The AbroadNurse

11/30/2025

I have some great moments with my patients who are predominantly men. Some days are rough though.

This morning, my patient screamed and called me a hero🤣.
He went on and on about how I had done what no one had been able to do. He said he will recommend me for a raise ( chai!!! How I wish he has the power for this one🤣🤣).

He said " you know science more than all these people ".

It's not the things he was saying that really got me. It was the way he was looking at me. It was the look of a child who just realized the person he had known all this time possessed powers he never anticipated.

So the background was that I had been called to draw blood from his PICC line ( kindly google some of the terms and short forms I shall be using here). Reluctantly, I went. I had just got up to go on my break because I was exhausted.

Blood draw was successfully done and I proceeded to change the " needleless connector" of the PICC line according to protocol but it was not coming off.

Someone had screwed it on too tight. If you know me, then you may know I possess STRENGTH in me. People get shocked by how strong my hands are ; my grip, pull, hit etc has shocked many. When we lift or pull patients, I get a lot of exclamation from colleagues and patients.

This morning, that strength failed me. I don't take defeat easily so my stubborn nature set in. I refused to leave his room. I pulled, tugged, gripped on this thing. It didn't budge.

The patient said they had been trying to get it off for days now without success. He mentioned some male nurses who had tried. He said even the " PICC team" had been unsuccessful.

He suggested we call " a mechanic" to use their "plier" and unscrew the connector🤦🏽‍♀️😂. That's how frustrated he was about it.

The PICC team is the special team that inserted that line .

The next move would be to pull the entire thing out and reinsert a new one.

Well today, that challenge was solved.
Where strength failed, science came to the rescue.

I pondered over it and then decided to apply the science of 'heat expansion and cold contracts'.

Without revealing my secrets,

It worked!!!

Guy was mesmerized.

I ended up driving home very sleep deprived since I didn't take a break, but I left a very satisfied patient behind.

The things we have experienced...

JUST BREATHE





Picture credits:

Needless connector 📷: Mederen

Patient's arm 📸: BD

11/30/2025

Something about this season brings out the child in me.

The AbroadNurse

11/29/2025

I need clarity.
The guy who is being dragged in Nigeria for scaaming people on visa issues, what EXACTLY is his offense?

Is it because the client never got visas or their passports were seized?

When we hear " seized"? What exactly does that mean?

He held unto them and refused to return or the embassies are with them?

I want to comment from an enlightened standpoint .

I used to do a lot of immigration guidance then stopped.
At some point I toyed with the idea of really focusing on it and charging for my services but things like this made me decide not to.

I didn't want a situation where people will assume paying me for consultancy services equals visa or school admission in hand.

These things take a lot of ones time because you have to stay current with immigration policies and procedures. Then the paperwork involved is a different matter entirely.

Yet all that is without guarantee of visa.

Canadian embassy can retain your passport for almost one year.

No visa/travel consultant has a say on whether you will be given visa or not.
Their services, if authentic, is to guide you , review your application and documents so that your chances of success are higher.

That money being paid to them is for their time and logistics. They may have one or two insiders they collaborate with whom they have to settle from time to time but still it doesn't mean all their clients will be honored.

They are only one agent among several agents seeking similar outcomes from those insiders.
So it's a game of chance.

I have people I gave invitation letter to and they were successful at the embassy. I have others who were rejected.

I have helped families put together their immigrant visa applications with positive outcomes.

For the visitors, I won't come here to say they got visas due to my letters.

For the immigrant cases, once you follow due process, you will get your visa. It's not rocket science.

The thing is most people are lazy to do the work so they prefer to pay others to help them.

Same with applying to colleges for admission. .

I still have my younger siblings in Nigeria.
If it were that easy, they won't be there till now.

So, I am really interested in knowing his offense.

Thank you.

JUST BREATHE

11/29/2025

11/29/2025

My behind would have gone viral today globally, but for timing.

JUST BREATHE

11/28/2025

Let's end the embarrassment

11/28/2025

This is one Thanksgiving I did not cook a thing.
As in NOTHING.

Funny enough, I feel very satisfied about it.

I ate my yam and local sauce.
We had old jollof rice and Egusi in the fridge.
Between that, pineapple fruit and cereal, the kids were good.

I made zobo drink for psychological 'blood tonic' and that was it.

I was off the night before and on Thanksgiving day itself so I had the time.

We started the day by praying and reading Psalms of Thanksgiving. Then we swept and mopped the house. A family stopped by unannounced ( I served them water, chips and Martinelli cider), stopped for few minutes at a friend's house, kids had chess lesson, brought out Christmas decors and called it a day.

I love how my peace, satisfaction is not derived from doing what everyone is doing or expects you to do.

Funny enough, I went grocery shopping on Wednesday, spent over $300 then suddenly decided the cooking can wait.

Gratitude is a daily affair.

JUST BREATHE

11/28/2025

Why do we feel the need to advise people to focus on an issue we concluded must concern them too?

I have noticed that if someone posts something now, some Nigerians in Nigeria will go to the comment to ask them if they don't realize the nation is in turmoil and why they are posting such?

Whether we like it or not, your grief isn't always someone else's grief, if they are not directly affected.

People will express their shock and alarm at a sad news then go about their business the next hour.

That is life!

If you don't learn how to handle this, you will go about with so many enemies.

I experienced this first hand during my loss.

After being away from social media for a brief moment, I returned to notice everyone already about their business from weeks prior.

People were posting jokes, dance videos, political arguments etc like nothing happened.

Initially, I was angry.
I asked within me if they were no longer feeling the loss that I feel.
Don't they realize that a human left this world?

Then I stopped to ask myself,
Was he their father?
Was he their husband?
Was he their brother?
Was he their son?

At that moment, I was faced with the reality of life.

Unless the people in question have a direct relationship with the sad news, what they are doing on social media or anywhere doesn't matter.

I have used this to advise friends who lost loved ones and it has helped them a great deal.

We are humans and we feel hurt that the world has moved on while we are still grieving but if they aren't family, they are not obligated to any of our expectations.

Yes, Nigerians are shocked and traumatized about the events happening these past weeks but people's waking and sleeping thoughts and posts will never focus on that.

The immediate families of the victims will still be grieving but all other people might have moved on.
Occasionally people will touch on issue again, but just not as a primary focus.

This post does not excuse irrational postings few days after a very close friend of yours is gone. Especially when the public is aware of such closeness due to the publicity you both gave it.
There is decorum and the need to give at least few days of respect to the deceased before you continue.

JUST BREATHE