing, in the hospital, it is not about the money, it is about saving the life of someone, putting a smile on a person and having hope that something would work out for the best. In the hospital, I got to witness that there is a thin line between life and death and at times doctors are the people who are standing between the patient and death and in order to do that one has to keep their emotions in check. All in all, I got an amazing opportunity to train as a paramedic which prepared me for the real hospital world.