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Published: September 22nd 2012
Hi all,
So i've definitely been neglecting my blog a little bit this week but I have been very busy on the wards and not that bothered about logging onto the computer when I get home!
Monday started with the ward round as most mondays do. I can't really remember if anything particularly exciting happened. In the evening we went out to alaeldin's for food as Josh a Vet student from Cambridge was leaving the next day. That was nice.
On Tuesday it was our day to go to Old Jeshwang Health Centre so off we went in the morning. We got a taxi there but unfortunately the guy driving the taxi had no idea where he was going and got very lost, after about 40 minutes I decided to ask him to stop and we found another taxi driver who did know where he was going. The clinic itself was quite good I was weighing children which was very sweet. Not the most stimulating of jobs but it made the morning pass fairly quickly. We left at midday and headed back to the ward first stopping to have a bit of lunch. On the ward I helped with some discharges and sorting out results before I saw a patient who had been referred from the TB reasearch problem with severe malnutrition. I had a nurse interpreting for me and took the history by myself which was the first thing I've ever done by myself here, it was hard as it is difficult to know what sort of questions to ask when you don't see malnutrition very often at home. I managed to elicit from the mother that there was a lack of financial security at home and they were struggling to afford food. The other thing that happened on Tuesday was the morbidity and mortality meeting which was fairly interesting but only for the cases I had witnessed, a lot sounded like the deaths were fairly inevitable. I went back after that meeting to examine the child with one of the doctors and put a cannula in and take some blood tests. I didn't really do much but I got to see the process. It meant I came home pretty late so cooked some pasta as I was hungry!!!! We all watched TV after that and then went to bed, fairly unexciting.
On Wednesday I had to present my case to Dr. Anderson which was a bit daunting but it went fairly well, she wasn't paying that much attention and kept asking me to repeat myself but between myself and Dr. Jallow we had treated the baby well so it wasn't too scary. I joined the ward round after this which was very quick and then went to go join Dr. Anderson in clinic. We saw lots of interesting cases and I heard lots of murmurs, I even heard a diastolic murmur which was quite exciting. These were all in children with rheumatic heart disease. I then joined Nisha who was seeing a few patients and tried to take a history off a patient who spoke fairly good English, this was more difficult than it sounded as the patient didn't really understand how to describe his symptoms. We got there in the end though and it seemed like he was just suffering with some asthma which is very common here during the wet season. I went back to the ward and got on with the some discharges and jobs while there was another meeting going on then we started to see some patients who had been admitted that day. Another fairly late day finishing but in the evening everyone came round here to make flapjacks and watch hercules, it was great fun.
On Thursday we did the ward round again with Dr. Anderson which is always interesting as she asks me lots of questions so I learn things, it is at the cost of feeling a bit naive and silly though as I tend not to know the answers to the majority of the questions. I got to hear a pericardial rub which was something I definitiely would have missed had I not been shown. The ward round finished at about 2pm so we grabbed some lunch before heading back to the ward to do the discharges and start seeing the new patients. There were 11 admissions from clinic, a huge number, normally we only get 3 or 4. We started seeing them which took ages. Nisha was on call so I stayed late with her helping her clerk the patients and filling out forms etc. We saw an adorable 10 year old girl who came in with generalised body swelling and just being generally unwell. We were a bit confused about what was causing it but little did we know what we'd find the next day. I finally got home about 7pm and made myself some dinner. We watched tv and then headed to bed ready for the next day.
Friday was the final ward round of the week. It was nice to review all the patient and see how they are getting on. Dr. Anderson joined us half way through the round but it still finished at about 12pm so not too long. The 10 year old girl we sent for lots of tests including a chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, blood tests and hepatitis and HIV screening, most of this was just routine as we didn't really know what was going on with her. We were called to come and see the girl with Dr. Anderson where she explained that she was HIV positive and had WHO category stage 4 AIDS defining disease. She had Karposi's sarcoma. This was very sad to see as it turned out the lady we thought was her mum was her auntie and both her parents had died from HIV so she had obviously been infected at birth but never started on any treatment. Everyone said they were really surprised to learn that she was HIV positive as they didn't suspect it at all. I am going to do a bit of resarch into what her prognosis will be but i suspect not that great even if she gets anti-retroviral drugs.
After this revelation the doctors and nurses had a course to attend so myself and Julian did some of the discharges before heading back home at about 3pm, later than I'd like on a friday but still acceptable. There were many children on the ward who are quite well so I got changed and came back with my balloons and gave each of the children a balloon to play with, I'm fairly sure the mothers apprecaited it more than the children but it was quite good fun for them.
In the evening we went out for dinner to a place called Solomen's which is right on the beach and did great food. We then walked along the beach to a bar called poco loco's which had live music which was good fun and nice atmosphere. The scenery was quite impressive as there was lots of lightening but luckily no rain, I wish I had brought my camera but I don't think I was quite skilled enough to take the photos. I wrote some of my postcards when I got home with the good intention to go post them this morning.
When I woke up this morning it was pouring with rain, thunder and lightening and had been raining now for almost 5 hours. I hope it's going to stop as we were hoping to go on a trip to san yang which has a lovely beach and fluorescent algie but we'll have to see what the weather does. I didn't end up posting my postcards though as I would have got really wet! Maybe monday I guess.
I shall write again mid-week hopefully!
Hope all is well.
K x x x
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anonymous
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Hi Katie How lovely to hear from you. I so enjoyed reading your blog, even If I didnt understand a lot of it ha ha. You sound like you are having a wonderful time out there, and so so many new experiences. Its lovely there is a nice social aspect to it all as well. I looved the balloon story. I can just imagine their little faces. I am going to reply to your email and send you a picture of my new grandchild, which I looooove so much.Enjoy your time my darling, and keep safe.xxxxxxxxxxxxx