Day 56 – Aspiration & Heart Murmur

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I woke up this morning and told myself it was going to be a good day. This morning our patient with the inflamed knee came back for a return visit. The inflammation in the knee had increased and it felt as if there was more fluid in the knee than usual. Trixy told us to aspirate the knee, she told us to grab a syringe and some iodine to clean it. Guess what, I got to do it! I cleaned the knee with the iodine swabs, then took the needle and put it into the inflamed leg. The first time I went in I got out 10cc of fluid, but I couldn’t find anymore with the first stick. We emptied out the syringe and went in at another spot. At first fluid was coming out, but I moved the needle all around in the inflamed knee and I couldn’t find any. It was awesome, I wish I could have gotten more out, but it felt amazing to be able to do the procedure.

We then had another patient come in that was complaining of fever. I did the exam on him. As I was listening to his heart, I heard something that I had never heard before. I heard the lubb-dubb, but every once in a while there would be a long pause, so I asked Trixy to listen to it, come to find out, not only did the patient have an irregular heart rate, but he also had a systolic heart murmur. Again another great experience, it felt good to catch that.

It was an interesting day from then on out. But we just pray that God will work everything out. Trixy was busy, and we were all eating lunch. Christiane came and got us because one of the patients wanted us. The guy with the heart murmur wanted to talk to us, so Mary and I went over and wrote out his impression and his plan. He was so nice and told us that he would be sure to keep us updated and be sure to come back to the clinic because he really liked us, he even told us all about his family. It was again, a great experience.

This afternoon wasn’t super busy, so we spent all afternoon cleaning out the pharmacy. We took off all of the medications from the shelves and wiped them off. Mary and I were there until about 5:30.

After work, I rinsed off because I was dirty from cleaning, made some popcorn and then went down to hang out with Trixy. We made some delicious scrambled eggs, ate some watermelon. We then watched Home Alone and relaxed and de-stressed. It was very nice. After the movie I’m going to call it a night and head to bed.

Oh yeah this morning, Mary and I tried to use our inhaler that we bought, it didn’t work out so well, but we will see, I think it might work eventually.

 This is what the knee looked like initially when he first came in, it looks a little better now, but this is similar to what I aspirated this morning, not much came out. The fluid is is little pockets and hard to find.

Day 55 - No more hair!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Today was a pretty good day. Clinic was pretty busy and we saw quite a few. While Sarah and Trixy were working together, Mary and I were examining patients in the other room. Since I am writing this a day later than usual, I am having a little bit harder time remembering what we saw today. We saw one patient who sounded like she had traveled outside of Cameroon because of her mannerisms, however we asked her and she said she hadn’t left Cameroon. She came into the clinic and we asked her what the problem was and she said, “Nothing…I’m pregnant.” She also was afraid of taking her clothes off in order to check the cervix, which most Cameroonian women don’t have a problem with.

They lady with severe malaria returned today, she was going crazy so we gave her something to calm down so that she could sleep, she did, but she was still out of it. Her family came and the little girl just came up to me and started hugging me, it was so cute!

We then went to market; it was blazing hot and not very much fun because we had to get so many things!

After market I started taking my hair out. Then Christiane started helping me and then Trixy came and helped, along with Sarah and Tabby, even Andrea came and helped out. Then it was time for the clinic to close so people slowly started leaving. So we migrated to the porch outside of Trixy’s house. Then Janelle and her mom came out and helped finish out my hair. After about 1 hour and 45 minutes, with the help of 7 people, Andrea, Janelle, Dawn, and myself finished the last of my hair.

Once we were finished we ate some supper, after supper we visited for a while, ate some dessert and then it was time for me to wash my hair! It felt so amazing! However, I felt as if I didn't have any hair left because when I showered I think I lost about 10 lbs of hair!

 The little girl that came up and just held on to me, she wasn't letting go either, but she was adorable!

The process of taking my hair out, I think I had at least 10lbs of fake hair, okay maybe not that much, but I had a lot! Ahh, I love Africa.

Day 54

Monday, November 28, 2011

Today there were quite a few patients at worship waiting to be seen. Most of them come in with the same complaints, but there are also some that are different.  It was interesting today we saw a little girl who was mentally challenged, she was 4 year old, but acted around the age of a 2 year old and still couldn’t speak. Her mom thought that maybe her tongue was tied, but that wasn’t the case. The mom told us that she was a triple, and that other doctors had told her the other babies may had been pushing on her and she didn’t develop correctly. That would be so hard, she was an adorable girl I must say so myself though!

We went and got some spaghetti omelets and then when I got back to the clinic we had a patient with severe malaria, she was so out of it. We also saw the cutiest little boy. Trixy was asking him questions about his symptoms and he kept saying yes, so she asked if his name was Moses just to check, and he did say no! Anyways he was super cute, and a sweet little kid! We had a rough morning with kids kicking and screaming and crying, so it’s always nice to have those who are good!

After work, we ran up to the post office and then came back and visited with Janelle Walikonis and her family, they were such nice people! We went for a nice walk and then got ready for dinner. We decided to go out to eat. For once it was super quick, but they ran out of food, it all worked out though! And the Walikonis were super sweet and treated us to dinner!

We then went to Lina’s for ice cream. I got asked by some random guy to take a picture with him, I didn’t know what to say so I did, probably not my best choice, but I learned from my lesson. Anyways, besides that I had a wonderful evening visiting with everyone and relaxing. Lina’s was closing and so we decided to head home. Got ready for bed, wrote in my blog and then called it a night! 

 We had dinner here and it was actually super good! I enjoyed it!

Day 53

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Well today I woke up earlier than usual and I went and played soccer with everyone. It was so much fun, even though I’m not good at all, it was still a good time.

After soccer I decided our room needed to be cleaned, so I took my bags out moved my bed and thoroughly cleaned everything by myself. I even cleaned the toilet and the bathroom (mom you should be impressed ;)).

I then went down to Bill and Trixy’s place to set up the Christmas tree, it was a ton of fun, but it really made me miss home! After the tree trimming party, we visited and hung out and then I headed back up to the room.

I worked on a few things and then the power went out. Went down to Mary and Tabby’s place, ate some popcorn and then finally the power came back on.

I then talked to my parents and watched a Christmas movie and decided to call it a night. Goodnight.

 

Day 52

Sabbath, November 26, 2011

Happy Sabbath! Went to church this morning, nothing to exciting, sat with the little kids which was a terrible idea because there are no fans, so by the time church was over, I was sweating like crazy. I missed most of what happen because I kept drifting in and out of sleep. We feed the guests today, not sure how much they liked our food, but that’s alright.

When we got back, we ate with Bill and Trixy, well Sarah and I did because Tabby and Mary were still up at the church. After we ate leftovers, we hung out and visited with Bill, I fell asleep, but everyone else was busy talking. We then went back up to the room, and I just drew. Made some amazing coffee with my new French press and then we made some dinner.

For dinner we had potatoes, popcorn, papaya and brownies. It was quite good. After dinner we visited for a long time about relationships, which is always interesting, we then watched X-men, and I did some more drawing. After the movie, I called it a night and went to bed. Goodnight!

Day 51

Friday, November 25, 2011

The clinic was kind of slow again today. First patient today came in with body pains all over…very non-specific. How are we supposed to diagnose this one? We had one echo today. We also saw another patient who was a little baby of 1 year old and extremely dehydrated. The baby was crying, but wasn’t producing any tears. We tried to put an IV in, but she kept crying and kicking, so every time we got it in, she would move and knock it out. We decided to do ORS for her, and come to find out it worked because when we got back this evening, there was no baby in the hospital, and no body was staying the night.

Around 12:30 or so we decided to go grab a bite to eat because the clinic was slow. We ate and never went back. Andrea came up and gave me a slip for the post office to pick up a package. So after lunch Sarah and I headed up.

I was just expecting one package from the SM office because Sarah and I both got the same slip. But come to find out, I received 3 packages. One was from the SM office and the other from my parents. The lady at the post office went to the back room and came out with a large package, and told me that it had been there for almost a month and asked if I had received a slip. I definitely never received a slip, but I have been waiting for the package and I finally got it! I was so happy! Thank you Mom and Dad and Lizzy!

When I got the package, it had a big whole in the side of it and I was sure that that was going to be a mouse in there and all of the food would be eaten. When I got back I decided to open it outside. Luckily, no mice or rats and only one bag had been gotten into, but I’m pretty sure it’s still edible.

After opening my package, Mary, Tabby and myself, decided to go “black Friday” shopping down in Molyko. We walked around, then went to the bakery and had a soda along with a pastry.

When we got back we relaxed, then decided to make some popcorn and guacamole. It was all super delicious. After eating we went back up, I talked for a bit on skype and then decided to call it a night. Goodnight! And thank you for the package; it was a wonderful Thanksgiving gift! You are all amazing and I am so grateful and thankful for you all!

Best package ever, plus the fact that I have been waiting for forever as well! Thanks Mom, Dad and Lizzy! Love you!

Yep, I'm pretty sure something got into this one!

Do you think its still edible!? Who cares, were in Africa right!?

 Hand Sanitizer is always good! Thanks Mom and Dad, Love you!

Day - 50 Turkey Day!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Well today is going to be a good day! It’s Thanksgiving and we are going to have a feast! Today work wasn’t super busy. Emmanuel was there which made things much easier. To be honest I don’t remember all of the patients that we had seen, but it wasn’t super crazy. I did one IV injection, but it didn’t work out so well for me today.

So Mary and I were hungry at about 1:30 or so, so we decided to go back to the room and grab a bite to eat, however that was difficult because all of the pans to cook something were being occupied. Instead of eating we just decided to help Sarah and Tabby who had been working on preparing food all morning long. We were so busy preparing food that we didn’t even go back to work!

We made all sorts of yummy dishes. We made, apple crisp, sweet potatoes, tofu, stir fry, and deviled eggs. It pretty much took all day up until it was time to eat, mainly because of the limited amount of pots and burners that we had.

Everyone came together around 7:00 and brought something with them, there were all kinds of different dishes. They were all very tasty as well! I had a wonderful time socializing with people and getting to know those who I had never met before. It was a great evening, and it took the sadness of not spending Thanksgiving with my family away.

After everything was finished, it was late and I was exhausted, however I needed to talk to my family! I Skyped the whole family, and it was amazing! I saw everyone and prayed with them; blessing the meal, they sat down to eat and I called it a night! I got to spend the first part of their meal with them and it made my day! It was so good to see everyone and I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thanks to all of you, it was a good one, even though I didn’t spend it with my family, I made the best out of it because of everyone! It’s late, so goodnight! I am thankful for all you reading this!

The dessert table...it was delicious!

Walters and I getting some dessert, after being totally stuffed!

Those of us who came, but didn't leave very early, there were even more than those in the picture!

 Personally, my favorite dessert...peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate! Soo good!

Day 49 – Cockroach and Lidocaine

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Last night I woke up to use the restroom and guess what I found, a cockroach! Luckily I turned on the light in the bathroom! First one we have found in our room thankfully, and hopefully the last! So when I got up this morning…the roach wasn’t there…? Well today was a slow day in the clinic, well at least this afternoon. This morning we had one patient come back who has been having inflammation in the knee, it isn’t getting any better, but to numb the pain we did an injection in the knee with lidocaine. Trixy let me do the injection, she showed me where to do it and I did my first injection into the joint. It felt amazing, at least for me, no so much for the patient!

Mary and I saw another patient who had a swollen foot because of an infection, she did her labs, but was tired and didn’t want to stay any longer, so she just went home, no treatment or anything.

So after we ate lunch, there were really no other patients in the clinic, so we talked about menopause and contraceptives, it was quite interesting and we all had a good time visiting this afternoon. When we finished work we headed up to the Post Office and then walked up to the bank.

After returning we relaxed and then decided to make some spaghetti, we had that for dinner along with some soy nuts made by Trixy and a few other random things. We watched Castle and then headed back up to the room. As I was about to post on my blog, wouldn’t you know it…the power decided to go out, what’s new again, after all this is Africa. Anyways I think I’m going to call it a night shortly here. So goodnight everyone!

Day 48

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Today wasn’t super busy right at first, so Trixy left to do some things and we took in one patient and started doing her history and physical. Trixy then came back and we decided she needed to do a pelvic echo. We saw a few other patients and the one I remember the most this morning was the little kid that had a rash all over his body. At first it looked like scabies, but also like secondary syphilis, we ran some test and found it was probably a cross between the two.

At lunchtime all of the girls decided to go to market, but I wasn’t really feeling it so I decided not to go. When I got back to work we saw a lady who may have cancer of the ear called Cholesteatoma. We then saw our first albino in clinic! He was such a nice guy, however we ran some tests on him and were still not sure what’s wrong. We then saw a little girl who was afraid of the doctor and cried the whole time basically. Anyways so our last patient needed an echo for a threatened abortion, but they decided not to do it today, so maybe they will come tomorrow.

After work, Mary and I went to market to get some potatoes, we got a huge bag of them and then I carried them back while Mary went and got us some sugar. I then got ready to go.

This evening Mary, Trixy and I went to a drug promotion at the Eta Palace Hotel in Molyko. We walked there…it is quite a walk, but a good one. We were kinda late, but its Africa, I don’t think anyone is on time. It was very interesting, we learned about lower respitory infections, and then learned about the drug Augmentin that is used to treat it. After the program, they provided us dinner. It wasn’t too bad.

Before leaving the hotel we went and looked at one of the rooms, they were actually quite nice, definitely not like America, but they were nice. We then caught a taxi back up to the Clinic where Sarah and Tabby were finishing up making tofu for Thanksgiving dinner. We ate some watermelon then headed up to the room. Just as I thought I was going to call it a night we decided to do ab-ripper. Soon after ab-ripped I called my parents and went to bed! I miss you all very much! Love you Mom and Dad! It was so nice to talk to you both!

Day 47

Monday, November 21, 2011

This morning since all of us had our hair done we decided it would be a good time to take pictures of us in our African dresses. After pictures we went back to the clinic.

Today felt kind of slow for a Monday, but we did have quite a few patients to see this morning. Mary and I took a few patients to see them and then after we saw them we told Trixy what we found and what we wanted to do. We also brought her into see some of the patients we were unsure of.

We all ate lunch together because we had leftover black beans and some sautéed onions. It was quite good. Then for dessert we had cookies with bambi chocolate and frozen bananas.

When we got back to the clinic, we did an echo and saw maybe one or two patients. One of the patients was after the echo at around 2:45 or so. The patient had a little girl and so I played with her while they examined. She was so cute. By the time they were finished, I was sweating because it was so hot in the room with all of us in there.

After work all of us girls worked on a “music video”. You all may be able to see it if you look back in about a month or so. Anyways that was interesting, so after the making of the video we hung out. I did laundry which takes 20 times longer in Africa, but look on the bright side I’m gonna be buff by the time I leave! Then after doing laundry Sarah and I made some fettuccine alfredo again, it was delicious.

This evening Sarah and Tabby decided to take their hair out. I was going to help, but I decided not to, I decided to take it easy and get some alone time because that is hard to find here. So I hung out wrote letters home and then decided to go to bed.

Having some alone time was really nice to just catch up.

Day 46

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Lizzy Kim! :)

I can’t believe I have been here for a month in a half now! It’s been quite the ride, but a good one! Well today was a rough start. Anyways.

Precious one of the boys from the church brought his dog by, it is so cute. I have no clue what kind of dog; it’s a mutt, but a cute one. Then after that I ran back up to the room and was going to go back down to play some soccer, but I didn’t quite make it back down in time.

After that, my day was over. We spent the 10 hours getting my hair braided. We got to the hair place around 10 and she didn’t show up until 11:30…its Africa. Then when she got there she didn’t have our color hair, so we walked to a store to get some. It was closed so luckily we ran into Darius who translated and told us she had to go to Muea market to get some. We gave her money and she left to market and we headed back to the shop.

We kept waiting for her to return, “is it this taxi”, “it has to be the next one”, and “she should be back soon, its not gonna take more than an hour”. After 2 hours of waiting, she finally returned and she started on our hair at 1:30.  I finished before Mary did and then she finished around 9:30 or so. As soon as I was finished I ran behind the building and relieved myself, I couldn’t hold it any longer.

Tabby and Sarah brought us some lunch but by the time we were finished at 9:30 we were starving. When we got back we ate some fried plantains and a frozen bananas. We were tired and our heads hurt, so we decided to call it a night. This will be interesting with the 10 lbs of hair that I now have.

 

Mary and I before

 Mary during the process

Myself during the process

Almost finished...after 8 hours...my goodness!

 Finished! Taken at about 9:30, these ladies I am sure were ready to go home to their family!

Day 45 - A Scary Movie

Sabbath, November 19, 2011

Happy Sabbath everyone! I woke up today thinking it was going to be a good day, and guess what, it was a great day! We walked up to church in time for church. Church was amazing today! It was Pathfinder weekend and all of the little kids did the church service today! They did such a good job and they were so adorable!

After church we hung around, took tons of pictures and had a great time hanging out with the kids. Sabbath today was amazing, I felt like I clicked with all of the kids and it was just a lot of fun, along with having potluck with all of them as well! It was a fun relaxing Sabbath.

When I got back to the room, I took a little nap. We then later went to Bill and Trixy’s where we made spaghetti and popcorn because we didn’t get that for lunch. After we ate we were going to watch a movie, but guess what…? It’s Saturday night and basically every Saturday night the power just decides to go out. So rather than watching a movie, we played apples to apples under the candlelight.

When we got back to the room, the power had come back on, but there were no lights on in the hospital…it was really creepy. It felt like a scary movie, we tried turning on all the lights; only light that worked was in the bathroom. Then we tried turning on the fan and it came half on, however there was still Internet. It was super creepy.  Talked on skype for a bit then called it a night. Goodnight everyone.

Day 44

Friday, November 18, 2011

Well today started out a bit slow, however it started to get busy around 9 or so. Emmanuel the student doctor was there again today to help us out. We saw a few patients with him. We saw a little baby who had herpes on his genitals along with in his mouth, poor little guy. We then saw a lady that keeps coming back for shortness of breath and joint pain. She talked extremely slow and it took forever for her to get out what she wanted to say…she kept complaining about things; I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to leave! Emmanuel finally finished with her about 45 minutes later.

Trixy and I then started on our line of echos to do. We had two trans-vaginal echos and two other OB exams. They all went fine. These were the first echos that I had seen the baby before 10 weeks.  We saw cardiac movement in both of the babies that were only 7 and 8 weeks along. One of the women thought that she may have lost her baby, but we found that it had cardiac activity, which is a good sign. This again reminds me of what an Awesome God we have. How can something so small already have developed a heart that is beating, it goes to show how powerful God is and how precious life is. God is amazing, the things He does and creatures He has made are amazing!

We finally got off work today around 3, then Mary and I ran up to the post office, nothing…at least not for me. Anyways when we got back we at some lunch/supper and enjoyed some watermelon that we bought from some little girls that came to our door. We then just sat around, relaxed, and talked. We did Abs, then just decided to relax. I showered, got on the computer, blogged and just took it easy. Now I am about to head to bed and get some good rest, so goodnight everyone.

The little girls that came to the hospital to sell us watermelon and bananas, they were so cute! And the watermelon was delicious! The way they carry those is impressive!

Day 43 - Ultrasounds

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Last night I went to bed way too late, and I woke up way too early this morning. I woke up around 5:30 in order to say good-bye to Monica and Nadia. Then after saying my good-byes I went back to bed for about an hour.

When we got to the clinic this morning, we couldn’t get into the pharmacy because the key wasn’t working so Te Claire climbed through the window to get in. Someone finally came over to fix it. We weren’t super busy at first, but we had many echos today. Today was such a good day. I got to do an IM injection and I also got to perform two ultrasounds. Let me just tell you, it’s much harder than it looks. It took me forever to find some things.

The first ultrasound I did turned out pretty well because she was only about 20 weeks, so the baby was much smaller, however the next one she was about 38 weeks along which makes it much more difficult! The first ultrasound I performed I was able to determine the sex all by myself. I found the labia and guess what I was correct, Trixy said that I was correct and that it was a female. The next one was much harder, however once Trixy found it I could tell it was a male, the genitals at 38 weeks are much more developed. I have found that ultrasounds are extremely difficult, and it takes a lot of muscle to perform one! It was a great learning experience today with all of the ultrasounds, I felt very accomplished.

After work, Mary and I taught an antenatal class on the 2^nd trimester. We had two very sweet women there. I thought we did a good job teaching the class for it being our first time. It went well and I think the two women were pleased with it.

Once the women left we had a bible study together. We talked about baptism, it was very interesting to here every ones view on it. I kinda fell asleep towards the end, but I got most of it. We then went and ate leftovers from last night and watched a movie. I then caught up on blogging and am going to call it a night because l was up late last night. So goodnight world. Love you and miss you all very much!

Today was a good day, I learned a lot and am starting to feel much more confident in what I am doing, God is so good!

Day 42 - Life and Death

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Today was an interesting day. I did a few consults with Nadia and Monica and a few ultrasounds with them as well! My favorite part of today was that we got to see a woman who was pregnant with twins! It was really neat. She was a sweet lady and she was so happy to find out that she was having twins, however, so were all of us, so she had a crowd of us in the room with her! The human body is so amazing; everyday it just reminds me what a smart, wonderful, loving and powerful God that we have! I was so excited and happy after seeing the twins, which made my day…at least until the next ultrasound. The next ultrasound wasn’t as happy. We found in the next ultrasound a baby that was about 30 weeks along, however, it was not moving and it had no cardiac activity. The baby was no longer alive. The mother came in having some idea that there was something wrong, but of course that doesn’t make it any easier.

Today reminded me that even though we have an amazing God who loves each one of us very much, there is still sin in the world, which is unfortunate. There is both life and death, but one thing we know for sure is that with God all things are possible and also even though there is death on earth, we will soon be joined with those we have lost and we will live forever. It is my prayer that the mother who lost her baby will not give up hope, but will continue to believe in God and know that everything happens for a reason. Today was a powerful day, and even though we saw death, we also saw life; life is so precious.

So after work today, we made tortillas and then had some people over to spend our last evening with Monica and Nadia. We had a feast for dinner and it was delicious! After dinner I was going to head to bed, but instead I decided to go out with Monica, Nadia, Nate and Walters and a few others. We hung out, danced and had a good time together as we will be missing Monica and Nadia. We also met some really sweet Cameroonians that I hope to keep in touch with. We got back super late and then called it a night.

All I need to say is....GOD IS AMAZING!

Day 41

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Today was a bit slower than usual. After worship today we had a few patients and then it slowed down a bit. The girls were still sleeping because they got down from the mountain late last night. They were super tired and sore so they didn’t come to work today. Mary got the day off today because she worked in the hospital last night. I did a few histories on patients along with physicals. We saw lots of patients with malaria, one that had H. pylori. I believe we did an echo or two. I wanted to go to the post office, but I didn’t get time to because it is market today.

So after work today we went to market and got tons of things to eat/make. We also got all of our essentials that we needed. Today I even got some strawberry jam and I am super excited about it! After market we relaxed and then decided to go to dinner and get some fried rice.

 The fried rice we got this evening was so delicious! Going out to eat always takes a long time, but it is super cheap, I got a huge plate of rice for 500 francs. When we got back from dinner I decided to call it a night, so I headed to bed.

 My 60 cent scarf, I'm pretty proud of it, just saying! haha

 My plate of empty fried rice (although I found one piece of meat) for only 500 francs, it was perfect.

Day 40

Monday, November 14, 2011

It’s Monday, it’s going to be a busy day. When we got to the clinic we already had patients there waiting to be seen. After worship we saw a bunch of patients. The first patient was there for “sugar sugar” which none of us had a clue what it was, but come to find out it means that they have “vaginal itches” who would have guessed?

We also saw a lady today who had a boil on her breast and it was full of pus. Trixy drained it and I helped with getting everything together that she needed in order to get the pus out. She had to make an incision in order to get it out; it was quite interesting if I must say.

We then went and got some lunch.  We did a bunch of orthostatics this afternoon. When we returned we saw a few more patients. One family came in who all had scabies. The little boy ran to me while I was sitting out front and I kinda picked him up and then told him to go back to his mom. Now I feel really bad for doing that after hearing about their situation.

So after work I was bored so I made some popcorn and then went to check on the boy in the hospital with Mary because I thought we were going to be spending the night in the hospital with him. So then after that we came up to the room where Sarah had made fettuccine alfredo, it was so delicious! Then after that we made the left over plantains. We then went down to Bill and Trixy’s and played some cards with Trixy.

Like I said I thought I was going to spend the night in the hospital, but I ended up going to my room to sleep. So I skyped and worked on drawing some things, then called it a night. Goodnight! 

 

Sarah with the alfredo sauce that she made from scratch!

Day 39

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Well I woke up several times this morning, however I decided to go back to bed after waking up, at least until Mary and Tabby came up to make some breakfast. They made oatmeal pancakes, which turned out very well! After we ate breakfast we decided to get ready to go to head to market. We then left for Muea market.

When we got to the market we looked around at all of the clothing and shoe places and just walked around market. We then decided it was time to go shopping for our food. We got a ton of food because we were going to be making dinner for Richard, Leah and Christiane. When we got back from market, I relaxed and took it easy, made some popcorn and then went down to the clinic to hang out with Mary who was covering for Christiane. We then started on our supper.

We made lots of tortillas and lots of veggies for supper. Tabby also made some homemade salsa and boy was it delicious! When they arrived we showed them how to make tacos and we at some supper out on the porch. It was so good! After dinner for dessert we made bananas with chocolate, peanut butter and brown sugar, it was super sweet, but amazingly good again!

After we finished eating we decided to teach them how to play Dutch Blitz, at least until the power went out. Even then however we played under the candlelight and headlamps. We then decided to call it a night, they left and we headed up to our room. The power came on just as they had left. So when I got up to the room, I got ready for bed and talked to Lizzy for a bit and then I got to talk with my parents and my brother, then decided to head to bed. It was a relaxing day!

 

 

This is only part of our delicious meal that we made! This was soo good!

Day 38

Sabbath, November 12, 2011

Today I woke up refreshed! Got ready to go to the Volunteer Fair at the University of Buea, we were going to go with Trixy, but come to find out she went to church instead, so Sarah and I ventured down to UB to find the fair. We got to the gates at UB and we saw another white man who was also headed to the fair, but he had to find the driver to take him, so we walked with a Hugo to the fair, lets just say the campus is huge! We found the Peace Corp Volunteers and visited with them and then we went to the debate room with the panel. They spoke in English at first and then there was a lot more in French. We stayed for a good 2 ½ hours then we decided to head back up to the clinic. The discussion was super interesting, if you would like to know more about it just ask me :). On our way back we stopped and grabbed an ice cream bar.

When we got back to the clinic, Nadia and Monica were heading to Limbe, so I decided to go with them. We took a taxi with 7 of us in there, 2 in the front plus the driver and then 4 in the back; we definitely get nice and cozy in there. About an hour later we arrived in Limbe. We went to the craft store and then headed to the beach. Since it wasn’t very nice at the beach we didn’t stay long. We then decided to go get some food to eat at Arne’s. And boy was it delicious! We had pizza, iced coffee, plantains and crepes. I definitely ate way too much! By the time we finished eating there it was about 7:00. 

 

Mile 6 Beach

It was a beautiful evening at the beach!

I love you all! :)

 And miss you all as well! You know who you are!

 My amazing iced coffee!

 Monica feeding the little monkey, the monkey is adorable!

 Me feeding the monkey, I kinda want to take it home with me!

 Arne's cafe in the evening, it was really neat looking!

And lastly our delicious pizzas!

We again piled in the taxi, however Monica and Nadia bought these big old baskets, which was basically another person! So yeah it was super close quarters, definitely don’t have any personal space. It was a long ride home is all I have to say. When we got back Bill and Trixy and the girls were watching a movie. I finished watching it then helped the girls pack for the mountain. Then came back to the room, showered, relaxed and went to bed!

Day 37

Friday, November 11, 2011

Today started out really well. We had worship, then after worship Leah gave me the IV injection for the little girl. I missed the first vein, but I got it on the second try. I felt pretty bad!

After the injection I went and joined the doctors in the consultation room. It was so busy today! We saw several people with malaria and another with H. pylori, and another with hemorrhoids. It was a pretty good day…until I found out that everyone had received a package except for me and then my day just went down hill from there. It’s been one of those days.

Anyways, we did 3 echos today and then after work, the student doctor gave us a presentation on the urinary system and I gave a presentation on tanner’s stages, which just added to my already rough day.

After clinic, I went and ate lunch then we went around town for a while. Then by the time we got back it was time to start dinner, so we made some spaghetti and garlic bread and potatoes. It was very good. Then after dinner we ate some bananas, and mints (American ones) and watched a movie. Then I wrote in my blog and decided to call it a night, because it has been one of those days! Goodnight world!

Day 36

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Well today I did my first IV injection! I hit the vein first try and it felt super good, I was really nervous at first, but after it was all said and done, I felt super good! Today there was a student doctor from University of Buea. I was with them in the consult room all morning and it was really interesting the way that he went about things.

So we saw some patients with malaria, erectile dysfunction, a teenager who was still wetting the bed and asthma. We also had a lady come in for an echo which was nice, because Trixy asked me to find the placenta, which I found it, but I wasn’t able to trace it so I asked for some help from her! It was still pretty awesome! Anyways it was a good day.

After work today Mary and I made some popcorn and then took it up to the conference room and hung out with Andrea while she taught her antenatal classes to one patient. It was interesting. So we decided not to do the bible study this week because we were going to head to dinner shortly after the class.

We went to A-1 Bakery for dinner tonight down in Molyko. All of the things I wanted to order were unavailable…oh the joys of living in Africa. So I got an egg and mayonnaise sandwich. I was one of the first people to order my meal. The last people who came about 30 minutes late were the first ones to get their food. This sweet lady brought our food out and asked what we had ordered, when she left I could hear her headed to the kitchen and she was not happy, it sounded like that lady who had taken our orders got it all wrong! Anyways, so we finally got out food, and it was slightly disorganized, but it all worked out and I’m definitely not starving!

After dinner, we all piled in the rig and then headed home. When we got back I went straight to bed, I was tired!

Day 35

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Today I worked in the pharmacy in the morning because Te Claire had to go to the bank of some sort like that. It was slightly stressful because it was only me and I was also being the cashier along with trying to find where all of the drugs were located. It was rough; thankfully Trixy helped me the first little bit, then Te Claire finally showed up! After that I still helped her out until we went and made falari with Helen!

We made falari with Helen and it took a little over and hour. After we made it we poured it into bottles and put it in the refrigerator.  Once we finished that we ate some groundnuts and headed back to the clinic. When we got back to the clinic Trixy was busy with patients, so I went in and got in on a few. We saw a few patients with her. She then told us to go and do the injection on this one couple. Mary did the first one on the lady who was a nurse herself, and she was such a sweetheart. Then when I went to give her husband the injection he was super nervous so Te Claire who is an accountant came over and gave him the injection herself. So I didn’t get to unfortunately, but oh well!

After clinic today Mary and Tabby were making some popcorn so we took it up to the little boys that Tabby tutors and we all enjoyed a bowl of popcorn, it was super good! Then after that I went back to the room and hung out, ate some potatoes and then just relaxed. We then went down to Bill and Trixy’s for a bit then called it a night. Nothing too exciting happened today!

Day 34

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Today was pretty busy, but not super busy. We saw a patient this morning that had a boil on his knee and it was infected, so we tried draining it, we didn’t use any pain relievers, and we just cut him open. It was rather exciting, but not much came out of it. I then went and helped Te Claire in the pharmacy.

Nadia and I made grilled cheese for lunch and it was quite delicious! Then this afternoon I again helped out in the pharmacy, however we did see one patient with an interesting case, however we couldn’t help him so we sent him to a surgeon up at the general hospital.

After work today, Mary and I went to market to get a few things before all of us girls were going to go together. We got some ice cream to those still in the clinic, but they had already left to go to the market. Mary and I dropped off what we had then went back to market to find them because Te Claire was making dinner for us. We found them! So we went and go the ingredients to make dinner, along with some falari to make some tomorrow!

When we got back we all pitched in in order to make dinner, we had plantains and some other African dish that I cant spell. However, it all turned out really well! Then a few of us girls decided to go to the bakery up the hill. So we got a taxi, when we got to the top the taxi driver told us he wanted 800 rather than 400 which is what he initially told us, and we told him no, paid him 400 and got out. When we go to the bakery, everything we wanted was out, so we decided to get apples instead.

We had apples and Bambi (chocolate/hazelnut) and some fried plantains. It was a good way to end the evening around 7:30. When I got back to the room I worked on a little something for someone J and then I called it a night, because I haven’t been feeling too well. Anyways goodnight everyone!

Oh and I just went to the bathroom, and yeah big spider! Like the size of the base of a mug, it was huge! Thanks to Sarah, she took a picture then killed it, sorry little spider, but I don’t do well with you all around!

 HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 33

Monday, November 7, 2011

Today I got another cup of coffee because one of the interns was nice enough to give me a Starbucks instant coffee! It was super good let me tell you! This morning we were kind of busy. I helped all of the doctors out today. We saw many people with rashes, two of the rashes I was able to identify. We had one man with herpes zoster and then a pregnant woman with varicella, what are the chances, but then again we had about 6 patients today that had some sort of skin rash.
The guy with the inflamed knee came in today and we tried to remove more fluid, but when we tried to remove it, we didn’t have much luck, nothing came out. Poor guy, it looked extremely painful!
So today after lunch and eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I got to do my first IM injection that was so exciting for me! It felt so good to do it! I was going to do another one, but the guy really didn’t like shots and he already had some mental problems, so I just let Christiane do it.
Monica went and got her hair braided today. And Nadia and I walked up to Clerk’s quarters to get some things at the bakery. We decided to take a taxi back however! When we got back we went and hung out with Tabby and the kids she was tutoring. After that Nadia and I made some dinner, we had spaghetti and garlic bread and it was all so delicious. Then for dessert I had a banana with peanut butter on it. It was delicious! Then after dinner, we watched a movie, although I didn’t really watch too much. Then after the movie, I decided to call it a night, blogged, skyped and now its time to head to bed. Goodnight.

The beautiful sunset this evening!

 

 Spaghetti and garlic bread, it was very good, our sauce turns out different every time!

 The last four pictures are actually from Friday evening, I don't think they were uploaded, but this plate of whatever it was...lets just say it was amazing!

Day 32

Sunday, November 6, 2011

I actually woke up early today, that rarely happens on a Sunday I must admit! I woke up took a shower and did some laundry. Today laundry even gave me blisters! After I finished I went and enjoyed a cup of coffee with Bill and Trixy and visited with them for quite some time! I then went up and made some peanuts because I was starving! Then we decided to head to market.

We got a bag full of things today at market, so that was successful. We even got some fresh baked bread and boy was that delicious! As soon as we got back we had one loaf eaten between the 6 of us and a half jar of jelly. So good!

Shortly after we finished the bread we made some cookies to take to Richards house and once the cookies were finished we headed for Richards, they were pretty much done by the time we got there! We sat around for a bit visiting then Richard made us so food so we all ate together! We had authentic African food and it was actually quite good. After dinner Tabby and I were doing dishes and she showed me why she hadn’t finished her whole plate…well that was because there was a worm in her food. I definitely lost my appetite. However, Richard did a great job and the food was really good, he’s a sweet guy and would have been embarrassed if he would have known about it!

After we finished with the dishes we taught them how to play Uno so we played for a couple hours. Africans love to change the rules of the game as we play, so that was very entertaining, but lots of fun! When we decided to head out, Richard walked us all the way back to the clinic. What a nice guy!

When we got back it was late, but fortunately I got to talk to my parents for an hour and then we had a three-way conversation with Brandon and Jamie as well! It was so nice talking to all of them and catching up! I miss them all so very much and hearing their voices just made me feel so much better, it made my night for sure! I also got to chat a little with my best friend, which was really nice as well! I miss you all and love you all very much! I can’t wait for you to come visit!

 Our delicious meal, which it was quite good, minus the little worm after the fact! haha oops!

 Richard did such a good job cooking, everything was amazing!

The group playing Uno together, it was so much fun!

 Richard and his brother, they were great hosts!