July 24th
I was moved unfortunately from the ER to the
gynecology and obstetrics sections and oh boy was I disappointed. As soon as I
set foot there I was given paperwork to fill out and we all know how boring
that can be, so I got the worst first impression. The nurse who was in charge
of the section Sister Shahinaz was the sweetest, kindest, most giving nurse I
came across. She honestly taught me so much and for that I am eternally
grateful. I changed sections with a fear of cannulas which she helped me
overcome. So, a few days into the section she told me to go get a patient from
the OT, I obliged and went. As soon as I arrived, I felt a cool air striking
me, and my heart ached when I saw her there lying in fetal position, so
vulnerable, so fragile. Almost a dead body on her side, on the cold, unsteady
bed and that devil-like surgical nurse standing like a tyrant above her frail
torso. Yelling at us to hurry up and transfer her to the other bed to move her
back to her room. The bed we were pushing was out of shape, pre-historical. The
kind that squeaks like a rusty old swing and the wheels were moving left and
right, all the while that nurse was yelling at us to hurry up and take the woman
from the bed. We took her and thank the lord for the power of being drugged -or
maybe not- she was thrown like a sack of rotten potatoes onto our bed. Slowly,
gently we tried to push the bed and the guard yelled at us to hurry up and to
inform our supervising nurse that he doesn’t want “trainees” to take anymore
patients from the OT. It was as if the problem was us not him, not the fact he
was a criminal dressed in scrubs.
We went back to the Gynecology section and
suddenly a few hours later I was handed a jar that held the poor woman’s Uterus
and Cervix. I felt sick holding it as it floated in the yellowish water, I was
asked to hand it to the family and I would have rather died. I obliged and held
that Uterus, entered the room, took a breath, and handed it to her mother. She
took it from my hand and began unscrewing the bottle and my stomach flipped. I
urged her not to open it just to send it to the labs and she said ok and shoved
it in a nearby closet. I thought the craziest thing one might find in a closet
is a sandwich little did I know that you could find a good old Uterus and
Cervix.
The days passed by and the woman who went
through the surgery was awake and I got the chance to speak with her. We
chatted for a bit then I asked her if she could remember anything from the
surgery and I was shocked by the answer; “Yes”. I waited a second and asked her
what she remembered exactly and she said; “their voices, I could hear them
speaking but couldn’t see them or speak back.” I stood quietly, feeling broken,
not just for her but for every Yemeni. An entire nation who have never had the
right to file a complaint or to open a case against these criminals. There’s
this untold motto; if it’s a public hospital it’s valid to be treated like you’re
a worthless being, as if you are some sort of burden on this society.
The woman was in so much pain that every
morning I’d hope to show up and she was already discharged. All I remember was
her constantly puking and her urine drainage bag having been incorrectly
inserted. It was truly a painful case to watch, one of the cases that to this
day repeat vividly in my mind from the moment I first met her in the OT till
the day she started to gain back her strength and to speak with a hint of hope
for a better tomorrow.
This is so heart breaking. Love and prayers from the U.S. You're such a blessing to the people in that hospital.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words, Kate!
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