#37 - Needaliddle-needle

#37 - Needles!!!

If I never see another bum that needs a needle this side of next week it will be too soon.  Oh my God I need debriefing.  Today being Monday, it was needle day.  I sweare that a bus load of kids pulled up out front and started a wailing chant of wimpering for what was to come.  I have been talking about these kids that get purulent sores and tonsilitis, infected with Group A Streptococcus  (GAS) developing Rheumatic Fever.  The scourge of this is that they need a monthly injection in their bum.  A painful, large, white satanic injection, that was invented purely to give credibility to the expresion " you have to be cruel to be kind!"

Well today was LA Bicillin day at Darnley Health centre, and while Annie was completing a stock take and a pharmacy order, I set about doing 4 year old immunisations, and a heap of LA Bicillin shots.  I armed myself with a box of colourful stickers, a brazen attitude and a good strong arm, and jabbed anything with a pulse.  After the first 7 or 8 kids, I got used to the gut wrenching cries as these poor darlings, heard their names being called from the waiting room.  This injection for you non clinicians, or remote nurses, is thick white syrup that has the look and consistency of semi-dried liquid paper.  It has to be given through a 21 G needle which is 1-2 sizes bigger than the needles that are usually used for injections.  It is slow to give because of the viscosity, and after about 15 sec, you are still only half way through the syringe.  By this time they are already crying, and biting on the pillow.

By midday, I had the hang of it and must have looked and behaved as battle hardened as the most barbaric of warriors, because kids started to realise that resistance is futile, and they were getting their needle by hell or high water.   I remember during my immunisationcourse back in 2004, hating giving needles to children.  Well there is a whole new level of hate now.  LA Bicillin day on Darnley...Nasty business.

On another tack, I have tried to make these blogs not just personal and interesting as a diary read, but also informative.  Today I learnedmore about some island culture.  Child gifting and Tomb stone opening.

The practice of child gifting is common on the islands.  A couple may be given a baby as a wedding gift by a sister or sisterinlaw, cousin or other family member.  It is an informal adoption process that allows for deep familial links and genetic ties to become blured.  If my wife and I had two boys and my sister had all girls, we might feel sorry for them that they dont have a son, and so should my wife have another child , and that baby was a girl, it would be given to my sister so she could have one too.   In many respects it is a lovely gesture, but the legal paperwork (if it is ever done) must be a nightmare.

A second practice I learned about is what occures after the death of a relative.  In islander culture, the immediate family are informed of the death by the inlaws or an uncle.  Should some one 'Pass away"  (islanders dont use the word died), then a health worker will find the spouses family, who will be told first, and it is then up to the family to inform the dead patient's wife and family.  This starts a time of mourning, where the immediate family are cared for and fed by the inlaws, sometimes for weeks after the burial.  Months (sometimes years down the track) the family of the diseased purchase a tombstone, and lay it with the deceased's body.  The shrouded tombstone is then opened or unveiled at a massive (and I mean massive) party where everyone who knew the deceased comes to celebrate their life.  The party is called a Tombstone opening, and can start in the middle of the day with a preparation of a feast of island food, whole turtle, dugong, and pigs roasted in a Kupmurrie, or gropund oven.  Feasting goes into the night, and then when all are full, dancing starts around midnight, and goes through till daylight with a hypnotic trance like troup of dancers, and singers all chanting melodically to the beat of the Kundu (island drum).  I have not been to such a spectacle as yet, but others who have wittnessed and videotaped them, say it is a sight to behold.   Now Midday to Dawn...now that is a party.   During the men dancing, women come out and spray the men with purfume and douse them with talcum powder, as by morning the dancers, fully clad in warrior costumes with spears, arrows and the characteristic Dhari (head dress) are covered white with powder.  It is a mark of respect, and all to honour the life of 1 person.   I cant wait to have an opportunity to see it first hand.

Well that is it for another installment, as I criuse to the end of the third week, and my last on the island of Erub.
   I love the feedback that you have given me as I blog these journeys of discovery.  I am a little humbled at the number of hits, and with just 5 more sleeps before I see my family again, I must admit that staying committed to this daily task has not been easy, but os so rewarding, and with out your great support through email and facebook, I would probably have stopped writing these after Saibai.