Depressing Times at L'Hopital D'Enfants
Trip Start
May 12, 2008
1
9
21
Trip End
Jul 09, 2008
Rabat,
Morocco
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
i mixed and drew-up some antibiotics and did basic other stuff for the nurses. everything was pretty cool until we heard someone screaming, and i do mean screaming down the hall. gina and i investigated and saw a procedure being done to a 10 year old boy at the end of the hall. they needed more help so we went in. they were doing a bone marrow aspiration where they basically stick a giant needle into your hip, shove it into the bone and try to draw-out red bone marrow to check for various blood-cancers.
normally such a procedure would be done under heavy, heavy sedation. this kid was fully awake and had minimal pain medication before the procedure. it took 5 of us just to hold him down and they had to poke him three times to get all the marrow they needed.
i have to say, i think i would've been better off not knowing the basic arabic words. it was hard to hold this kid down while he was screaming *no, god no, please* over and over. that is heartbreaking in any language. it took me some time to get back to *normal* after that.
this is the one place where i can say i have to and can *leave work at work*. some of the other girls are having a hard time with it.
alright, enough with the depressing. the bell has just been rung for tea time. i'm off.
