Inspirational Calendar

So I've decided that I will one day make a calendar with inspirational quotes on it for every day of the year. One will be like this, "Husbands love your wives. For chances are, if you don't, she might drink a glass of battery acid while 6 months pregnant with your child"

Worship was good today. Uncle Bill always has good bible studies for us. I have heard some and others are refreshers. I was falling asleep during this one just because the struggle was real when I was called out of the study for an emergency. At the time, Ms. Leishimi was still out and about delivering babies and saving the world. So I took this one. I grabbed one of the midwife students as a translator and went to see who was in trouble.

It was a young man about my age and a couple of small kids. As we approached them, there was an eeriness in the weather and just in the whole nature of this man's presence. Dilsmae, a midwife student, interrogated him.

"He says his wife has drunken half a glass of battery acid." She said it with such calmness in her voice, I at first thought she was joking.

"I'm sorry what! She drunk a glass of battery acid?!?" My response.

"Only half a glass...and she's 5 months pregnant."

"WHAT!?!?!" I quickly made an about face and quick stepped to Auntie Lois's house as all the questions flooded my brain.

Why would you drink a glass of battery acid?
Where do you even find enough battery acid to fill a glass?
WHAT?!?!
I'm sorry what?!?!

I bursted into Auntie's room with such authority. "Auntie, what do you do when a 5 month pregnant woman drinks half a glass of battery acid?"

Her eyes lit up like sunbeams. "CHARCOAL! Water! Charcoal water! And egg whites!" She said.

I explained the situation and she sent me off. We needed to dilute this poison before it took a bad turn for the mother and the baby both. 4 midwives tagged along as we swiftly grabbed supplies and made it down the hill. Of course it had finished raining about 30 min ago. However, the house was the closest house to the compound, bless The Lord. Walking wasn't a problem.

When we entered the house, my heart was racing. Of course this kind of emergency comes about when Ms. Leishimi is far away. I pushed the negative thoughts out of my head and trusted The Lord would provide the knowledge. This soon to be mother was looking rough. She was sprawled on the bed, drooling, flopped over and breathing with such mystery. She also seemed to be in pain with the noises she was making, but she didn't seem to be all there. In a state of unconsciousness I thought. I quickly called for the midwives and began giving orders. One to call 108, one to translate for me, one to crack the eggs I grabbed, one to grab everything else as my mind went a million miles a minute.

I did my vital signs. Everything was out of wack. Well this is great. I had water boiled to mix the charcoal in but went ahead and mixed some water and charcoal to get a head start. Then I realized, I'm not even sure if this woman can swallow anything. What is she aspirates?! Oh no. My life. And so I gave it a try. I gave her a very small amount of the egg white, and with a chin lift, she was actually able to swallow. Well bless. I tried again, just to make sure. No success. Ok let me try the charcoal water since it wasn't as thick. Yea, the black water most definitely just slid down the side of her mouth and made a mess.

So much struggle.

I kept doing vitals just to look busy as I thought about what to do next. IV. That was an option. I had to dilute the poison somehow and since PO wasn't going to work, I decided another route. But of course the IV was up the hill and of course the midwives wouldn't know where it would be. Choices: I go and pray she doesn't go into cardiac arrest, or I stay and try and send a midwife.

I went. So unhealthy and out of shape I felt as I ran up the hill thinking what happens if I pass out while trying to save someone? Well that would stink. When I reached the top, I grabbed everything: some NS, butterflies, iv sets, other things I might need. Then I grabbed my wallet in case of a hospital run. I met Major sir on the way and got a lift down to the house. He said we could meet the ambulance at the main road to save time.

When I got back on scene, thankfully the patient hadn't died. But she had thrown up all the charcoal water and egg whites we gave earlier. It was such a sad sight. In the anxiety, all my IV stuff went all over the place. Her veins were as thin as hairs, making it so much harder to find a vein. Not to mention I couldn't find my glove that I use for a tourniquet. So I got inventive and used a sock. I know how to make due. Even so, I was unable to get the IV with the time we had. We scratched the IV and just decided to meet the ambulance.

It looked like I was going to the hospital, and probably spending the night.

We carried her body down the steep incline to the sumo. "May God help us if I slip on this mud" I thought. Jesus take all the wheels.

While in the car, I kept my hands on her radial pulse just to be sure she had one. She laid in her husband's lap and the tears began to flow from his eyes as we drove.

Back story. This couple is rather interesting. From what we know the couple got married some time ago and things were fine. The wife gets pregnant and then the husband starts leaving for weeks at a time, not telling where he's going or when he is getting back. The wife is there alone. Then while at some distant location, he calls her up and tells her to buy a cow and bring her whole life to his parents's house. (Custom has it that the wife buys a cow and feeds the husband's family. Then the husband must move to the woman's village.) So I think that tied in with some other domestic issues pushed her over the edge and she wanted to end it.

They say love can make you do crazy things. But lack of love can make you do crazier things.

I kept close watch over the young woman. Pinal was her name. We slowly made our way down the incredibly bumpy road to the street. It was 10 o'clock. It would be a long night.

We got to the road and met that ambulance a couple of minutes later. Again we loaded her into another vehicle. This was one of the only times where it was good to be 6 foot tall in India. I was so mad when I got in the ambulance and there was no oxygen, iv, or pretty much anything that made an ambulance an ambulance, it was pretty much just a match box car that they painted with some ambulance design to make it look really cool. Even the pulse oximeter that one of the drivers gave me didn't work. (Keep in mind, the only qualifications that are needed to be an ambulance driver is to know how to drive real fast.) If something bad were to seriously happen she might just be out of luck.

In the ambulance we drove, up and down the winding roads, around the hills, making sharp turn after sharp turn going an unnecessary but a necessary speed. I stayed close to Pinal, my hands still on her pulse and constantly assessing her breathing in case I had to start CPR at any moment. Her husband and parents were right next to me, wondering who knows what. Praying? Maybe. Wondering after this doctor/nurse man who was from Africa? Probably. As for me, I was praying: for a spared life, for a second chance for Pinal, for The Lord to not let the devil take this soul, this precious soul, and the unborn baby with it. I had experienced some power in prayer before, so I figured it was time again to put it in the Lord's hands.

And then she threw up on me. 5 times. The vomit was colored like that of lime green koolaid and grass. And had specks in it. Not sure what that was. I kept her on her side so she wouldn't aspirate. Thank you nursing school. I knew a little something. I refrained from vomiting as best as possible as the ride continued along. Pinal's mother vomited. 'Twas marvelous.

We arrived at the hospital around 12 am that morning. They wheeled her in. Lenitha, the midwife student I brought with me, and I followed behind. The nurses and doctors didn't ask me any questions, which I found weird. How would they know what happened? You can't just treat someone without hearing some kind of report. Oh India. I stayed away but close enough to provide info if needed.

At this point, I went to search for phone network. There was none. Weird because we were in the middle of the city. I also checked to see how much money I brought with me in my stylish fanny pack. None. So mad. I could have sworn there was at least 1000 rupees. It must have fallen from my pack earlier in the night. And that's how I found myself in the middle of a big city at 12 am in the morning with no money to get home and no way to call back to the school. And my phone was almost dead. Please help in this one Lord, I prayed. It was out of my hands. He would have to provide.

Then the husband came from the back with a slip of paper. Lenitha said we had to go buy these meds from the pharmacy nearby. "Well of course I would love to walk the streets of downtown Tura at 12 am in the morning looking for a strange creepy pharmacy :D" My thoughts. I followed this man. We went around that corner and through that alley, and up that street and so on, braving the dark streets in search of medicine. I didn't know why the medicine couldn't just be sent through a shoot from somewhere in the hospital. You know, have the pharmacy actually be attached and not in Oz... American mentality.

We eventually found it after going and coming and asking for directions. All the lights were turned off except for one near the back of the pharmacy. We banged really hard on the outside gate and eventually a man in a mask came outside. We gave him our paper and he went back and then returned with our medicines. We gave the money through the gate.

And that is how I made my first drug deal!!

We returned to the hospital and they gave the medicines. Time to sleep. I sat in a chair against the wall and tried to rest my head. I knew my whole body would be sore in the morning. I slept for what seemed like a couple of hours, but discovered it had been only 20 min. My life is a lie. I prepared to sleep on the floor and then all of a sudden angels appeared. Well it was Mrs. Leishimi and Major Sir. Why they were here? I didn't know. But was I ecstatic because they brought the sumo and we could probably drive back tonight? Yes! Bless! Turns out a mother with a difficult labor needed hospital assistance. I was thankful for her problem because it kept me off the cold ground and stranded in a city for the night. I practically embraced them both. Not really. We did all we could for our patients and then decided to drive home because there was nothing else we could do. We could pray. But we could do that from home.

And so we drove. Lenitha, Mrs. Leishimi and another midwife student slept in the back while I told Major Sir stories in the front to keep him awake. Because it's never fun to drive at night while everyone else is sleep.

We arrived back to the compound at 2 am, after running over a big snake, twice, and getting caught in the mud. I lazily returned to my hostel and just thought about what had just happened, what I had just been a part of. Like wow. I prayed some more because you can never do too much of that when a woman drinks battery acid. And to take it all in, I decided to eat rice and Dahl because I was hungry and I do what I want.

And that was pretty much it. A day's work.

Bless.