Hospital happenings

This week felt exceptionally busy, I guess in comparison to the previous travelling week. But each day I have wondered where the time went! Sarah and I have been working with the surgery patients for the past week and a half, so we have gotten to know them a bit and talk with them more. I have been speaking to them in French, but my language skills are that of a five year old, or perhaps three. But nevertheless, it’s been fun and even though I can understand most of what everyone is saying, I don’t have the vocabulary to respond well... I hope there is a change in that situation soon. So, in the men’s surgery house, they are mostly adolescent to early 20s boys, and a few older men. Some just have infected wounds; while others have bones that are trying to be salvaged, but in the mean time are sticking out of their bodies, which is a little unsettling (I feel orthopedics would be big business here); and then there are three that are recovering from gunshot wounds. They have gotten quite chatty over the past week and yesterday when I was making my rounds and giving meds, they started singing. It was so beautiful, and probably to most peaceful rounding I have done in there so far. Usually, they are asking me to give them money, my watch, my shoes, with a few marriage proposals thrown in. But that ceased for the time being, and the last song they sung was a hymn (all the songs were in French, but I picked up on a couple of key worship words and phrases). After they finished, they asked me to pray for them. Even though these guys joke with us all the time, they sounded serious, and I felt honored they asked me to do that for them. I told them I had to pray in English or I would never finish, so I did, and even though I half expected them to start chuckling or making remarks during my prayer, they were all silent. It was a cherished experience.

As for other events of the week: the Trinity College team arrived on Tuesday which included the nursing instructor, five nursing students, and one premed student. They are staying for six weeks and will be rotating through the various areas around the hospital. So it’s been fun having more mandeles (“white people” in Lingala) around and getting extra help around the hospital. Also there was an emergency strangulated hernia repair surgery to be done the other night, so Dr. Harvey asked if Sarah and I wanted to assist. I didn’t realize assist was going to be so literal…Sarah performed her first spinal anesthesia admin and got it on her first try! I was so impressed, and I hope I get to have a try at that at some point! I then helped with fluids and anesthesia monitoring, so I was functioning as an anesthetist assist, which was cool to do during my first week there. However, I would love to be functioning as the nurse anesthetist at some point, which is apparently an attainable goal here. It was a full week, and the weekend may have been at a slower pace, but still filled with bread making (6 loaves and cinnamon bread!), laundry, bike rides to the hospital for soccer games and church, and perhaps some P&P. Feel free to email me updates on happenings in the states! I don’t want to be culture shocked on my return!

Life is bliss, taste it

I got a picture of the hospital to load! These are the surgery pt rooms and just one of the sets of buildings

I got to have a wonderfully relaxing, albeit hot, weekend. I visited the market, which was very curious to see…the small passageways were uneven dirt paths between packed stalls of clothing, plastic flip flops, Obama shirts, and roaming ducks. We had to pick up supplies for a team of nursing students coming this week, so we picked up baskets, fabric, water buckets, and the like. The food market section was especially interesting. Tiny baggies of nuts, palm oil, and juices, fruits, no vegetables, whole smoked fish, and chunks of meat from what I assumed to be goat. I walked away with two 6-yard pieces of fabric to hopefully be turned into articles of clothing.
Sunday, I biked to the hospital ground for a church service that was in Lingala, translated to French, understanding some of it, which was surprising to me…let’s hope this learning curve of language continues. Sarah and I decided to adopt the neglected grapefruit tree that’s in front of our house. It doesn’t produce fruit anymore because it hasn’t been pruned in what seems like decades. So we have decided to take a stab at reviving it…if anyone has tips of pruning a grapefruit tree, they would be appreciated. I have also made a wonderful discovery! As some of you may know, I have been in agony over not being able to eat peanuts or soy beans because of some weird reaction that makes me feel like it could turn into anaphylaxis at some point (for which I actually asked Jessica, who was at the hospital, if I should go to the ER for one of the episodes). Anyways, I heard that if you have an allergy in the states, you may not have it here in Africa because they foods are so fresh. So I warily tried just one peanut and to my relief nothing happened! Needless to say I have had a constant intake of peanuts, candied peanuts, granola with peanuts, and peanut butter! We wrapped up the weekend with a walk out on the sandy banks of the Obangui River. The river is super low so we didn’t get to see any of the river monsters, but did survey the DRC jungle on the opposite bank.

L'hopital!

And since I actually have a chance to write I'll tell you about the hospital. It's a fairly large compound with a wall the whole way around and a gaurd house at the front gate. The bike ride is about three miles, which makes for one hot start to the day. There is an OR, surgery rooms, medical rooms, close observation, triage, pharmacy, and a radiology room (which only has an ultrasound machine right now because they can't get the xray machine battery to charge). Each house has about 7 beds and are separated into women, men, and one for children. It's not a bad set up. They average about 3 surgeries a day, and they actually quite a range of surgeries. I was also impressed that they have a working EKG machine, which we used today to diagnose one of the patients with angina...thought that was pretty advanced of the hospital.

As for the question that I was asked the most before I left (Where are you going to live?), just a tad more about that. There are about 4 or 5 houses on the mission property, and I am staying in one with Sarah, Joan (the PA), and the Ralston family. It's quaint, but obviously my favorite part is that the river is right across the street. C'est tout pour maintenant.

6 Day Journey

So it took a while for me to get internet at the hospital and even then, it’s dodgy and hardly ever working. So this is chronicling the cities I travelled through to reach my destination:
After the 17 (or just 12 with the time change calculated in) hour flight (with a one hour stop in Senegal to refuel), I finally arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was hoping to get to do a little sightseeing; however, fate turned against me. I had met two very nice people from the states, Ryan from Kansas and Mary Ann from Charleston (people from Charleston are all over!), and we were planning to get our hotel vouchers and perhaps take a look around the city. Lucky I got my voucher back quickly; unluckily they did not, so we waited two hours until they received theirs. We found out we were in different hotels and had to get on different bus shuttles, which was sad and frightening for about 5 seconds when I realized the people on my shuttle were quite nice and chatty. I have already been invited to visit Cameroon, China, and Kinshasa, DRC. Travelers are quite friendly, but I’ll hold off on those visits for now. The Riviera hotel didn’t turn out to be all that bad…a large king bed and spacious rooms, but unfortunately shoddy internet access and an odd smell. However, the city is surrounded by a beautiful mountain landscape and lush greenery, helped I’m sure by it being the rainy season. The inner limits look much like I thought it might, yet different once witnessed, with the tin-walled shacks, roadside stands, pedestrians commuting on the sidewalks, and the occasional donkey hauling goods. The city looking impoverished from my outside eye looking in. Oh, and I gave up on the venturing out, considering I had been separated from my acquaintances, and kept to the dry comfort of the hotel.
And so it was after a 3 ½ hour flight to Kinshasa—which I passed out on; jet lag still had me—and then a ten minute flight over the Congo River, I arrived in Brazzaville. A bit more clean and developed than Ethiopia, but still dusty. But does the weather ever feel like home! Il fait chaud! It’s hot, and it’s humid. I was shown around the guest house I will be in until I leave for Impfondo, and then went to a Sunday night “sing and share” with some of the missionaries. After we had tea and homemade goodies (the best salsa!) and chatted for the remainder of the evening…it was quite lovely. As for my night—up went the mosquito net!
Impfondo! On final flight and I made it! And thankfully Sarah was there at the airport to greet me and orient me to what will be happening for the next four months. So happy to see her there just a year after we graduated from nursing school! We drove from the airport to the mission we are staying, which is, no joke, right across from the Oubangui River—a large branch off of the Congo River. And I do have to say it’s beautiful: the most trees I have ever seen in my life, a legit jungle, greenery all around, and fruit trees everywhere, not to mention that you just walk to the edge of the road and you can look across to the river. Sarah and I had lunch with Harveys in their house, which is right across the lawn from the house we are staying in. So with the first half day in Impfondo complete, I quite like it here. First thing in the morning is a 3 mile bike ride to the hospital. I will just have to see what my time at the hospital holds, and how my oh-so-lacking language skills hold up.

Be careful what you wish for...

As a last hoorah in Birmingham, I crashed Courtney's spa party with Lauren and had such a lovely evening and some delish spa food. I do love to be pampered so why not have one last indulgence before exiting the country? Thanks Court!

Lauren and I have our "fresh" faces while Courtney was the model hostess

So within five minutes of arriving in DC, I get a phone call from the GOM telling me that my flights have been changed. As a result I will be staying a night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Getting my wish perhaps...I wonder if they have half day safaris...?
Since it's taking me five days to actually get to Impfondo (where the hospital is), I figure I might as well make the most of tonight in DC i.e. room service, highdef tv, and lounging in the plush, white king-size bed. I'll let you know how that hotel in Ethiopia goes...

And so it begins!

Life is a dream, realize it...I love these "life" quotes from Mother Teresa! And as it is so, I am realizing a dream of mine to go to Africa, and in this case the Republic of Congo. I depart Thursday making my way through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (a place I wish I could stop in because I still want to go),then to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. So even though it was a rocky start figuring out when I was going, if the funds could be raised quick enough, or how I was going to appropriately pack...I am SO excited that I am on my way! Anticipating what to pack has been interesting, and (of course) I thought about what kind of food items I would be able to sneak in, and have solemnly come to the conclusion that I will not bring any forms of chocolate. To counteract that there is a bowl of double fudge chocolate brownie mix next to me. I need to stock up before I go right?...right.
So I'm new to the blog thing, and will try my best to keep it updated and put up the fun pictures and stuff. Check back with me later! A Bientot!