HI!I just wrote this whole long blog entry and lost it because the server crashed… I love Africa!!! (Now it is older and I have added another section at the bottom, so settle in with a cuppa, because it might take a while to get through!)
Last week Thursday, we headed up to Panguma, 29 miles out of Kenema. We took back three patients to return them to their families now that they have had their repairs. Very happy girls, laughing and singing the whole way there. It took 6 or 7 hours to get there. The roads are pretty bad and with March being the hottest month of the year, it is so seriously DUSTY… we were traveling with head scarves so we could cover our faces every time another car came. We had to have the windows open, because we have no AC in the van and it was sooooo hot! At one point, the driver fell asleep and veered pretty seriously off the road and scared the living daylights out of me. I had become a bit slack about seat belts since I came here because nobody wears them (don’t ask me about that logic!), but that got me right back into them!
We stayed the night in Kenema at a Catholic Pastoral Centre, which was not bad, but it didn’t have power after 11 and of course no AC ( a common theme in my life!)… So I slept terribly. It didn’t help that Danny called me that morning and told me has typhoid, so I was worried about him. Malaria is not so bad here, but with typhoid, even the locals draw breath and give you sympathy. The next morning, we got up and headed out at 7.30 sharp, intending to get to Panguma, Kenema and Bo and be back in Freetown at a reasonable time. HAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAA!!! What a futile quest that was!!!
We arrived at Panguma after nearly two hours of atrocious roads and picked up a few girls. They were pretty frightened and 2 had actually been with us before, but had been returned, because they were frightened of the Cok Pouch surgery. Somehow we convinced them to come back with us and that, although they will have permanent catheters, their quality of life will be markedly improved. One of them, we lost because she is pregnant again, so we told her to make sure she goes to the hospital to have a C-section, so she doesn’t worsen her fistula or have either herself or her baby die in labour. The maternal and infant mortality rates here are horrendous – they are amongst the highest in the world.
From Panguma, we went to Kenema and Bo, where everything took forever. The time management is something I am still getting used to! Nothing was ready, it took at least an hour in both places to record their names and next of kin and help them into the car. A couple were really frightened and upset and one of the the worst cases (ruptured uterus during labour lead to a subtotal hysterectomy and she developed VVF and RVF, so she is really sick and weak and in pain) was speech impaired, so once she stopped crying, she just whimpered the whole time. Thank God, after a few hours and eating a big plate of rice and goat soup, she warmed to us. I was starting to get pretty upset too! The terrible thing with her is that she only had her baby two months ago, so it will be at least another three months with us until they can really do anything for her. Her initial injuries have to heal before they can attempt surgery. Poor sausage – at least we can look after her until then. Usually, we would have left her with her family for another few months, but she was all ready to go, so we could not really leave her behind and I think she might be in better hands with us while she is this frail.
It took us until 2 AM to get home. I sat in that stinking van for something like 18 hours. I was covered from head to toe in red dust. I had to shampoo my hair three times and there was still red water coming out of it! To add insult to injury, I got the worst case of heat rash ever on my bottom! Nice. Generally though, a successful trip. We took home three and brought back 9 new patients in our little van. Well cosy, tell you what!
In the next week our specialist arrives to do all these complex surgeries. Sadly two of the potential candidates have just been found HIV positive, so I am not sure whether they will be strong enough to recover from major abdominal surgery. We don’t discriminate against any cases, but it is up to these surgeons, Dr Smith and Dr Hubbard, whether he wants to perform the surgeries on them and take the risk. In the past, we have not screened all our patients completely, because we cannot really afford to, but I think it is getting to a point, where we need to do full screens before surgery.
I have had the roughest week with computers at work too. My laptop has some serious hardware problem which can only be fixed in the west, because nobody here has the gear to do it. The desk top had a disk crash and we do not have the right software to have it rebuilt. My other laptop is fine so far, but is still not online, because I have not had time to go down and queue up at Comium and organize the perhaps the slowest bloody wireless ever for US$45 a month! I can only do my work when I have a computer, so it has slowed me down BADLY. Very very frustrating.
My weekend was much more glamorous than my trip up-country. I went to Crown Bakery (Omar’s restaurant) and had lunch with Lisa and our irish mate (Lisa’s flatmate) Joanne. It was so good to have brunch with the girls. Awesome. We may as well have been in Brunswick Street. Sitting in the AC, eating great food in a clean environment, and Omar gave us cookies for dessert. We all felt sick afterwards, because our diets here are so bad and the sheer mass of a real meal makes us feel ill. Then we headed to Tommy’s (Danny’s Dad’s Hardware) and had a beer with him. Finally got to meet Danny’s beautiful little girl, Skye Lilly. She is only two and a half and I think she was a little overwhelmed with three other girls in her Dad’s shop! She was very tired and shy, but what a gorgeous little girl – just like her Dad J
Spent the evening at Danny’s – he was home with typhoid, feeling like shit. He has lost something like ten kilos this year – a blood infection, two bouts of malaria and now typhoid. Yikes. Anyway, I mention that I went there, because he has AC, power and running water. You see, my friends and I used to talk about men’s looks, their jobs and their personalities (not in that order!)… these days it played out something like this over brunch at Crown, “Does he have running water / coffee making facilities / power / a TV / AC?” Based on these attributes, we decided who are viable candidates. Joanne has nabbed herself a british army boy from IMATT and they have great facilities, I have Danny who also meets the criteria and Lisa stays with Ashley (she is one of our girlfriends) at Cape Sierra sometimes J
Sunday was spent out on the boat, fishing with Ali. We nearly pulled in a shark, fought the bloody thing for two hours only to have it chomp off the lure and piss off. We didn’t even get to see it! Very disappointing… I got really sun-burnt on my scalp and my face. I reapplied three times, but March sun is lethal and we were just out for too long. I am looking forward to my scalp peeling – yuck! The afternoon was spent luxuriating at one of the bars along the beach, drinking white wine and hanging with Omar – life is tough here in the third world! Next weekend, Omar, his friends and I are going up to the peninsula and staying the night at Franco’s, a really nice seafood restaurant and swimming the day away at the best beaches in the world. The awesome thing here is that you often have them completely to yourselves. Heaven. After that, St Paddy’s Day festivities at Cape Club, which should prove interesting. Joanne has picked up Irish Dancing in the last week and will be performing. The drunker she gets, the more she flings her arms around (which is a no no in irish dancing!) and last I checked, she was dancing 123… 7, there was no mention of steps 4, 5 or 6, so I am hoping she acquires those before Saturday.
Alrighty, I am off. Will try and get online one of these days and post some photos. Dad took some great ones, while he was here.
xoxox
I wrote all that a week ago! Somehow haven’t made it to the internet to update the blog just yet!
The last week has been busy at work. I have been slowly transferring things onto the computer, reacquainting myself with Excel and Publisher and getting ready for the surgeons, who arrived yesterday and started their surgeries this morning. Amazing to be in the room with such clever, talented and kind people. They are all here of their own accord, paying their own flights, accommodation and giving up their time. I have finally met the other co-founder, Dr. Leesa Condry, who is also a very motivated and helpful woman. I only met her this morning, but she is already being really helpful and has lots of ideas about what I can do. I am really happy to have them here, because things seem to become a lot more efficient when they are here. Dr. Condry has brought over some workbooks relating to adult literacy and wants me to set up a programme for volunteers to come and teach literacy, because apparently there are many non-medical volunteers who want to come from the States.
At the moment, I am trying to revise the strategic plan, which has been drawn up by the National VVF Taskforce, of which we are a member. The goal is to present this to the WHO to gain funding, which was granted to many developing countries as part of the Millenium Development Goals. However, before it is released, these countries need to meet certain criteria, so that donor funds can be accounted for. There is a lot of work ahead!
My weekend was lovely. I spent Friday night down the peninsula with all my boys, 4 of them. Omar, Tim, Abdallah and Regis. It was awesome. We laughed lots and drank about ten bottles of wine, ate lobster and crab and swam in the ocean all day. Tough life indeed! Saturday night we went out for St Paddy’s, but I went home nice and early – mainly because my hangover from the night before was so bad. Joanne did her irish dancing with my friend Finnbarr from Care International (some of you will remember Lisa and I spent a week with him and Care upcountry last year, visiting agricultural food-for-work projects!). He is about 2 metres tall and she is about 1.5 m – it was a total hoot! Sunday I went and visited Danny in hospital – typhoid took a turn for the worst and the medications caused complications. He is now in the ward, about ten metres from my office at Choitram Hospital – when it rains, it pours… so the first time I wanted to kill him, typhoid gets in first! He is fine, just not feeling too well, but on the up and up. Not the most glamorous hospital, especially not for the price, but great nursing staff and sooooo much better than Connaught or any of the other miserable government hospitals in Freetown. At least here, you won’t leave with a new case of TB or HIV… I spent the afternoon at Tommy’s (Dan’s Dad), drinking Becks and watching football, with him and his girlfriend, Duba. They are a lovely couple.
Anyway, with 4 visiting surgeons, this week promises to be action-packed. I can’t wait – I love the way the pace picks up when they visit! They are still talking about organizing a guest house, which I would be able to live in and which all the visiting surgeons could stay at. At the moment, we are haemmhoraging money for hotel accommodation for Dr Maggi and Dr Condry and any other surgeons we sponsor. I also feel that I cannot stay living with the Alghalis for free forever, the organization is not contributing to their costs and to be honest, it would just nice to have a some privacy and not live with my boss. I didn’t think it would bother me, and it doesn’t really, but somehow I just need a little more space. I am not complaining, I am happy there for now, but especially if I decide to stay past September, I am going to need to find something else.
I will update you again soon! XOX
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