This past week has definitely had
its ups and downs. For starters, one of the ups was that I was involved in my
first crowd when a few of us saw Desmond and the Tutus perform at the Assembly
in the city. The band was really cool and the energy in the crowd was great.
Before it started a group of guys were totally fangirling and told us we were
in for a treat—they were not wrong, I loved the performance and really enjoyed
the openers too (The Vanilla and Forefront).
Tuesday was a really hard day
for me. I witnessed my first death after a 6 week old, underweight baby could
not be resuscitated. While the other 3 students were at tea time, I was
assisting Sister Joanne in visual screening and the two of us happened to be in
the treatment room when the mother came running in with her baby. I knew
something bad was about to happen because the mother was crying and the baby
was bundled up in a blanket. The doctor rushed over and immediately began
compressions. Everything happened so fast. Code blue was called and several
other doctors and nurses were called to the scene. In the middle of everything
going on I was called to help wrap the baby’s leg. I honestly don’t remember
much about what happened afterwards, because I went a little blank but I
remember the baby’s leg was so cold and so small. Everyone was cooperating and
giving their best effort and I really thought the baby was going to make it. Unfortunately
this was not the case. By the time the doctor starting dressing the baby we
knew the outcome. I know I will come across several similar cases in my
profession, but I’m not so sure it will ever get easier. I wanted to be strong
and be able to hold back my tears but I wasn’t able to keep my emotions in. In
the debriefing period afterwards I was relieved to hear the doctors say that
everyone copes differently and that it is completely fine to cry. I was also
very impressed by this same doctor during the resuscitation. She took the lead,
knew exactly what to do, and remained calm. I hope I become as good a doctor as
she is one day.
Sister Castle treated us to
McDonalds then took us to a workshop Tuesday evening which definitely
helped get my mind off what happened earlier. We made cute little bunnies and
chicks out of candy coated chocolate eggs. It was a lot of fun and really
relaxing.
The homestay weekend was great and
definitely lightened my mood. The Bowman family hosted Trista and I and they
were absolutely amazing. They took us to Simon’s town, to a gemstone factory,
and then to a local gig where their son was playing in his band, and they
served us the best food. I also learned to ballroom dance and had the absolute
best time on Friday with the kindergarten kids at the swimming pool.
The kid I was paired with was named Singalahkha (Singa for short) and I spent a
lot of time with him and his bestfriend, Genius playing tag, duck duck goose,
ring around the rosie, and horsey (which is basically when a bunch of kids sit
on your back, making you sink as you carry them around the pool). I had a
blast. I gave Singa my Uconn lanyard and he told me he would never take it off.
It was super sweet and pretty funny because I don’t even think he has keys to
put on it yet.
My family is currently en route to
Cape Town, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as I am typing this. They will be
here tomorrow at around noon. I can’t wait to see them all!! I
was definitely starting to get a bit homesick so this visit is coming at the
perfect time.
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