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DOKITA


EPISODE 5
‘So, really, whose patient is she?’ Doctor Afuarida asked with impatience written all over his face
Bola indicated, her body language reeking of timidity, ‘Sir, she was supposed to be my patient, but I haven’t been able to clerk her’
‘Oh, really? She was supposed to be?’
‘Do you even have any other patient on the ward?’
‘Ehm…no sir. But my other patient has just been discharged’
‘Please, leave my ward round. You are obviously unprepared to truly learn the art of medicine.’
She knew better than to plead and therefore, walked out with the little dignity she still had left.
He continued lecturing the rest of the students
‘You know, whatever you do now will speak later in life and especially in your medical career. If you want to be a good doctor, it definitely begins from now- taking responsibility’
Dr.Amao, please give me a summary on this patient
’22 year old female, had appendectomy done. 1st day post-op. Mild pain at op-site. Currently on IV Metronidazole and Augmentin’
‘Ok’
‘So, who among you can talk about Alvorado’s scoring system for acute appendicitis?
Silence.
‘So nobody can voice out abi?’ He thundered
Toochukwu’s voice reverberated from the back, almost as intimidating as his height.
‘The Alvorado’s scoring system helps to predict the likelihood of a patient having appendicitis’
And then he went on to reel out the components.
All hearts rested. He had saved the day.
Or so they had thought.
‘So what are the 2 most important components?’
‘Tenderness and rebound tenderness’ Toochukwu replied, gallantly
‘No! You got it wrong!’ Dr. Afuarida said, almost triumphantly.
‘Anyone else?’
‘Tenderness and migratory abdominal pain.’ Someone else said
‘No! why are you guys acting like you didn’t even attend a secondary school? This stuff is basic; its…common sense’
‘The correct answer is tenderness and leukocytosis’
‘Ok, you…’ He pointed to another student
‘Examine that abdomen’
Visibly shaking, she came forward and before even starting had failed.
‘Oh, goodness! Don’t you practice on one another in your hostels?’ He asked disdainfully
By now, Linda was fuming. She had felt like slapping that girl that was touching her abdomen so annoyingly.
So, because she was on a hospital bed, she had become mannequin abi?
‘But all these senior students sef. So common abdominal examination, one of them was still fumbling? She shook her head.
And as much as she was pissed off, she sincerely couldn’t deny the fact that they had provided her serious comic relief.
Something to gist Felix and Tolu about when they came by later.
Now, to serious matters.
Pathology end of posting exam was 4 weeks away.
‘Ehn! Linda, you cannot afford to fail o! This one wey your papa don dey call you doctor…’ She soliloquized.
Her books were by her side. ‘Them no born you well to sleep tonight o!’ She said to herself once again.
Dr. Amao passed by to the next patient to get a blood sample.
‘How are you dear?’
‘Hope ward round wasn’t too stressful for you, with all the drama?’
She smiled. ‘It’s been relatively interesting, actually’
‘Well done! I overheard the consultant shouting at you not long ago.’
He laughed and brushed it off ‘That’s normal around here’
‘I know right’
****************************************************************
Fola didn’t have breakfast this morning.
No, he wasn’t fasting. Actually, even if he wanted to eat, he couldn’t have.
By 4am, after getting only minutes of sleep, his phone had rang and as if in a contextual relationship with Bunmi as regards torturing him, he’d been paged to handle some patients in the paediatric ward.
He basically sleep-walked into the ward.
Setting those paediatric IV lines was basically hell- or more, if there was anything greater than hell.
 And at night! Fola groaned. Who cares? 4am was still night in his dictionary.
‘Doctor, that line has tissued again o’
‘And the patient on bed 4 had another seizure’
‘And…’
Fola cut the nurse short
‘Please, I’d like to handle those 2 first, provided there isn’t anything more urgent’
She nodded in agreement.
Sufficient for the day are the troubles thereof, is that not what the scriptures said? Fola mumbled to himself as he carried the tray containing the ward’s ‘valuables’ (IV lines, plaster etc)
He felt like editing that portion of scripture at the moment. He just wanted to replace one word.
And that was ‘Sufficient’. And the replacing words should be ‘Ridiculously much’
He set the IV line for the first patient with surprising ease. This must be the Lord’s doing!
On to bed 4. The patient with seizures. He examined him and made a mental note to increase the drug dosage. With fleeting eyes, he noted that the child’s mother was crying.
He really should talk to her, encourage her and stuff like that, however, he turned his back to leave. He substituted ‘ridiculously much’ for ‘sufficient’ once again and chuckled.
Nobody sent him to medical school to become a pastor and no one could fault him if he did his job and left the woman for the social health worker or chaplain to encourage.
But his heart refused to let him rest.
Fine! He shrugged. I’ll talk to her.
‘E n le ma. Kilode ti e se n sunkun?’ (Good evening ma. Why are you crying?)
‘Hmmn’ she sniffed.
‘Hmmn’. Another sniff
‘Omo okunrin kan so so ti mo bi ni yi. Ni ile baba e, won ti so pe ti ara e o bati ya, ki n ma pada wa mo’ (This is the only son I have, and I have been instructed not to return to his father’s house without him)
She brought out her hands, and with trembling shoulders, said ‘Ki ni mo fe se? Mo de ti bi obinrin meta fun won’ (What will I do? I have given birth to 3 daughters!)
‘Ha, omo obinrin de dara pupo o.’ (Females are very )
‘Ni bo! Se ni ile Yoruba ti wa yii naa abi nibo miran?’ She sighed in defeat.
‘Ko da, omo binrin n di eniyan Pataki. Ai moye dokita, lawyer, nurse, koda president paa paa’ (Females can become doctors, lawyers, presidents!)
She sighed again, apparently unconvinced. There was still more work to do
Fola opted to pray with her.
‘E je ki a jo gbadura madam’
‘O ti yaa, dokita wa’
And with that, he said a word of prayer along with the woman and instantly felt at peace.
More at peace than he’d felt within the last 12 hours.
He replaced ‘ridiculously much’ with ‘sufficient’ once again and hoped it would stay that way permanently- at least for the rest of the day.
He remembered he had to see Dr. Amao. Good Lord, his laptop was still with him and he urgently needed it to start preparing for presentations.
He placed a phone call across to him.
God, let him pick o’
Fortunately, he picked the call.
‘Guy, how far?’
‘Oga, I dey o’
‘Abeg, where you dey? I wan collect the laptop’
‘No vex, you go fit come east wing for female surgical ward?’
‘No wahala, I dey come’
He walked briskly to the ward. He had less than sufficient time for pleasantries.
He met Dr. Amao conversing with a female patient.
‘This guy get time o’ he soliloquized.
‘He don start again, the one wey him do for school no reach abi?’
He just hoped she didn’t end up as one of this guy’s victims!
‘Good morning’ he greeted the patient
She was actually very pretty.
‘Good morning’ she said in a high pitched sonorous voice. Okay, she was really pretty!
His friend caught him staring and motioned him over to where his laptop was.
He went for his laptop.
As he left the ward, he kept reminding himself that he had too many issues to be admiring any girl now.
Afterall, sufficient for the day were the troubles thereof!

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