Tag: MEDICINE

C A R E G I V E R S

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This past week was eventful for me, it challenged my mental capacity and ability to be creative on the spot.

I was in the Paediatric ward again with my musical instruments and I met what I didn’t prepare for. I had just stepped into the ward only to find that a nurse whom I had promised to do music for some weeks back was on duty. When she spotted me, she reminded me of my promise to share the joy of music with her, this time around adding that I share with everyone in the ward, she said to me “You know they didn’t have valentine with their family”.

I thought through this and decided I was going to do it, I have been so used to bedside music that this was sort of a challenge that I needed to surmount. When administering Bedside Music I could engage a patient in a conversation while trying to figure out his or her interest or the ailment thereby creating music of hope, joy and love but this was a lot different, it meant that I had to address every parent in the ward.

For some minutes, I was just running through chords on my guitar and thinking of Music that will suite the atmosphere, how to address them and so on. I finally got my balance and stood up to address them like a Choir Director (lol), told them of the song we were going to sing and of course taught them. They learnt so fast and in few minutes, I was on my guitar accompanying the music. For me this was so beautiful because initially the ward was echoing with cries from the babies but I noticed that as we sang together there was this calm from the babies.

We were soon done with the first song, Yes you saw that right, first song! They requested for another song because they felt it really lifted their spirits, so I taught them another song and boom! they were singing it so well. I again accompanied the singing with the guitar, it was everything refreshing.

In that moment, it became more real to me that the families of patients need the therapeutic effect of Music also, many of them are walking through very depressing season watching someone dear to them fade away due to an illness, It would interest you to know that some have seen their loved ones die in the space of 1 year, few months and weeks, I mean in succession yet they still spend their earnings and income to make sure this very one’s life is battled for.

I dedicate this post to them and I hope for opportunities to bring soothing relief to what they feel via Music.

This is the #DiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist Episode 5.
Kindly drop your comments and feedback, I always love reading from you!

N O T A G A I N!

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Not again was what I’d have said if I could express my heart to the patient.
You remember a patient of mine that I shared with you about that was so timid and suffered a fractured arm. She was the one again this time, the doctors had complained about her not refusing to take a step towards moving her arm, they had cajoled and finally resolved that an Occupational Therapist was the one to come to the rescue.

I met her gloomy and struck a conversation with her, of course she was familiar with my face. Her brother said he had been doing his best to persuade her towards moving her hands a bit. At this point, all my I was thinking were creative ways to make her move her arm.

Boom! An idea came, I brought out my children’s drum and I said to her you are simply going to sing and move your hands to the rhythm of this drum. Of course she was really scared, it sounded crazy but I encouraged her saying she could support the arm with her right arm and slowly move it.

The exact drum I used

My people we began this journey, I playing the drum and singing;

He has done great things,

He has done great things

Bless His holy name.


While we did this, I noticed she was still focused on the pain,so I said to her I want you to sing and forget that you are moving your arm. She took that and gradually she was courageously moving her arm with ease, we did a number of exercises with her arm and I quickly picked that we had been able to conquer the fear of feeling pain.

We moved on and she requested that she wanted to play the guitar, here is someone who had earlier on been scared of even moving hands saying she wanted to hold the guitar and try something out. I consented and she did try to play something, in that moment I said to myself sometimes all you’ve got to do is sing healing over yourself.

The guitar moved back to my hand and I sang to her a spontaneous song filled with much hope.
She was the only patient I attended to, I decided I was going to take extra extra time with her and in the end I wasn’t wishing it was someone else I had administered music to.
I was glad she was the one!
It was such a fulfilling moment for me when the nurse told me she enjoyed the session I had with the girl and would love that next time she’d be a full recipient of it.

This is the #DiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist Episode 3

Please feel free to drop your questions and feedback. It’s always beautiful reading from you!

N U M B

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Ujunwa is the name I will like to give her, I walked in to see her and realized that the ward was a little crowded. The smile of the nurse on duty was heart-warming and welcoming that it made me extra joyful that I had come again to the hospital.

Uju was totally numb emotionally when I got to her bedside even though she was actively using her mum’s phone, I could tell that she cared less about anyone and she was the last child from what I could infer. She was obviously a well-pampered child in her pre-teen.

Having observed Uju’s personality, I helped myself by starting a conversation with her mum and she told me about the circumstances around her daughter’s birth. For me it was an interesting one and helped me calm a bit before administering music to her daughter.

The conversation switched and I was conversing with Ujunwa, she was really open as she told me in details of the ailment that brought her to the hospital. About a week ago, she experienced a very sharp pain at her abdomen, she was told it was appendicitis and needed to be operated on. The operation was carried out, she felt better but still felt pain a bit.

I asked a number of questions about her school and she was still very open with me. I decided it was time to engage her musically and like I try to do with my patients, I always love to have a feel of their musicality so I ask questions like “are you in your school choir?”, “What’s your best song?”, “Do you play any musical instrument?” and so on.

I found out from our conversation that she didn’t really have a musical sense but she tried to sing a song on her dream, trust me I joined in singing. When she was done, I did a very simple and spontaneous song. These were the lyrics;

God’s plans for you,

They are beautiful

and are good!

When we sang this together, we switched and translated the lyrics in Igbo and sang it together. It was such a beautiful time as she loosened up totally. Her smile was bright and she wasn’t the emotionally numb person I met at first. Her mum said to me when I was about leaving “Thank you for putting smiles on our children’s faces”. These words were honestly priceless, I realized again that the little things matter and people aren’t seeking for things that complicate matters.

At the Hospital last week

There are myriads of cases like this that I see in the hospital and many a times I truly wish I could share all ranging from the child who steals your heart with endless smiles at the sight of your musical instrument to the one who doesn’t want you in her space but suddenly opens up to the eyes that are obviously scared of what tomorrow holds for them to those who are evidently drained of cash to the depressed to those who grieve yet try to put up a facade. In all of these I have learnt and I am still learning not to put up a pity face or organize another pity party that they already dread, I realize always that it’s the little things that matters, they all just want an adrenaline push in their emotions, they don’t want to hear the next discovery in their bodies, they want the simple things of life.

This is the #DIARYOFANASPIRINGMUSICTHERAPIST Episode 2

Kindly drop your questions and feedback. It is always a Joy reading from You!

Music Therapy and Medicine: A Dynamic Partnership

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Today I do a review of a TEDTalk by Dr Deforia Lane that I love so much and don’t think I’ll ever stop loving. Dr Deforia shares on Music Therapy and Medicine being a dynamic Partnership. This Ted Talk was done in 2016.

Honestly, this might not be your kind of perfect review but be sure to gain something, you’d see the synergy that can occur with Music Therapy and Medicine. This review is also meant to be long but I’d pick one or two things to expand on here so it doesn’t get excessively long, I might put up the rest sometimes in the nearest future.

Before I jump right into this let me give you a background knowledge of who Dr Deforia is, she is a Resident Director of Music Therapy at the University Hospitals of Cleveland Ireland Cancer Center and holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from Case Western Reserve University. She has designed and implemented music therapy programs for diverse populations. More importantly is that she is a cancer survivor which I believe must have inspired her to be passionate about the field of Music Therapy. She is the first music therapist to receive a grant to study music’s therapeutic effects on cancer patients.

Music Therapy and Medicine are two separate fields yet have this dynamic partnership that can improve wellness in our society, in this Review I’m not in any way about to bug you with lots of theory.

Music is in itself a connecting factor, it could by connection make a heart pump with blood again and just like the the red and yellow wire coming together to give light, it could light up a place or heart. The synergy of Music Therapy and Medicine makes it even more beautiful.

Dr Deforia tells of the story of a 20 year old lady who was pregnant and was brain-dead, I mean inactive in this case, she was taken to the Intensive Care Unit with the baby in her, if you are a Nigerian you’d understand that one of the most scary statements to hear is that a loved one’s case has deteriorated to the point of being taken to the Intensive Care Unit, you’d understand how expensive it is to have a person here.

Back to my story, Dr Deforia developed cold feet when called upon to administer Music Therapy to the child in this young lady’s womb because they figured out that since this lady was close to death’s door, there was no way she could push forth her child and of course they didn’t want to lose the baby also. Deforia looked at the protruded belly and began singing “He’s got the whole world in His hands” and this baby began to dance under her fingers, so much courage was infused by this happening. She moved to a fast-paced song and the baby danced faster under hands and His heart went up immediately.

Understand that this child was about to die because his mum could not stimulate his coming to the world because she was brain dead and as a matter of fact was on life support. The Doctors and Nurses knew there was a high possibility of losing this child if something wasn’t done. At this point, the drips, tests and injection couldn’t work not because it was or is useless but because it wasn’t in their place to do so.

It is safe to say that human’s heart beat responds quickly to Music Therapy than any other form of therapy. It is also safe to conclude in the words of Dr Deforia that life on the inside responds to music on the outside. Music Therapy acts as stimulant in dead cases.

I strongly believe that for a synergy or a dynamic partnership to happen between this fields in this part of Africa, it must come with appreciating each field’s wiring and knowing where and when to come in to improve human wellness.

I have always been of the opinion that there is so much we can do when we collaborate. So kindly think of this post as a collaboration. In this, we understand that one doesn’t dull the other’s shine or makes the other feel less important. Both fields are equally important, playing its role in the wellness of patients.

I also believe that Music Therapy and Medicine’s partnership will be a major stress reliever in this part of Africa. I mean Doctors and Nurses in this part of Africa are amazing honestly, how they do everything despite the weather sometimes, the many demands on them and lots more.

I’d put the link to the TED Talk at the end of this post so you can see the video yourself, have a practical feel or side to Music Therapy and also let me know what you think.

SOURCES: https://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/DeforiaLane.html https://www.verywellfamily.com/reasons-for-therapeutic-termination-2371295

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGnWyS2Y4r8