I still enjoy medicine and there are times during the day
when I can really sit back and be in awe at the powers of medicine, even in
Kenya. That being said, I think anyone that has been immune to third world
medicine can understand the love-hate struggle that goes on internally. I had this feeling today in the hospital;
after a crummy morning in minor theatre I went to postnatal care in maternity
to see if there was anything I could do.
The moment I walked in it was like my muscles relaxed because the room
was filled with mothers and their new-born babies. It gave me hope, and made me realize that
yeah, working in a hospital you have to deal with hard things sometimes but
there is new life surviving each and every day. If it’s simply seeing a newborn
baby in its mother’s arms or having a man really appreciate what you are doing,
then I’d call that a pretty successful day.
Because we didn’t have much to do most of us went to lunch
at Caribou the local café. When we got
back my roommates, Natalie and Chelsea decided that it was time to face our
looming pile of laundry. Although the
laundry facilities aren’t a whirlpool washer and dryer, it’s not as bad a
scrubbing my clothes in a river. We hand
wash everything but you have one bucket with soapy water and one bucket with
rinsing water. By the end of our piles
our hands were pruney and sore from wringing out clothing. I’m happy to
announce my clothes are washed and hanging on the line and hopefully I won’t
need to relive that experience for quite some time.
Tomorrow we are going to the orphanage because, Joel, one of
the students in medical school raised money to rebuild some of the school
portion. We are going to look at it and
hopefully start that project. Wednesday
will be another day in the hospital, but Thursday morning we leave bright and
early for Safari! I can’t wait!
The "records book" we keep in minor theatre
What the patient's files look like
I think for the true African empathy-experience, you should have headed to the river to wash the clothes. So many women and young girls in the world do so. You will appreciate the washer/dryer when you get home. Perhaps you could break out the bucket at home or in Brookings and reminisce if you are feeling the urge. How lucky, lucky, lucky we are to have our modern-day conveniences. If a group of SDSU students are going next year, we will load them up with sterile gauze. Keep up the good work. Love you, MOM
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