tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57645383971094041602024-03-04T23:28:12.829-08:00Adventures in KenyaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-62886570934765372652012-08-28T05:17:00.001-07:002012-08-28T05:17:35.887-07:00True happiness is giving it away..
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My last night at Coast Province General Hospital was
bittersweet. </div>
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Six of us decided to spend our last night in Mombasa at the
place that brought us here in the first place—the hospital. It was 10 pm before
we arrived and like always, casualty was busy. Tonight though, we were going to
make the very best of our last night and with us we carried a dozen scrubs to
give to our favorite tiny African nurse, Mya. We knew she wouldn’t be on duty
but we hid the scrubs in her secret supply cabinet. I only wish we could have
been there when she opened it the next morning. She asked us to leave her one
pair of scrubs, so twelve surely left her surprised! Knowing her she won’t keep
them all for herself either, that was one reason we liked Mya so much. </div>
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You may have recently read in the news about a massacre in a
Kenyan village where 48 people, mostly women and children, were murdered. If
not here is a link to an article: <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_21374684/at-least-48-killed-mostly-women-and-children">http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_21374684/at-least-48-killed-mostly-women-and-children</a></div>
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A survivor of this was brought into Coast General the day
before. Her neighbor found her and brought her all the way to Mombasa for
treatment. That takes hours by car. Her condition was severe: her arm badly
severed by the blade of a machete. Her face distorted in a way that made her
teeth visible with her mouth closed. She waited hours to receive treatment and
was suppose to be rushed to emergency surgery, but in the end could not afford
the procedure so she was sutured and sent away. </div>
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Again it’s hard seeing people suffering on a gurney in the
corner, forgotten, because they can’t pay or there are no medical supplies. You
just don’t see this in America so it’s still hard for me to wrap my head
around. After assisting with vitals, dressings, and speeding up the treatment
of people in casualty we decided to call it a night. I found one of the nurses
I liked in casualty and asked her if she wanted my scrubs. Her face just lit
up. She is a little more chesty than I am so hopefully they actually fit, but
either way she was really excited. I then looked down at my shoes and back up
at her and said, “will these fit you?” I slipped one off and she tried it on
smiling back at me. I told her to wait there as I went and changed into shorts
and a t-shirt in minor. When I went back and handed her the two pairs of scrubs
and new shoes she seemed very grateful and would not stop smiling. It felt so
good knowing I literally just gave her the clothes off my back and the shoes
off my feet. </div>
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Before this trip I would occasionally find myself wondering
about the meaning of life. Why I live in America where women have a voice,
education is taken for granted, and clean water is at our fingertips when there
are people in this world who have to fear genocide, education is out of the
question, and have to walk four miles one way for a bucket of water. After
seeing it first hand I ask that question more now than ever. It doesn’t seem
fair and I will forever live with the images of poverty in the back of my mind
but I will never forget the people I met here, they are some of the most
amazing human beings I have ever had the opportunity to know. After being home
for a day I have already stopped multiple times to think about how grateful I
am for everyone and everything in my life. I know I’ll go back to Africa again
someday. I’m not set out to change the world, but if I can be a part of
improving the life of one person there, just one, I can die a happy person
because I’ve completed the purpose of the life I want to live. </div>
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It’s amazing it took traveling half way around the world to
find a part of myself I didn’t know existed. There’s a whole world out there,
don’t be the one afraid to leave the comfort of your doorstep.</div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-24178497691551497432012-08-24T03:08:00.001-07:002012-08-24T03:08:07.548-07:00Wednesday and Thursday!
8/22 and 8/23<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
The past two days have been relaxing. It was a great opportunity to catch up
on the few touristy things we still wanted to do and spend some time at the
beach. Wednesday, Joel, Trisha, Jenna, Megan and I went to get some supplies
for the reconstruction of the orphanage. It was a 15 minute walk to a small
town hardware shop. I really felt like I was in the middle of nowhere Kenya in
this place! It wasn’t by any means threatening, we could just tell people here
don’t usually, if ever, see mzungu’s (white people) here. After bartering with
the owner for supplies, we came out with 4 buckets of white paint, 3 small one
liter cans of blue, red, and yellow paint, 2 large paint brushes, and 5 small
ones for about 3200 Kenyan shillings. That is about 35 or so US dollars, not
bad! Once we arrived back at the orphanage we began the task of painting the
newly cemented walls. Sevanas, an Elective Africa employee helped us get
started. He kept adding way too much water to the primer though, so it took
quite a few coats to get a solid base. There was no ladder to be found, so he
improvised with stacking two benches vertically and climbing up them! There
were quite a few times that I thought he was going to just come crashing down
and spill all the paint. It was really nice to be able to help out more at the
orphanage/school. I really enjoy the people who work there, they are so nice!
As soon as we walk in they scurry around setting chairs behind us to sit down
in. I have so much appreciation for all the time, money, and work Joel has
spent here trying to make a difference in these children’s lives. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Putting cement on the walls</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">He decided to start painting right above me :) notice his "ladder"</span></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
After spending half the day painting, it was time for the beach! Joel,
Megan, Chelsea and I made the short trek down to Nyali Beach for possibly the
last time. Megan and I really wanted to ride the camel before we left, so we
did that right away. It was so much fun! I know I have a picture of me doing
this when I was little, but that was at a zoo… and this is the Indian Ocean. The
rest of the time was just spent lying in the sun. I was just about to doze off
when BAM! Sand went flying and looking to my left I now had an African boy
sitting sideways between Megan and I. He hit the side of Megan’s head and went
flying over top of her to land right between us. He just sat there dumbfounded
like he had no idea what happened either. Megan was ok and the boy kept coming
back apologizing over and over. He kept saying, “Madam, Madam I am so sorry! I
was doing exercises!” Needless to say he was forgiven and now it’s just another
funny story to add to countless others this trip. <br />
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
I didn’t go to the hospital today; I am waiting to do the evening shift on
Friday. I’m hoping that staying up until 3am or so right before we leave will
help put me back on a good sleeping schedule for home. I can’t believe I only
have a couple days left! It’s truly bittersweet. <br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
Thursday!<br />
<br />
I was able to sleep in for once! At 9 am Jenna, Megan, Trisha and I rode the
van to the hospital. There was a lady we found out about through a doctor at
the hospital who does henna tattoos, so we wanted to get some done before we
left. Her apartment was only about a block from the hospital so that was
convenient! She was very nice and did such a great job for 200 Kenyan
shillings! That’s only about 4 American dollars. I got my right foot and left
arm done and the rest of the day was spent trying to let it dry. <br />
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<br />
<br />
At 1:30 pm we decided to go back to Old Town Mombasa to get some last minute
souvenirs! I have gotten really good at bargaining—Dad you would be proud! Everything
I bought was at least half of what they were asking for initially. For about 15
dollars I finally had all the gifts I wanted to bring home. While waiting for
the other people in our group to head back to the van we ran into an obnoxious
Kenyan “tour guide” right outside of Fort Jesus. I think he was attracted to
the 4 white girls with henna tattoos and he would just not go away! Of course
he was harmless, but kept insisting we hang out with him sometime. Yeah right.
First of all anyone who introduces himself to you as Captain Midnight obviously
isn’t sane and we might be tourists, but we aren’t stupid <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Thursday night was sort of our going away party before we fly back Saturday.
It was really fun; I’m going to miss being so close to all the people on this
trip. We will definitely have to have a reunion this semester! And Joel! You
better come to South Dakota for pub crawl like you promised! <br />
<br />
<br />
Friday will be my last day/night at the hospital, it’s almost surreal. I
have so many mixed feelings about it I don’t even know how to explain. I will
do one last blog post on Saturday morning and then back to the US it is! <br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-49195403799045305282012-08-22T22:39:00.000-07:002012-08-22T22:39:50.756-07:00Back to the Hospital!8/21<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Grapic Images, once again!</span><br />
<br />
Back to the hospital! The day began in major theatre observing a surgery on a 15 month old boy with hypospadias. This is a birth defect in the opening of the urethra. The surgery was kind of hard to see from where we were standing, but its always amazing to see a broken body opened up and put back together again.<br />
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<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Going into surgery</span></div>
<br />
Things were beginning to pick up in minor, but there were a lot of us down
there which sometimes makes things more complicated than they should be. Trisha
and I decided to go take a look at casualty. As we got closer to the gate we
saw quite a bit of commotion. There were probably six people yelling from the
outside of the gate which I’ve never seen closed, and two police officers
guarding it from the inside. Once the officers saw us the immediately opened it
to let us in. Inside on the male half of the room we saw three patients and
another five police officers. It’s not uncommon for police to escort prisoners
in who need medical attention, but this was different. These patients weren’t prisoners—well
at least not yet. We saw Dr. Abdulhussein, one of our favorite doctors because
he involves us in patient care and asks us questions to challenge our
knowledge. We made eye contact and he motioned for us to follow him. Upon
squeezing through the officers and onlookers, we arrived at the bedside of a
male in his mid-twenties, severely beaten. Dr. Abdulhussein explained he was
going to do a full body exam basically to check for DCAP-BTLS (deformities,
contusions, abrasions, punctures, bruises, tenderness, lacerations, swelling).
His way of performing this was somewhat similar to what we do in the American
world of EMS—but not quite. I was surprised he did not expose his body and at
how rough he was with the patient. They guy would be screaming out in pain yet
the doctor would keep poking, prodding, and yanking. The officer in charge of
him was also being very aggressive, slapping him hard in the face and yelling
at him to scoot up in the bed. Upon completion of the exam the doctor concluded
he did not have any broken bones, but without an x-ray I wasn’t convinced. The
patient had a large laceration on the back of his head deep enough to indicate
a possible occipital fracture. I was most worried about internal bleeding, and
they said he was going to go for an ultrasound as soon as it was available. After
finishing up at the bedside, Dr. Abdulhussein began to explain “mob justice” to
Trisha and I. The patient we had just seen had stolen something earlier that
day. When that happens in Kenya the people who witness the offense are allowed
to chase after the theft and beat him until the police come and take him
somewhere. This is legal here! No one gets persecuted for beating someone to
death in the street. <br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
I then overheard the doctor tell someone the patient had been struck by a
tuktuk, even though minutes earlier he had told us about the mob justice scenario.
Learning this switched on a light bulb in my head. We have seen a lot of people
involved in some sort of motor vehicle accident, but how many of those were
actually mob justice victims? It seems like every day new horrifying evidence
of abuse is brought out into the light. <br />
<br />
<br />
Trisha and I decided to go help out in minor while we waited for the mob
justice patient to come back from medical imaging. Dr. Abdulhussein was going
to teach us how to suture so we definitely wanted to wait around for that. As
we were at a low point in number of patients, Jeff came in and told us if we
wanted to see a really cool wound to come in the exam room. I followed him in
and this is what I found:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0k3IqdKS2A462K1I67nGlSNaa8TWi8euy5Iigs7zL0HKH8ng7kw39m0YMTc5Ed-rOX5GU_TmUxuq-aPD7biBZqr57p9WOc0k0ISaO87bNqd3VwuRX_gw9iUfndv2dNqatZPC4ZuFfnmnr/s1600/IMG_1663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0k3IqdKS2A462K1I67nGlSNaa8TWi8euy5Iigs7zL0HKH8ng7kw39m0YMTc5Ed-rOX5GU_TmUxuq-aPD7biBZqr57p9WOc0k0ISaO87bNqd3VwuRX_gw9iUfndv2dNqatZPC4ZuFfnmnr/s320/IMG_1663.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9Yjo-wJXS6HzN6KPTJ7qZpDGN6KJMxWTS2ZstSfIN2FxpI6oc1aR3r2p6-8mFrtar9gsKDF7bnfPdOMPDMdgNjejQFqVvJB7PHKqMiaXiGxLM6ubELgtnbS6Uv57oInafCq7T5qlgQ_4/s1600/IMG_1664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9Yjo-wJXS6HzN6KPTJ7qZpDGN6KJMxWTS2ZstSfIN2FxpI6oc1aR3r2p6-8mFrtar9gsKDF7bnfPdOMPDMdgNjejQFqVvJB7PHKqMiaXiGxLM6ubELgtnbS6Uv57oInafCq7T5qlgQ_4/s320/IMG_1664.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<br />
This patient had been cut by an iron sheet used for roofing. His open,
unclean cut had turned into this in a matter of weeks! The foul, sour smell of
rotting flesh filled the room making it almost unbearable to stand. Jeff
assisted an intern doctor in the cleaning of the room which included scrapping
out the white infectious part of the wound. After spending some time in there it
was almost time to go if we wanted our free ride in the van. I decided to call
it a day, while Trisha wanted to hang out for an extra half hour to see if our
mob patient would come in for sutures. I saw her an hour later and she said he
had never gone up for ultrasound; he was still lying on the gurney where we had
last seen him. After going to have a closer look at him, he appeared deceased.
I cannot express how angry I am with how this case played out. I have gotten a
thorough insight of Kenyan healthcare, but I don’t know if I’ll ever completely
understand it. It makes me want to stay longer because things seem to get done
and move faster when we are there. Even if our only contribution is pestering
the staff or changing dressings, I still feel as though we are helping improve
the wellbeing of patients at Coast General. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-3191177610081479662012-08-22T07:53:00.001-07:002012-08-22T07:53:25.874-07:00SAFARI!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8/16-8/21</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our journey began on Thursday the 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> as we
boarded the Coast Air bus to Nairobi. The 8 hour bus ride was impossible to
sleep on due to the driver speeding up, slamming on the breaks, and passing
every car we saw. That coach bus was not made for that type of driver; I don’t
know how we made it to our destination alive! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdfJVHM0eah0geJwwsKNecQQSLI-Nujoc87srKLBWdKIN4oKfuSQejH_iiSGOL8OlGTBYgnYmcjDbA5EdHDrjBpR2VUc0uMOGKdB9xJuyQN8hDlo930Bq-iCKTjpKan9KYXSBU5aTyCmt/s1600/IMG_1434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdfJVHM0eah0geJwwsKNecQQSLI-Nujoc87srKLBWdKIN4oKfuSQejH_iiSGOL8OlGTBYgnYmcjDbA5EdHDrjBpR2VUc0uMOGKdB9xJuyQN8hDlo930Bq-iCKTjpKan9KYXSBU5aTyCmt/s320/IMG_1434.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Death wish?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nairobi is so much different than Mombasa! It is in more of
a mountainous region so it’s really hot during the day, but cold at night. I
really wish I would have brought a pair of sweatpants! As fun and amazing as
this trip has been—I miss American food! So much! The stew and rice isn’t
really doing it for me anymore. As soon as we got settled in our 8 person room
(with one random roommate) at the hostile, we were off to find a place to eat. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The next morning we loaded in to 3 safari vans and were off
on another 6 hour journey to Massai Mara National Wildlife Reserve. The first 4
hours were long—there were a lot of speed bumps in which the driver, Solomon,
no longer slowed down for anymore. I had already finished my book that I had
started reading the day before so I was getting pretty bored. Suddenly quiet
Solomon turned around and said “This part of the road, bad. Tarmac ends here.”
Well… he wasn’t joking. The next hour and a half reminded me of the old days in
high school offroading in the Burb on the logging roads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually had a blast going 60 down the dirt
road with pot holes everywhere! Then in the back of my mind I started thinking,
if we crash we die. It’s not like there are ambulances or helicopters that can
just come rescue us. Nonetheless, I still had a good time. Check facebook for a
short, unjustified, video of it. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvH5x2_RGbdWaGfst9P4TNfDBSadWsiUcO4FPLSLhjAPQOXmQcXgEmD1CEmBmSG0awv9Bk46zcURs10e97YmzmySWW2lxPxLXIkEJK1HFu3X0vIuf4wvl6pSyJsZixi3twRO6xznKyaMC/s1600/IMG_1467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvH5x2_RGbdWaGfst9P4TNfDBSadWsiUcO4FPLSLhjAPQOXmQcXgEmD1CEmBmSG0awv9Bk46zcURs10e97YmzmySWW2lxPxLXIkEJK1HFu3X0vIuf4wvl6pSyJsZixi3twRO6xznKyaMC/s320/IMG_1467.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The vans!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We arrived at the Rhino Tented Camp around 3:30, took a 20
minute rest, and went straight to the reserve. It was amazing. Solomon put the
top up so we could stand and take pictures of the animals. We saw zebras (which
ended up being my favorite despite the fact that we saw thousands of them,
literally), elephants, wildebeests, giraffes, buffalo, hartebeests, and
different types of gazelle and antelope. We spent about 3 hours out there
before returning for a shower (my first warm shower in Africa!), and supper. We
were all exhausted and ended up going to bed around 9:30. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Day 2!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We were out on the reserve by 8:30am ready to see what the
day had in store. My van included, Ali and Ben (the Canadian couple), Megan
Sarvis, Megan Stuart, and myself. Megan Stuart had a really nice Nikon camera
so her pictures turned out the best on this adventure. I wish I would have
invested in a nice camera like that before coming here! The day began with more
zebra, wildebeest, and gazelle. All the sudden we hear Solomon talking on the
CB and before we knew it we were going 60 mph again on the sketchy dirt road in
pursuit of a hyena! It was so cool; it was eating a wildebeest and fighting off
the huge buzzards trying to steal the meat. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXBnFw9e62PLoqXJ2GdPDRBmQq25PfN2rXoPArKbs2wAvYDPdw3GpeJ-OEJ873_dRkcytdTwohAsP-dfmJPzjH61rSgm4RYoIRcaAWI_wuy07cj7NZkncGxP2J5YtPIfq4GO1DnX3sXKL/s1600/DSCN0290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXBnFw9e62PLoqXJ2GdPDRBmQq25PfN2rXoPArKbs2wAvYDPdw3GpeJ-OEJ873_dRkcytdTwohAsP-dfmJPzjH61rSgm4RYoIRcaAWI_wuy07cj7NZkncGxP2J5YtPIfq4GO1DnX3sXKL/s320/DSCN0290.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Taken by Megan Stuart</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWzBt0CYeawYOixxFXuTYGd637GKTZoJZh7Kk5PYufEHrgZuN_5p-W99_nDhykQHi1ub7qm4_cdBFAUv6FiuiXDZ8Jd73FWXah6IjNmYrHCtyRZmUp7qoP8R9SJXJVpO0295DR9KIx4WB/s1600/IMG_1488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWzBt0CYeawYOixxFXuTYGd637GKTZoJZh7Kk5PYufEHrgZuN_5p-W99_nDhykQHi1ub7qm4_cdBFAUv6FiuiXDZ8Jd73FWXah6IjNmYrHCtyRZmUp7qoP8R9SJXJVpO0295DR9KIx4WB/s320/IMG_1488.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our main destination for the day was the Mara River where we
would be able to see the hippos and crocodiles. We eventually came up over this
hill and there we saw thousands of zebra and wildebeests grazing in the sun.
This was my all time favorite part of the trip! I could not get over how many
there were! The whole time I kept thinking of the Lion King, I’m definitely
going to watch that when I get home! We slowly rolled through the vast open
field of these beautiful animals before speeding up again to see a black rhino!
He was hard to see because of the bushes in the way, but still very cool. We
also saw a cheetah and some mating lions before it was even noon! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDM2GrY5mDW8hfTTT_K2tjoN0VfQCKhaFZFBjky-PG-H5_dqrdfGKBf2hPDICVgWaEIqCM_wNHSZ036KmwAxMIcNhtLGpTiZ-zBiiw1anD1CLpN3EC1bYjl8M_PbngF6qefM8wJSKeCYu/s1600/IMG_1541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDM2GrY5mDW8hfTTT_K2tjoN0VfQCKhaFZFBjky-PG-H5_dqrdfGKBf2hPDICVgWaEIqCM_wNHSZ036KmwAxMIcNhtLGpTiZ-zBiiw1anD1CLpN3EC1bYjl8M_PbngF6qefM8wJSKeCYu/s320/IMG_1541.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Annual migration from Serengeti to Massai Mara</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJYH2TY4EPkN2dGJOYdNYIVzQVGrMNlyvdfKi4mAVFGwfYQP1yXz2AQU98A1ywmZOJTLjMwjb-qgHv16s6CRGRxaK3H69eWMsSybPKF1nVoT_pZ6x-U1XmKSrpDqlTNWiNziLta78Z3lu/s1600/DSCN0368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJYH2TY4EPkN2dGJOYdNYIVzQVGrMNlyvdfKi4mAVFGwfYQP1yXz2AQU98A1ywmZOJTLjMwjb-qgHv16s6CRGRxaK3H69eWMsSybPKF1nVoT_pZ6x-U1XmKSrpDqlTNWiNziLta78Z3lu/s320/DSCN0368.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There was a stream of water to be crossed ahead and our van
was the first one to go. I sat down finally because I knew this was going to be
a rough ride. After crossing the water the embankment on the other side was
straight up! We cheered when we made it to the other side because we honestly
didn’t think it was possible. The next van wasn’t so lucky, I just remember
seeing a split second of their front bumper and then back down the embankment
they slid. They were stuck. Our van pulled them out successfully within a
matter of minutes. These Kenyan’s are impressive! Then rolling up behind us was
a huge truck, I don’t even know what it was carrying or why it was out there,
it was very out of place. The driver smiled and waved at us before going
straight down into the embankment! There was a huge crashing noise and yes,
they too were stuck in the mud. Were we at some kind of circus? Again, the
Kenyan’s were efficient, they pulled that huge truck out with just a little
Toyota van and we were on our way. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuUqhRcXP8ccWh5SF8yUYzXqn4Jp2eAdM3q9CdNh9H292XQ9JrsDNMYmiNB27-6XLiu0jYAbdNRSYIk5AP0rDbsvRBcaWsU2C411CfwY494uAXjSbspTmYFQxmBZhMTLO58IYKILzuuE2/s1600/IMG_1557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuUqhRcXP8ccWh5SF8yUYzXqn4Jp2eAdM3q9CdNh9H292XQ9JrsDNMYmiNB27-6XLiu0jYAbdNRSYIk5AP0rDbsvRBcaWsU2C411CfwY494uAXjSbspTmYFQxmBZhMTLO58IYKILzuuE2/s320/IMG_1557.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">haha!</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3lQSGuXDYvFL7jaZvRy7opSN2EXHyS2j_ezahwVXrxMUuKnPewjkoCQvFtsQZcBlXvOj7xpjXqQZeYwnqLIsmVRr597t8Q8Jd7_NNcvB3y1By4KakpbMWbPOSw7VL9BIlh5ZTV-GKiIHZ/s1600/IMG_1559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3lQSGuXDYvFL7jaZvRy7opSN2EXHyS2j_ezahwVXrxMUuKnPewjkoCQvFtsQZcBlXvOj7xpjXqQZeYwnqLIsmVRr597t8Q8Jd7_NNcvB3y1By4KakpbMWbPOSw7VL9BIlh5ZTV-GKiIHZ/s320/IMG_1559.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Then truck number 2 came</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The rest of the day was filled with more animals; we saw all
of the “Big 5” besides a leopard. I would say we had a great experience
overall! The Mara River was amazing; there were hippos and crocodiles all over.
This river separates Kenya from Tanzania to give you a little perspective of
how far we have traveled on this trip. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigImZ1ZLDe6T65bFnVA_pmMcLKhZ8r0xTbsR1ryT_WVp4FsBnW6UBbMSosnF27YG4XnW_YJQ1-wC60oZ0qRvWEarswSXx3zkm_4kt-VeYUCLvS6oZ6D4md2i0tS_767cBpsS3YP5_DTwtg/s1600/IMG_1563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigImZ1ZLDe6T65bFnVA_pmMcLKhZ8r0xTbsR1ryT_WVp4FsBnW6UBbMSosnF27YG4XnW_YJQ1-wC60oZ0qRvWEarswSXx3zkm_4kt-VeYUCLvS6oZ6D4md2i0tS_767cBpsS3YP5_DTwtg/s320/IMG_1563.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hello hippos, and hello Tanzania!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When we finally made it back to the camp I was shocked at
how dirty my face was! I cleaned it off when we got stuck before noon and now
it looked like I had a spray tan gone wrong! I did stand up in the van with the
top down for 8 out of the 9 hours we were on the reserve so I guess I deserved
it. After 2 showers, I still was not completely clean!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCDTo7SlQDeWpo4C8jc85kdiJsdLBMvT7sd5n1V_fYaDWpQkQfi88O7Yf19sU0A0g3nF_-k15Hgtz8pe-uDu_6FDw-6FRtcbVnxwRHsVED3n2CeHzAsOmVO8ncGl-ZSqVHCxcqoiczyuN/s1600/IMG_1574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCDTo7SlQDeWpo4C8jc85kdiJsdLBMvT7sd5n1V_fYaDWpQkQfi88O7Yf19sU0A0g3nF_-k15Hgtz8pe-uDu_6FDw-6FRtcbVnxwRHsVED3n2CeHzAsOmVO8ncGl-ZSqVHCxcqoiczyuN/s320/IMG_1574.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
To end the night we went to a Massai village, which was awesome! The people were so welcoming and gave us a great look into their culture. They keep all their livestock in the center circle of their village to keep the lions from attacking. If one does enter, it is killed. The baby animals are actually kept inside the tiny little huts the people live in made of sticks and cow dung! Along with the animals there is usually another 6 people living in there. I can't believe they crammed that many people into a house that is the size of my living room. The people sang for us and invited us into their homes. It was a great experience and amazing to see that people still live like this.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The village</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Part of the singing</span></div>
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<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">It was so dark in there! But this is the hut</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Again, we went to bed early that night. The next morning we
had to be in the van at 6:10 am! It was time to finally see an African sunrise!
Of course, the pictures don’t do it justice, it was way more beautiful than
words can describe or pictures can portray. We spent about 2 and a half hours
on the reserve before returning to Nairobi. Before we left we got to see a
lioness eating a wildebeest! We were so close to her it was crazy! I loved the
safari, it’s definitely another adventure I can check off my bucket list!</span><br />
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">About two hours into our journey back to Nairobi, Solomon
began a speech, “The rhino grass from yesterday.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just stared at him confused. “You know,
when we drove through the grass to see the Rhino.” Ohhhh, yeah. He went on,
“The park rangers saw us do that and want to fine us. They have our license
plate, but we convinced them it wasn’t us. If the stop us up ahead, tell them
we were only here for a day. We drove in from Nairobi yesterday and we are
leaving today.” The 5 of us just nodded in agreement, trying to digest the fact
that we were on the run! A few miles down the road we stopped at a checkpoint
and everyone was speaking in Swahili so I couldn’t understand. Felix, one of
the other van drivers in our group came up and said something to Solomon then
ran back to his van and sped away! We were right behind him. The other van got
questioned, so some of the girls had to play along with the story and say we
had only been here a day. This whole time I’m thinking great—we are going to
get imprisoned in a foreign country for lying to park rangers! Ironic? <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It all seemed to turn out fine; we made it back to Nairobi
later that night and ate at a restaurant called Carnivore. It was expensive,
but very good! Probably the best food we have had the whole trip! They serve you
as much meat as you can eat. I tried crocodile (disgusting!), ostrich (really
good!) and an ox testicle (disgusting!). Everything else was pretty normal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The whole safari experience was so amazing! I am extremely
glad we decided to add this into our time here in Kenya. On the bus ride home
we saw Mt. Kilimanjaro and it made me want to climb it even more! I’d love to
come back and do that, see Serengeti, and do more medical work someday. My time
in Africa ends in a few short days, but I know it won’t be forever. If I could
stay longer I would, it feels like I have so much more work to fulfill here. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-40993076881641039502012-08-15T13:16:00.002-07:002012-08-15T13:16:50.096-07:00Day 8: Reddy Junior School<br />
Day 8: Reddy Junior School 8/15<br />
<br />
<br />
Orphanage day! The morning was spent at the market, buying food for the
safari just in case it’s not “real” food. At around 1:30 pm we finally made the
10 minute trek to the orphanage. Once we passed through the short cut (aka the
dump), we were on the main dirt road leading to our destination. As soon as we
popped out onto this road a group of small children came running up to us! Each
of them found one of our hands and didn’t let go until we arrived at the
orphanage. It was the cutest thing ever, they are so sweet! <br />
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<br />
Once we entered the mud and stick structure of Reddy Junior School we met
the coordinator and he invited us to sit. Despite the conditions these people
endure every day, they are the happiest human beings I have ever had the privilege
of meeting. We learned that Reddy is a community school in Nyali that is also
home to many orphans who rely on the support of this safety net. Joel has done
an amazing job fundraising money for them and construction of new walls and a
well providing clean water will begin as early as next week! We will all be
returning to help make this possible. Clean water is hard to come by in Kenya,
especially if you live in a community like this. The biggest obstacle is not
being able to pay the water bill each month; it is building the well itself.
Thankfully, this long awaited necessity is going to be available to these
children soon. From there it costs about 1,000 Kenya shillings per month to
keep the water accessible. That is about 10 American dollars per month. The
coordinators and the children are very excited to not have to worry about
getting sick from the water anymore. <br />
<br />
<br />
Once the four of us piled into the small classroom and sat down, we
instantly were mauled by tiny fingers and bright white smiles. It was so much
fun. One little girl sat on my lap the entire time the older children sang and
danced for us. She grabbed both of my hands and wrapped them around her stomach
tightly and despite the heat, sat there the whole time. I just wanted to take
her home with me! Another little boy sitting next to me instantly had an eye on
my watch. He was pushing all the buttons so the time on it was totally misconstrued.
I gave in and just took it off for him to play with. Well of course there were
about 30 kids and 1 watch, so they all argued about who got to wear it <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
One of the older children even presented us with a couple rap songs in English!
One was about AIDS; the other was about his lifestyle in Kenya. The lyrics were
really honest coming from an 11 year old boy. One line went something like, “My
shelter is 10x10, other’s have homes with 2 stories and 10 rooms, but don’t
worry about me-- I’m fine.”<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The infamous watch </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Trisha, Megan, Me, and Keisha with some of the kids</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The girl in the white dress was at a conference in Mombasa today advocating for children's rights</span></div>
<br />
These people don’t want our pity, they want to sing and dance, enjoy life,
and be happy—always. A message a lot of people in this world don’t understand.
These little fingers and bright smiles have changed my life already. Materialistically,
they have nothing; but spiritually they have everything. They are amazing and I
just can’t get enough of them! Yes, it makes me melt when all they want you to
do is hold them, but I will leave here knowing they aren’t sad. They are happy,
welcoming people who will openly show you their lives with no shame. Days like
these are worth remembering. Materialistically we have changed their lives, but
spiritually they have changed mine. There is no greater gift than that. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-16772879017587168002012-08-15T12:30:00.000-07:002012-08-15T12:30:16.530-07:00Tuesday Day 7 of the Hospital
<br />
Day 7 of the hospital! 8/14<br />
<br />
<br />
It feels like I never left the hospital last night! Today began once again
in minor theatre. It seems to be the best place to get hands on experience so
if it is busy, that's where you'll find me! The first patient of the morning
came in with a very large, very infected abscess on his back. Upon doing a
sensation test, it was determined he had minimal feeling in roughly a 4x4 inch
area of his back. The abscess needed to be drained so I had the honor of
injecting the Lidocaine into the region to make absolute sure he wouldn't feel
anything. Trisha immediately volunteered to do the honors of draining the pus,
which was fine with me! The procedure didn't take very long, with so much
infection and hardened pus; we got out as much as possible and dressed the
wound. Unfortunately, the patient had already left before found a doctor to prescribe
him some antibiotics! Since we are the primary occupants of minor theatre it’s
sometimes hard to find a doctor to come over and prescribe medications or
assess patients we don’t have the ability to. <br />
<br />
<br />
Today was full of abscesses and breasts for some reason. It seemed like
every patient had a need pertaining to those two categories. I was about to
assist someone in draining another abscess when Mya (the sweetest nurse I found
here), came barging in and asked if I knew how to remove stitches. Thankfully,
Mia taught me that Friday so I was able to take on the challenge. A med student
came with me to assist so I was 100% comfortable with doing it on my own. The
patient, a middle aged male, had undergone some type of hernia repair surgery in
his abdomen and was ready for his stitches to be removed. He plopped down on
the table and lifted his shirt and I saw the weirdest “stitches” of my life! I’m
not sure if this was just an Africa procedure, or if people actually do this in
the States. All I knew was I had never seen anything like it. He had an obvious
incision about 8 inches in length on his abdomen and there were only 2
stitches! I really wish I had a picture to attest to this mystery. After prepping,
I used a blade to cut the thread. I looked at the med student for assistance on
this one and he walked over to take a better look. He then began pulling,
forcefully, on one of them as it crept out from inside his healed incision. The
patient winced at this and I still wonder how sterile it really was to have
such a stitch, especially with the high infection rate of Africa! The tissue
had already healed around the thread inside of his abdomen, so pulling it out
had to hurt! <br />
<br />
<br />
We have a reoccurring issue with a matron in minor named Rose. She never
likes the way we perform sterile procedure, yet refuses to do it herself. I
assure you we don’t compromise the patients risk for infection any more than
the rest of the hospital—Rose just has a bad attitude. Today, she held up a
poster of garbage bins and the matching bodily fluid that is supposed to be
disposed in it. As she stood in the corner holding it, Joel looked up from a
wound dressing and in his already hilarious British accent said, “What would
you like me to do about that Rose?” She mumbled something about how he was
using the wrong bin, and how unsterile that was so he commented back, “Yeah, I
don’t think that’s the biggest issue this hospital has.” With her unfriendly
demeanor and lack of smile she rolled her eyes and left. Mya thinks we are
wonderful and help so much but Rose—she has some issues. I can’t blame her for
being unhappy with the working conditions she is in everyday, but hostility isn’t
the answer to these problems. <br />
<br />
<br />
To end the shift we had an extremely helpful doctor come in and explain the
procedure he was about to perform on a breast. The woman had a small benign
lipoma in her breast that was simply going to be removed. As we felt for it the
doctor kept repeating, “It’s like a rock within a pillow, do you feel it!? Do
you feel it!?” We felt it and as funny and weird as the analogy was he was
actually right! The rest of the day was spent reading and going to Café Mocha
of course. Tomorrow is the orphanage; I’m excited to go see the kids again! <br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The incision on the breast for removal of the lipoma.</span></div>
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<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">And it's out!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-46190999014992842992012-08-14T07:46:00.000-07:002012-08-14T07:46:08.817-07:00Day 6: There's no more gauze until tomorrow...
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Day 6 at the hospital: 8/13</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: red;">Graphic Images in this post!</span></div>
<br />
The weekend was a great escape from the hospital. Saturday a group of us
went to Old Town Mombasa, which is literally just the older part of the city.
It was pretty cool though! There were some nice shops and it’s always fun to
negotiate prices. The streets were really disgusting and there were a lot of
people so I don't think it will exactly be our new hangout spot, but it was
worth seeing once.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Sunday was a beach day :) There is a volleyball net outside the AquaBar so
we spent quite a bit of time there. I still haven't ridden a camel on the beach
though! It's a must before I leave.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I began my day at the hospital in minor theatre. It started out surprisingly
smooth with catheter changes, wound redressings, and observing sutures. I
helped change a dressing on a man who was in a bus accident. He ended up being
the highlight of my day with his uplifting attitude and appreciative smile.
Everything he had to say was positive. Through his thick Kenyan accent he told
me, "if only people understood the good in one other. If someone is kind
to you, be kind back." He thanked us a thousand times over and commented
on how kind we were to him; he said it is rare to see such happy people in this
place. Nothing could ruin my day after spending that short amount of time with
him.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The number of patients escalated to a maximum around 10:30 am. The matrons
bring in drums of sterile gauze that minor theatre has to share between two
procedure rooms. It was mid dressing change that we realized there was no more
gauze in the drum. We finished up with what we had and asked to matron to go
get more. She said she had already checked and there was no way we were getting
more gauze until tomorrow, the whole hospital was out. I felt like this story was
similar to the one she told us yesterday about the Lidocaine. A few of us
decided to go check with major theatre (major surgeries). They denied us saying
they were running low as well. With that said, there was really nothing for us
to do. Without gauze, minor theatre had to be shut down. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Both Megan’s and I decided to go up to major for an orthopedic surgery to
conclude the day. It was fascinating! No one explained to us what they were
actually doing, but from the x-ray in the corner and watching the surgeon I
could interpret pieces of it. It was especially disturbing to learn that the
patient wasn’t fully under anesthesia—only an epidural to shield the pain. He
may not have been in physical pain, but having to listen to the scraping of his
bone and the ear-piercing shrill from the saw would be mentally disturbing. His
right knee was being reconstructed so the doctor began by inserting two pins
through the patella and then reinforcing it with wire. I need to do a little
more research on the surgery to fully digest what I witnessed. <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfrhWiM7EgD0X1q9YLBogWmq9psTE26v-TZYL_euSYifBzsaP2ha3Ea5L2-D11DLr_jUGL23mxi72jB8N89PnKfYhUgIWXBzOw6SewsqNdLXs3MPh9wCmhwdE-Qzm0zi6M_FhrJSKeg_ua/s1600/IMG_1366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfrhWiM7EgD0X1q9YLBogWmq9psTE26v-TZYL_euSYifBzsaP2ha3Ea5L2-D11DLr_jUGL23mxi72jB8N89PnKfYhUgIWXBzOw6SewsqNdLXs3MPh9wCmhwdE-Qzm0zi6M_FhrJSKeg_ua/s320/IMG_1366.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">X-Ray, notice the patella in the one on the right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Drilling</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The drill with the pin attached</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
I found myself back at the hospital at 10 pm, hungry for more. Casualty was
full as usual. Joel, Chelsea, and I peaked around a curtain to find a tiny
little African woman squinting up at us from her gurney. She came in with a
complaint of complications due to an “incomplete abortion.” She was also having
a horrible headache, which explains the squinting. Upon further information we
learned that her husband had sex with another woman (not uncommon among Muslims
here) so she refused to have sex with him, leading to him forcing her to have
sex with him. A disgusting mess that I have unfortunately seen more than once
here already. After performing a vaginal exam and hunting the hospital for a
piece of chewing gum for her, we took her up to ward 9. There, she was able to
get some sleep and be seen by a gynecologist in the morning. She was so sweet
and I was happy to see her comfortably settle into bed after having to wait so
long down in casualty.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The night ended on a frustrating note around 12:30 am. Two men came into
casualty with stab wounds. One was taken to emergency surgery after about an
hour, the other was sent to minor surgery for sutures on his finger.
Miraculously, there was sterile gauze in minor allowing Joel to perform the
stitching. He got the first stitch in perfectly, but the second proved to be
more of a challenge. As he was concentrating on this, the nurse came in and
started freaking out because he hadn’t paid his bill yet. At Coast General,
patients pay for the procedures before they actually receive them. With her
discomfort and distraction, we had to just dress the wound and send him back to
casualty. It was agreed that the complexity of the wound needed to be assessed
by a doctor, but it was extremely disheartening to send him away after he
trusted us to begin the procedure. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Patience. That is probably the most important trait to have at this hospital—besides
a steel stomach. No matter how much I want to help speed up the process of
treating people in desperate need, if there are no supplies or no one willing
to help-- there is nothing I can do. As a whole, we fight for these patients
every single day, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel like enough. <br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-28905697194787056302012-08-10T08:30:00.002-07:002012-08-10T12:45:58.372-07:00Day 5: Made it through week 1!<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s Friday: Day 5! 8/10</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a hot sticky morning here in Kenya. I left for the
hospital around 8 with only 5 other people! I think that’s the smallest group
we’ve had yet, but almost everyone went in last night so they were sleeping in.
Jenna and I went straight to casualty hoping that Omar would be in today, but
we didn’t see him. What we did see though was a woman lying on the floor on a
tarp just moaning in pain. I asked a nurse what was wrong with her and she said
she had fallen off of her bed last night. She sounded absolutely awful and
later we learned she had been raped and brought in last night, but was too combative
with the staff so she was just being left alone. I also noticed a familiar face
from last night; a woman diagnosed with psychiatric issues was still lying on a
gurney. Yesterday she had been yelling “Yesu!” which means Jesus in Swahili.
She seemed a lot more calm today, but was still waiting for care. I would have
stayed in casualty except there was a long line of people waiting outside of
the minor theatre waiting for wound dressings, catheter changes, sutures, etc. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There was no staff in Minor Theatre at 9 am so Mia, Alex,
Jenna, Ben, Ali, and I decided to just begin seeing the patients we knew how to
treat. We thought more nurses and doctors would show up as the day went on and
they did, but we still ran the show in there. They spent quite a bit of time inserting
a supra-pubic catheter into a man. He was completely coherent and wincing in
pain as they preformed a procedure probably meant for an actual operating room.
I asked if they had given him anything for the pain and they had, but it was just
locally injected Lidocaine. The procedure was almost unbearable to watch!
Meanwhile another patient had been brought in with a wound redressing need. He
had an open wound on his chest where the stitches did not heal his skin properly;
it had also become pretty infected. When Ali tried giving him Lidocaine to numb
the area for cleaning he just cried out in pain. All I could do was hold his
hand and tell him to let me know when he needed a break. It was patient after
patient the entire time. We told Bernard, our driver, to be back at 1pm but
there was no way we were leaving that line of people outside. Mia taught me how
to take out stitches so that was fun! It was her last day at the hospital since
she leaves Sunday. I’m really going to miss her! Even though I only got to
spend a week with her, she taught me a lot! </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At around 12:30 Jenna, Mia, and I finally got away to get
some lunch. As soon as we got back in minor though, the chaos began again. I
saw Mia leading a man back to a room, he looked like he came straight from some
type of factory by the way he was dressed. He was also holding a reddish filthy
cloth over his right hand. When he plopped down on the green exam table he immediately
revealed the severed index finger he had carefully been concealing. It was
literally holding on by just a thin piece of flesh! Obviously, we couldn’t do
much for him with our skill level, but Mia and I gave him a sterile piece of
gauze and applied pressure using the middle finger as a splint. It then became
a waiting game until the doctor could evaluate him—he was most likely going to
lose that portion of his finger at the middle phalynx. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Each wound redressing was a little bit different—you never
know what’s behind that bandage until you remove it! I was really excited to
learn how to remove stitches and basically improve my patient care techniques. I
appreciate each and every opportunity and patient I get to see. Medicine here
is definitely different from home, but bedside manner and compassion are always
the same. Even though it’s frustrating and heart wrenching at times—I have
fallen in love with a culture that is vastly different from my own. It’s hard
to choose which patient needs help the most because they all do. Realistically,
I have to realize I can’t save everyone. I think the deaths I have witnessed
here have made me come to terms with that. I am really looking forward to this
weekend to relax and spend some time at the beach! A few people were talking
about a night shift Saturday night so I may end up back at the hospital, but a
little R&R seems like a great idea for now. Love and miss you all! I’ve
made it through my first week at Coast Province General Hospital!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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------------------------------------<span style="color: red;">WARNING! Graphic Images Below</span>------------------------------------------</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Unwrapping a dressing and a chunk of his finger came off</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some sort of growth</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The man with the severed finger</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-75521685760340900682012-08-09T12:07:00.000-07:002012-08-09T12:07:12.135-07:00Day 4Thursday 8/9<br />
<br />
Today I went to the hospital from 8:30am-1pm. It was a day full of just little exciting things, but I learned a lot. Jenna and I began our day by going to Minor Theatre except there were already quite a few students and not that much going on. She hadn't been to Maternity yet, so we decided to walk over there. As soon as we walked in we heard the first cry of a newborn baby so we were a little dissapointed we were too late! I began walking past all the rooms to see if any other women were in labor, sure enough there was one! We were just in time, she had just began crowning-- perfect timing! There were two intern doctors in the room assisting the extremely petite woman give birth to her first child. As hard as she was pushing the baby was just not moving. This provoked the interns to take the sissors and cut <span style="font-family: inherit;">the perineum. Something about cuts anywhere near the vaginal area just make me so uncomfortable because I can only imagine how much that would hurt. It also makes it 10 times worse knowing these women aren't on any type of medication to ease the pain. Quickly enough a new baby girl was born. It helped make up for the death we had to deal with in casualty last night. The interns looked at us and repeated something at least 3 times before Jenna or I understood them. They wanted us to bring them oxytocin-- a natural hormone released in excess after childbirth. We started running around the ward trying to find it. It was the strangest little bottle of love potion. It was a tiny glass vile that the nurse had to break open on the sink. We extracted it with a syringe and the interns instructed Jenna to inject it into her thigh. All said and done it was a good first experience witnessing a natural birth. </span><br />
<br />
Back down in casualty, Alison, Jenna, and I met Omar-- a medical student from Russia who was born in Somalia but comes back to Kenya every summer and works at Coast Province without pay.Oh and he speaks 5 languages. The action level was at a low, but that was ok it gave us a chance to talk to Omar he taught us so much! He invited us to observe him as he made patient rounds. His attitude and whole presentation stood above all the other staff I have seen at the hospital so far. He was patient, caring, knowledgeable, and relatable-- that hospital is very lucky to have him and could use more like him. An actual doctor came into casualty around 10:30 and immedialty came up to us and started asking us all these complicated questions as we watched Omar examine a patient. He was like "don't think, just say it! You know this stuff." Needless to say we looked at him completely clueless so Omar turned around and told him we were pre-med not med students. He ended up being a very nice doctor! I guess it's just the luck of the draw in there, but today we had two intelligent professionals to teach us! The first patient had hypertension-- her blood pressure according to the sketchy monitor was 189/89. I've never seen that high of a pressure on a person... until we saw the next patient. He had coagulation issues so his nose was bleeding profusely. Omar and the doctor suspected his hypertension to be acting up, sure enough his blood pressure was 220/110! Hypertension is a huge issue in Kenya and since the medication is so expensive a lot of people don't take it. It sounds like an issue commonly found in the US as well, except a good portion of the population here makes less than a dollar a day and health insurance is almost unheard of. The next patient was completely confused and was diagnosed with cerebral malaria. His spleen was enlarged so that was cool to feel. It was great being able to talk about the different ways medicine is practiced in our two very different cultures. I hope I get a chance to observe and assist Omar again before I leave!<br />
<br />
Minor Theatre was slightly busy today. I learned how to change a supra-pubic cathetar, change a dressing African style (they clean everything with iodine here!), and got to run around the hospital hunting down Lidocaine. A patient with a severe steam burn on his right hand traveled 1,000 km to get his wound cleaned and bangaged-- and this is the fourth time he has made this trip since the accident happened! Chris was just about to debris the wound when we realiezed there was no more Lidocaine in the room. Joel asked the nurses and they said there was no more of the drug in the hospital. I called the bs flag because I noticed some sitting in the Maternity Ward a few hours earlier. Joel went to get some more from the chemist (pharmasist) but they said it would be an hour. Then he and I walked over to Maternity and bribed the Matron (charge nurse) into giving us a bottle. I was happy to see the patient get treated. It's so crazy he had to travel that far just to get some decent medical care. <br />
<br />
It may not have been the adrenaline pumping, tragic chaos of the past few days, but I have learned to appreciate days like this. Taking the time to rejuvenate, but not letting the terrors of the night before scare me away from a place intended for healing-- even if it doesn't always seem that way. <br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-28396782155166769842012-08-09T07:17:00.000-07:002012-08-09T13:00:33.205-07:00Day 3-- still going strong.<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Day 3: 8/8</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Today we visited an orphanage about 5 minutes from our
compound. It was a great way to relieve some of the stress from the hospital
because even though these kids have nothing, they smile like they have
everything. A student in our program has a medical relief organization that provided
a free clinic for the orphanage today. There are over 300 kids here, but we
were only able to see 200 due to time and money restrictions. I am so glad I
had the opportunity to take part in it. They people were so welcoming and
appreciative of our support. The kids are more adorable than you could ever
imagine. I sat down on a bench beside a few of them and they immediately
started jumping all over me. Hugging me, touching my hair, wanting to sit on my
lap—it was so much fun. They all had little booklets that we wrote in, for the
littlest kids we took their temperature and weight before they went and saw
some of the doctors. Every one of them had a smile on their face and no matter what
language you speak or culture you come from, happiness speaks without words. I
can’t wait to go back and see the kids again! The woman in charge, Jane, said
we can come play with them whenever we want. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Trisha, Jeff, and I wanted some more time in the hospital
since we hadn’t been there all day, so we went at 9pm. We were a little
hesitant since Joel and Mia weren’t coming because they have been such a huge
help with guiding us through what happens here. Despite this, we thought we
would give it a go anyways. Once we arrived we walked right back into casualty
even though it had been a nightmare the night before. I don’t feel like there
are enough words I can write or pictures I can take to really give anyone a
full insight on what it is actually like here. I’m doing my best, but reading
through everything I just wrote doesn’t seem to give the actual experience
justice. Casualty seemed to look a lot like last night. Patients in pain, being
ignored, bleeding all over the floor, and everything moving in slow motion. We
asked a doctor if he needed help with anything and he said, “Yes, come follow
me.” He took us to a corner with a lady laying on a gurney in shock. He wanted
us to start and IV and draw blood, but none of us had ever done that before. We
decided to at least prep for it. He brought us the supplies and we tied a glove,
yes a rubber glove to use as a tourniquet. He also brought us a wet cotton ball
and when we asked if that was alcohol on it he replied, “No we do not have such
things here, this is just water but it will work.” The woman was ice cold and
her veins were nowhere to be found. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
IV was finally in, but no obvious improvement was noticed at first. About a
half hour later the man she was with came running up to us complaining that
there was something wrong! We rushed over and she was lying stiff with her eyes
wide open. Trisha lifted her shirt to listen for a heartbeat, but there was a
huge open wound. I felt for a pulse, but there was nothing. We knew she was
gone, but we had to find a nurse to confirm it and to tell the man she was with—his
English wasn’t very good. After seeing this, we had enough for the night and
took a tuktuk home. It took me awhile to fall asleep that night, but I know the
exposure to this horrible element is going to make me stronger and a better
healthcare professional someday. It’s not always fun, but it is rewarding when
we do get to help someone. Hospital again tomorrow morning, I’ll hope for the
best!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqNU48zaL_xcchDvZqvVqJ1rfWpeWdCWMiXU26ApcZ8FJTmocFQPL70WvzHsDqiTYUZA3BQNvJzP2nJrNXFusNaYxtB4pIfAO2XeEM1xvkmlCHSUaFtr6YVFIMgxtjWvev43zBlREl3zg/s1600/IMG_1294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqNU48zaL_xcchDvZqvVqJ1rfWpeWdCWMiXU26ApcZ8FJTmocFQPL70WvzHsDqiTYUZA3BQNvJzP2nJrNXFusNaYxtB4pIfAO2XeEM1xvkmlCHSUaFtr6YVFIMgxtjWvev43zBlREl3zg/s320/IMG_1294.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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Lined up to see the doctor!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpjhDWlE7L3zWWy2W5JUsovXMa05D8_KKVllcFptueOEcT_Q5HTmYeV-OTGgHsi49ynfIdJnfrE5IgaResvpkSGz6v6tEi4cJNPyjGvH3QCCRMQY6uTdy1zxmK7N0fvDwjU4HGkyMR7SUg/s1600/IMG_1296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpjhDWlE7L3zWWy2W5JUsovXMa05D8_KKVllcFptueOEcT_Q5HTmYeV-OTGgHsi49ynfIdJnfrE5IgaResvpkSGz6v6tEi4cJNPyjGvH3QCCRMQY6uTdy1zxmK7N0fvDwjU4HGkyMR7SUg/s320/IMG_1296.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Taking temperatures.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlxexCXDbx4bbqO6alTSxE2pfKNIVQVn1FSgjKqxw479LM7It054s4n_P461Vdh4dbmRmMGSeh9eeJAU9WDzZb6SSYJq4R97o4C22-M3MfwZQfHHd6AD9OlF0PQVsy8VLJi_Q33v8iwMH/s1600/IMG_1302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlxexCXDbx4bbqO6alTSxE2pfKNIVQVn1FSgjKqxw479LM7It054s4n_P461Vdh4dbmRmMGSeh9eeJAU9WDzZb6SSYJq4R97o4C22-M3MfwZQfHHd6AD9OlF0PQVsy8VLJi_Q33v8iwMH/s320/IMG_1302.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Playing after they've been seen</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqM16raxwsgHPXAYferAYU67knQEfq1jWMN3H9iPdVxTPVP0H0dbxg-11ge02dRfEJDyqPFZUECyuDtnqg9BAP9qPKIAu-p4vGvRWpWoA7d3n40aN0wQb-r_1l61D-MMJ3LrF4oF7EYWB/s1600/IMG_1312.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqM16raxwsgHPXAYferAYU67knQEfq1jWMN3H9iPdVxTPVP0H0dbxg-11ge02dRfEJDyqPFZUECyuDtnqg9BAP9qPKIAu-p4vGvRWpWoA7d3n40aN0wQb-r_1l61D-MMJ3LrF4oF7EYWB/s320/IMG_1312.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Cuties :)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozhyJFYZ2OozfB97BiQtmmqkqF5go1VADod-DElO2FVMeYWkPkd2sp7-6DoaYph9b08VG1C-Hh0IzyJy9FMHQ2zGgIljPc9g4wwDMZEcFNURGpJc2PgtLupnbTO3pHpMfx-8K3I9nenPk/s1600/IMG_1325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozhyJFYZ2OozfB97BiQtmmqkqF5go1VADod-DElO2FVMeYWkPkd2sp7-6DoaYph9b08VG1C-Hh0IzyJy9FMHQ2zGgIljPc9g4wwDMZEcFNURGpJc2PgtLupnbTO3pHpMfx-8K3I9nenPk/s320/IMG_1325.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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They love to show off!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir21fmR4GAHSqb6UHJ2Qrijdn9OC-lJ6Bz53OPi8mNF3wu5JFDOZIy4XcM7syupYMswu8QUxJ4ULnPQxABbx1ZpTzRCq8QXxlMkbNMtxjfZt01t9UJTaixx5SSZWQYtAoiLM6P7MswWNMN/s1600/IMG_1333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir21fmR4GAHSqb6UHJ2Qrijdn9OC-lJ6Bz53OPi8mNF3wu5JFDOZIy4XcM7syupYMswu8QUxJ4ULnPQxABbx1ZpTzRCq8QXxlMkbNMtxjfZt01t9UJTaixx5SSZWQYtAoiLM6P7MswWNMN/s320/IMG_1333.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Nap time for the little ones.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">
</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-19437884546314768912012-08-09T07:15:00.003-07:002012-08-09T10:58:04.571-07:00Day 2<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Day 2: Tuesday 8/7</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15FaPD-mUvsEMQY7Mm1zI1hkPUkEXk4-8THjUx8Oz53G04ZT6rOhVk-JAlh5zDn3spMf5djlPn0q7sjCDRt2aJf6okBCHYRjmMlJAYIuYNigah9x699SVnEVILJgGAyFTapolo2g7QdY0/s1600/IMG_1285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15FaPD-mUvsEMQY7Mm1zI1hkPUkEXk4-8THjUx8Oz53G04ZT6rOhVk-JAlh5zDn3spMf5djlPn0q7sjCDRt2aJf6okBCHYRjmMlJAYIuYNigah9x699SVnEVILJgGAyFTapolo2g7QdY0/s320/IMG_1285.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Minor Theatre procedure room.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC27vD1zcIOsjLJe8eyZxHTynMvmaLT6KBVbHOSYvqyYmMj13D02sFD_V1lXMmGmRjcIGYAQpelO8YfCLB9-Ayf5oGr6VFaj_PYcq3quZC3ZNINLi9L2zWpUxf-VuUw1wzKXO5jJrbW2vG/s1600/IMG_1286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC27vD1zcIOsjLJe8eyZxHTynMvmaLT6KBVbHOSYvqyYmMj13D02sFD_V1lXMmGmRjcIGYAQpelO8YfCLB9-Ayf5oGr6VFaj_PYcq3quZC3ZNINLi9L2zWpUxf-VuUw1wzKXO5jJrbW2vG/s320/IMG_1286.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDepUj8X3gw-328txy6_fKpEORf7utWzBqRBjnwxfQTag3hFXVboER4s9_jOysZ7YUX2ba-zyOXJPnqNDaGGjgvIc7JPY4xxiYS3zjDtb6UxaC1L4lzrWLSazWZwq4ua_lHfW0x7w0Oc1o/s1600/IMG_1287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDepUj8X3gw-328txy6_fKpEORf7utWzBqRBjnwxfQTag3hFXVboER4s9_jOysZ7YUX2ba-zyOXJPnqNDaGGjgvIc7JPY4xxiYS3zjDtb6UxaC1L4lzrWLSazWZwq4ua_lHfW0x7w0Oc1o/s320/IMG_1287.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">People sleeping outside the casualty ward waiting for care.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It has only gotten crazier since yesterday. We left the
compound at 8am and didn’t get to the hospital until about 9:30 because of an
accident that turned us around. Once we arrived, Megan, Keisha, Trisha, Megan,
and I all went to Maternity. Both Megan’s went up to the Millennium Wing to
observe c-sections, while the rest of us hung out in labor and delivery. There
seemed to be more patients than yesterday so it looked pretty promising. One
woman was believed to have post-partum hemorrhaging because she had given birth
to still born twins. While doing the examination they found an abnormal vaginal
tear that they cleaned out with a pink bottle of just soap and water. It was
probably one of the most painful looking tears I’ve ever seen. Two other women
were dilated 8 cm and we were trying to guess which one would deliver first.
The one woman ended up going into prolonged labor and was taken to minor
theater for a c-section. The other had a very large baby so her labor was not
progressing very much. We ended up leaving at 1 because we were tired of
waiting around. I was so hungry; the food here is kind of odd at the compound.
Every night it’s this meat stew stuff that you put on potatoes, a tortilla, or
rice. It just depends on the night. Otherwise, we have to pack a sandwich for
lunch but there isn’t a refrigerator to keep a cold meat sandwich in at the
hospital so I just bring a Luna bar. Breakfast is either eggs or cereal with
milk from a funny packet. After the hospital today we went to Café Mocha, my
favorite place! Free wifi and the best cinnamon drycinno you could possibly
want. After there we came back to the compound and took a nap for a couple
hours because a few people planned on doing a night shift at the hospital. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">9pm eight of us left for the hospital. Only minor theater
for sutures and casualty (emergency room) are open at that time. Right away we
were thrown into chaos. Alexa and I felt in the way as everyone else sutured a
patient so we thought we would see if there was anything in casualty. We walked
around the small room and saw a curtain shielding a woman who by the looks of
the floor was bleeding quite a bit. When we opened the curtain we could tell
she was hemorrhaging and had severe abdominal pain. I asked the family what
happened and they said she had given birth to a 3 month old child not too long
ago, and they thought the placenta was still inside. We felt the need to take
action, even though there were probably 20 other people waiting to be seen.
Alexa and I went and found Joel, a medical student in our program, and asked
him to come look at her. He talked to her and examined her a little bit, but
with hardly any equipment or supplies there is really nothing any of us can do.
We wanted her to be moved to Ward 9 where it is quieter and she can be prepped
for surgery, but the casualty nurse said there were no beds available. So we
decided to go look for ourselves and there were plenty of beds. After about an
hour of running around, being pushy with the staff, and ultimately just trying
to get this poor woman some help—we found a surgeon. He was unavailable at the
time, but successfully we got her moved upstairs to 9 and the next morning she
had the surgery and was discharged. It sounds so basic, but in this hospital
it’s close to a miracle. What I took away from this situation was to persevere.
We knew what had to be done and with perseverance it was accomplished. It took
harassing staff, making our own calls, and fighting for a woman who desperately
needed care, but we made it happen because it was the right thing to do. Joel
was fantastic; I learned a lot from him tonight. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Back in casualty, things were heating up again. A 3 month
old baby girl came in with labored breathing with apparent signs of pneumonia.
An elderly woman came in with similar symptoms so I immediately tried to find
her a non-rebreather mask for oxygen. Nothing is easy to come by in the
hospital so I had to have the nurse find one and hook it up for me. It wasn’t
working so Mia and I picked the woman up and carried her to another bed. After
things calmed down for a few minutes we stepped out to re-gather our thoughts
for a minute. As we did that we noticed they were carrying out a 4 year old
child with a white sheet over him. They were on the way to the morgue. While we
were busy with all the other patients, he was one of the 20 patients waiting to
be seen. The most frustrating thing about casualty is that the doctors and
nurses stand behind the counter and don’t do anything. They are never in a rush
to go anywhere or see patients. We found one nurse sleeping in a minor theater
room on a patient table. It seems like the hospital is more of a place to die,
than to get better. It’s very hard to find some positivity in a place like
this, but it’s the only way you can get through it. Had we not been there the
woman would have not made it up to placenta retention surgery. The elderly
woman may have died because she did not receive oxygen. </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wish I had the knowledge and experience to do more, I
think we all feel that way. But, at the end of the day we do anything and
everything we can improve the outcome of the patients that come in here. We
treat them fairly, talk to them like people, and provide the best care possible
to the best of our ability. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-67426268623534130972012-08-07T23:07:00.000-07:002012-08-07T23:07:13.436-07:00First Day at the HospitalDay 1: Monday 8/6<br />
<br />
The first day at the hospital was more than I could have ever expected. We
arrived at Costal Province Hospital around 8:30am and sat in a small, hot room
for almost two hours. The processing took a lot longer than expected. Finally
we were able to break off into our groups of 4 and go to a specific area of the
hospital. Trisha, Megan, Keisha and I chose the Maternity Ward first. Once we
got to the wing we were introduced to an intern doctor who showed us around.
The main floor is labor and delivery and upstairs is a minor theater
specifically for c-sections. They allow two people in the minor theater at a
time and you are required to have an extra set of scrubs with you to enter. Trisha and I jumped at the opportunity and ran back downstairs to get our extra clothes. You also have to take your shoes off to
enter this part of the hospital which is weird. Yes, it's for sterilization but
they walk out of the operating room with bloody boots on and track it around the halls.
So obviously it makes perfect sense to take your shoes off before entering. We
were kind of freaked out thinking they were going to make us wear no shoes or
sandals, but they gave us rubber boots in the end. The ward is called the Millennium
Ward because the Japanese government funded the construction of it back in
2000. It is actually kind of big but they only use about half of it because
they are so under staffed. Instead of using the section for patient rooms they
just place the women on gurneys in front of the window of the hallway so they
can keep an eye on them. <br />
<br />
Trisha and I first arrived they said there was a
woman going in for an emergency c-section. Emergency in their culture is very
different from what we consider an emergency in America. These women can end up
waiting for hours to have procedures done. Most go in with fetal distress due to
having to wait so long. When we finally were able to go into the operating room, we could see the woman was in severe pain. The anesthesiologist put her fully under which was odd to us since they don't do that in the US. We were given a mask and a hairnet and just stood where ever there was room. Niether of us had ever seen this procedure before, so what we saw could be completely different from the States. This patient had a c-section done before so they made an incision below and above her previous scar. The rest was very gruesome! Ripping and pulling at flesh to get to the uterus, I really wish I had pictures... maybe next time. At one point I got really hot in the "air conditioned" room so I stepped out for about 10 minutes. Eventually they got to the baby who came out slimy and not crying. So the doctor picked her up by both feet and slapped her on the back a couple times holding her over the disgusting floor! I was so afraid he was going to accidently drop her. She cried and as far as I know both mom and baby are doing fine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTF_vlHDvZNVJZ7bLBVV_3Q3SA7jSVx4PwUgxdVIkk2gCzFzzyGOwBEID08AUBQQLEl-J3ykV05RtVHT_zPZD7pm5L9fd_7SbvS0hR6viUORRUjPy2ylmJxAAaXthSDF9NTTu-JvchXRM4/s1600/IMG_1255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTF_vlHDvZNVJZ7bLBVV_3Q3SA7jSVx4PwUgxdVIkk2gCzFzzyGOwBEID08AUBQQLEl-J3ykV05RtVHT_zPZD7pm5L9fd_7SbvS0hR6viUORRUjPy2ylmJxAAaXthSDF9NTTu-JvchXRM4/s320/IMG_1255.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Maternity</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZUSksHQl8H5QIqa-R5Fvq-GJv2xY4VzczXs1PDkl1FFvKR6eGINXr4mfTcurDvMfWv-oB5axUbdKXHS7mTtd5X0bsluIRnYTl20Mz609_eUZaHQecmOZt08JiErd9h1bC9QHHs0_uz-D/s1600/IMG_1257.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZUSksHQl8H5QIqa-R5Fvq-GJv2xY4VzczXs1PDkl1FFvKR6eGINXr4mfTcurDvMfWv-oB5axUbdKXHS7mTtd5X0bsluIRnYTl20Mz609_eUZaHQecmOZt08JiErd9h1bC9QHHs0_uz-D/s320/IMG_1257.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Medical supply tray in Labor and Delivery. Behind that curtain is a patient room.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxoZLIS9tspM_RMjebWJWp3DWxcVHsKpjQooQ3m4LtsqDCwDE2ab2cw45Xzmqgo_bcZd15F8FAUZrMXu5JCKiwPt_Ue1LFHZ57DLQvdBcrgLBywdit2f6w5_q25zOZS_pnryQsP1jd8pM/s1600/IMG_1263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxoZLIS9tspM_RMjebWJWp3DWxcVHsKpjQooQ3m4LtsqDCwDE2ab2cw45Xzmqgo_bcZd15F8FAUZrMXu5JCKiwPt_Ue1LFHZ57DLQvdBcrgLBywdit2f6w5_q25zOZS_pnryQsP1jd8pM/s320/IMG_1263.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Trisha, Angie, and I in a tuktuk on the way back from the hospital.</span></div>
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Trisha and I went back downstairs to see how Megan and Keisha were doing It had been unusually slow all day, but a new patient had been brought in and was about to be examined. We followed the doctor in and he began the exam. A dark green fluid came out indicating meconium, which is when a baby has a bowel movement before birth The woman was then taken upstairs to minor theater for a c-section. Trisha and I changed scrubs again and went back upstairs, Megan was allowed to come this time soon since Keisha had already left for the day. Once in the OR the nurse asked us which one of us was going to scrub in. We looked at each other very confused. I looked at the doctor and said I had just seen my first procedure an hour ago and I had no idea how the heck to do surgery. He was like "its ok I teach you." So I said what the hell ok I have to learn somehow. So he taught me how to scrub in African style and we went in. He kept warning me to stay away from the semiconscious woman in pain. This time the reason was because I had already been through a sterile procedure and she could contaminate me. Before though, in the labor and delivery ward women would reach out for you to hold their hand because they are scared, in pain, and going through this alone. Trisha held a woman's hand and the intern said, "That is rare. We don't usually allow that, it makes them weak." It was unbelievably frustrating to hear that. Back to the story, he made the incision and I helped him tear away the rectus sheath, subcutaneous layer, etc. It was actually better doing it than watching it. We finally came to the uterus and made the cut, He then reached in, grabbed the baby's head, pulling it out. I removed the amniotic sac off of his face as the doctor kept pulling. Once he was out we immediately unwrapped the cord from his neck and cut the umbilical cord. It was the same scene as last time, I cringed at the sight if the infant hanging upside down over the floor.We never heard him cry as the nurse took him out of the room. I assisted in suturing the patient back up. I probably looked ridiculous, but I learned so much from this experience! The doctor was like, "you are no fun! You did not pass out!" Ohh Africa, you definitely know how to make a bold first impression.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764538397109404160.post-87636859249637251122012-08-06T12:06:00.003-07:002012-08-06T12:06:41.669-07:00Quick summary of what's happened so far...Well the Red Light District of Frankfurt, Germany didn't treat us too horribly. City Hotel West was situated somewhere between "Double D" the "Sex Inn" and "Foxy Ladies." Our Bulgarian bartender at a little old fashioned bar cooked us a "free" meal for our last night there. $218.80 euros later we finally made it out of there. Mario, you will still get your SDSU mug but you dropped a couple cool points for that. Overall, Germany was amazing! I wish we would have had a few more days to explore more of the area and visit a concentration camp two hours away. I will be going back to Europe again someday! The service at the restaurants were awful, but people were nice and spoke English well. They could tell we were American from 2 miles away so imagine what we look like to the Kenyan's!<br />
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Our plane arrived in Mombasa at 1:15 am local time. That's 9 hours ahead of mountain time at home. We had flown from Frankfurt over the Liberian Dessert to Sudan so we took pictures of the Nile River. We flew from there to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was really cold when we got off the plane and walked to the terminal. The toilets are also nothing but a hole in the ground with no toilet paper... that was fun. 2 hours from there we reached our final destination: Mombasa, Kenya! Customs is hilarious. Trisha showed the lady her passport and she asked if we had anything to declare. We said no and she said welcome to Kenya and waved us through. Basically, our entire group got into the country on Trisha's passport! Excellent :) The ride from the airport to the compound was surreal. It was abandoned building after abandoned building lined with people sleeping on the sidewalks. You see things like this on the news and in movies, but seeing it in real life is truly heartbreaking. The poverty here is very real. <br />
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The next day I didn't wake up until 11, jet lag got the best of me for a few days. Staying out until 4 am and waking up at 11 or 12 the past few days probably didn't help. Once everyone was up we got a tour of the beach and market from Issac. The market is actually really nice and sells a lot of things you can find in the United States. There is also a Cinema and some other little shops in the area. I haven't felt unsafe at all yet. Mia, a student here from Texas warned us about not taking the matutu's which are vans that drive around like taxi's. She said they will just over price you and drop you off in random places. The tuktuk's and the driver's of the van's at the compound are the safest. Walking has also been a good option. 10 minutes to the beach, about 15 to the market. It feels like we are going to die everytime we get in a tuktuk, but they are actually good... well, defensive drivers. Kenyan's are pretty laid back, slow moving people. The 10 minute walk to the beach took 30 when Issac led us there, but if you put them in a moving vehicle they become a whole different person! Honking, cutting people off, yelling at each other etc. <br />
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The beach is gorgeous! You have to walk down a little ways to get in front of the resort to avoid the garbage and Kenyan's trying to sell you stuff. There are also camel rides, but we haven't tried that yet. I will try to post more pictures in the next couple of days. It's kind of hard to get internet here. I'm sharing a computer with Trisha since my Galaxy Tab doesn't have a USB to plug a modem in to. The cafe by the market has free wifi though, and really good coffee!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11770047445643932891noreply@blogger.com0