Remembering how to cook!

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Hi all,

So when I last wrote it was Saturday, we were undecided about our plans for Sanyang. It turned out that the rain stopped at about 1pm. I went for a walk to Bakau which takes about 45 minutes, forgot to put suncream on as I didn't think it would be that hot after so much rain, big mistake! I tried the post office and looked for a post box but they had taped that up and the post office was closed so I figured I would wait until the week started again. I also went to the tailor and gave him some material to make me a skirt and some cut-off trousers so I'm looking forward to seeing how that will come out in due course. I got back about 3:30 and it was decided that we were going to make the most of the day and go to sanyang at 4, due to GMT or Gambia maybe time as it's better known we didn't leave until almost 5:30 but when we got there it was worth it. Sanyang is an area in Gambia which has a lovely beach so we spent the evening on the beach having dinner where I tried my first real african dish- chicken yassa. It was lovely it's chicken with onions and lime and peppers, simple but really tasty. We had a bonfire and melted marshmallows and we went in the sea when it was dark to try to see the fluorescent algie. I think I saw some but I wasn't that convinced most of the time, I think it was wishful thinking on my part. We got back home about 12:30 and went to bed. It was a really good day.

Sunday the weather was nice so I went for a walk to the shops to get some cereal for the coming week and thought about going to the bank only to realise I didn't know where my bank card was. I got home and looked carefully through my rucksack and found that it had fallen out my purse into my bag luckily so everything was ok. In the evening we were going to go out for dinner but it got to be very late and so I decided to test myself and see if I could cook up something decent in the kitchen. I ended up with rice in pasta sauce with sweetcorn, tomato and garlic, it didn't taste too bad but I don't think cooking here is my strong point really.

Monday was spent on the ward, we did the ward round and then sorted out the discharges and chased up results for some of the patients. I made friends with some of the patients, a 4 year old boy who had had tetralogy of fallot but had been repaired in the UK, he was very familiar with the hospital so kept coming into the nursing office to say hi also the daughter of a member of staff who had been in with bronchiolitis, she was very sweet and friendly. She was also probably the first child that hasn't been terrified of my white skin or called me toubau (white person). When I got home after work I decided that I needed to go to the bank so ensured my bank card was with me and set off, it was just as well I went when I did as as soon as I got back on the MRC grounds the heavens opened and I narrowly avoided getting soaked! In the evening due to the rain no one felt much like going out so I ate the remains of my rice which was ok.

Tuesday is our day at old jeshwang, although Julian decided to do his own thing and go to the labs instead so I went by myself. I decided to spend my time weighing the children again because they are very cute and it's a bit more stimulated than taking blood pressures. Afterwards I walked to the taxi rank and convinced a taxi driver to take me to MRC via the postoffice so I got to post my post-cards! In the afternoon I spent a lot of time phoning the labs to try to find out patients results. I ended up getting quite frustrated as some tests are only carried out once a week and the samples are kept in order of the date sent so I had to find out when each sample was sent. It took a long time and I didn't get many answers in return. We found out that afternoon that one of the patients who had been on the ward previously, a 19 year old who was extremely tall with very large hands, we suspected he had Marfans, he had discharged himself against advice last week and we phoned him to tell him to go see a visiting french cardiologist at Serrekunda hospital. We phoned him and someone answered the phone to tell us that 2 days before he had dropped down dead, we suspect he may have had an aortic dissection but it was a shock to all of us as he was so young.

In the evening we went to Ngala lodge which is a very posh 5 star hotel for some drinks and to watch the sunset, it was beautiful and I got some good photos, unfortunately I also got bitten a lot by different insects so I am very itchy today (Wednesday). It's a very expensive hotel so I came home and cooked pasta for dinner, not very exciting but oh well.

This morning we went out with the TB reach team which visit people in the community diagnosed with TB and treat their families and do contact tracing. It was interesting to see where people live but as everything was done in native languages I was reliant on people translating for me. I got back to the ward later in the day and then saw a chest tube be inserted on a small child which wasn't much fun for him, it was his 2nd chest tube in 2 months. I also saw a man with ascietes and a hepatic flat which is a sign I have never seen before so that was exciting for me but not so much for him. We tried to take some of the fluid out of his belly but we weren't very successful. At about 4:30 the on call doctor came to take over so I went to go see if I could get my passport back. The man still hasn't been to get it re-stamped I'm not impressed so I have given him until tomorrow afternoon and then I will start to try to talk to his seniors as I don't like being without my passport. Tonight we are going to Scottish Embassy, which is really just someones house who will cook for us and we can all hang out together, I haven't been before but apparently it's a good night so I'm looking forward to that.

I shall write again probably on Sunday.

Bye K x x x

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