63 and a smile

Today we saw 63 children in our inpatient pediatric ward. There were so many patients that we had to call them to the door one by one to see them.  We could not navigate through the little bed pods where we usually see them at bedside.  We had children with unusual blisters covering their body, premies on oxygen, measles, cholera, sickle cell crisis, meningitis, pneumonia and acute malnutrition.  We worked feverishly until all were seen, medicines given, fluids hung, blood transfused, electricity wiring fixed and mothers prayed with.  Exhausted, I side stepped and stepped over patients to the nurses station and asked our head nurse, Margaret how she was doing.  She smiled and said its been a great day. 

In fact everyone involved seemed to echo the same sentiment.  It is a rare and blessed day.  I looked around:  Jessica and I were both there as we work Wednesday together, both assigned nurses were there working; we had Muzafara, a nurse in training on break volunteering and doing a wonderful job, along with Isaiah, my Ugandan medical intern who will start medical school next month.  Additionally we had Night Friday, a Christ School student on break, Summer, our WHM intern and two other nurses not on duty who popped in to say hi and stayed to bail us out.  We worked hard.  We laughed, teared up and prayed together.  In the end, we were all smiling.  It is a wonderful thing to work hard together to see children healed and Jesus glorified.  Webele NHC team!