First Day at Work: Broken System

I woke up at 6:45 AM after a night of restless sleep. I was filled with nervous thoughts of my first day at work. What could I expect? Amputations? Intense surgeries? Was medicine even right for me?

Having taken a nice cold shower the night before, I got out of bed and slipped into my Medic to Africa tshirt and a nerdy pair of cargo pants (no offense to anyone who genuinely wears cargo pants). I had a delicious omelet (yes, we do have African cooks who make the most delicious and flavorful foods. Marya, I don’t even have to add a grain of salt! It’s all properly salted!). The mistake I made was having two cups of coffee.

We walked over to the hospital at 7:55 AM and met with 3 physician assistants (PAs) in a room before the doctor walked in. I was a little thrown off by how pretentious these Portland, OR-based Pas were but I then realized two things: 1) they were from Portland, OR and 2) this is the medical world. Obviously, the medical profession is centered on helping others for the betterment of humankind but the process of becoming a physician is rather dog-eat-dog. Anyway, these couldn’t distract me from my first day at work at the St. Joseph’s Mission Hospital.

 CHEESY FIRST-DAY-AT-WORK PICTURE

 its sideways but honestly, the upload time is preventing me from doing anything about it

 

The doctor walked in around 8:15 AM and gave us all a brief on the patients who had died over the weekend. Having worked in the medical environment previously, I was well aware of the element of detachment necessary for medicine. Compassion is a principle characteristic of a doctor but it is integral to understand that death is natural. From death comes life – which is why it was befitting for me to spend my first day in the maternity ward.

In the maternity ward, I saw about 7 patients, one of which was only 11 or 12 years old (having her first child). All of the women had c-sections and the doctor detailed as to what conditions called for a c-section cut down the center of the stomach or horizontally over the uterus. We even say a woman, who had already delivered, have a midline c-section which was infected; therefore it looked like she was still pregnant because of the excessive inflammation. The doctor squeezed her stitched and bright yellow pus came out of her stitching. 

Following rounds in the maternity ward, we went to the surgical ward and it was in this ward that something terrifying happened. We were looking at the wounds of various patients – mostly gangrene patients but also women who fell into fires (GB, yes… even more people falling into fires). One of the patients had a skin disorder in which it looked like coral was growing on his feet. What I didn’t notice was that the windows were all closed in the patient room therefore there was no draft. The combination of the lack of air flow and the dehydrating effects of the tea starting caused me to feel light-headed. The room began spinning, my body temperature spiked, and the exposure on my vision was turned up extremely high. The other Medics to Africa students noticed that I started becoming pale and they quickly caught me as I was beginning to faint. They took me to a bench nearby and gave me some water. I had never experienced anything like that before and I am so thankful to have had my coworkers nearby. 

We came back to the house around lunchtime and I found myself just drained from the day. Between patients, I learned that there were many flaws in the African healthcare system. For example, I noticed that many women had to endure spinal taps as their form of anesthesia for their c-sections. Using general anesthesia would have required an oxygen tank that the hospital could not afford. Furthermore, patients come to St. Joseph’s from other hospitals. Sometimes, the doctors from other hospitals misinform St. Joseph’s on the patient’s condition so the patients can be admitted (to “take the burden” off themselves). Consequently, because of the misinformation, the doctors at St. Joseph’s are not even aware on how to properly diagnose the patient. The system is broken.

My apologies for the obscenely long post but my first day was rather eventful. I’m excited and anxious to see what else is in store for me.

IM IN KENYA

 first, i want to thank everyone who is following my blog/leaving comments. it is so heartwarming to see feedback from people who mean a lot to me.

okay, let me breakdown the past few days for you:

9 hr flight, chicago to amsterdam --> 14 hrs in amsterdam --> 9 hr flight, amsterdam to nairobi --> 10 hr drive, nairobi to migori

I WAS SO EXHAUSTED WITH I ARRIVED IN MIGORI.

 arrival at the kenyan airport. after my hours of traveling, this looked like the gates of heaven.

 this is Joshua Omolo, the program coordinator. we had to drive for 10 hours together.. he wasn't asleep. i was low battery and my timing was bad. haaaa





right now, im only adding one picture because our internet connection is disturbingly slow so the upload time is equally as disturbing.

i got into migori last night and met the 7 other girls ill be living with. we are all from the states and its exciting to see everyone come together and share experiences. they are all extremely friendly and we are all about the same age. my room (ill upload pictures later) is a single with a mosquito net over the bed. the living quarters are much nicer than i expected, considering we are in a third world shower. my cold shower was actually quite refreshing.

this morning, we went into town to get water. each girl has their own 5 liter water bottle and needs to refill once finished. the walk there was incredibly hot and carrying that water bottle back from town was gruesome. many of the people cannot speak english and the little english that they do know is "HI!", to which i respond, "hello!" and they respond with "IM FINE!". this dialogue occurs principally with younger children. oh yeah, we don't work on weekends. in fact, next weekend we are going on a safari! i promise that these pictures will slowly be added to blog.. my patience runs quite low with all this. right now, there are about 15 african children waiting outside the house, hoping that we come play. i think i'll go say hi but in sum: day 1 in africa (i guess day 2, if you want to count the ride from the airport to migori) has been fantastic and eye-opening in the sense that i am watching life spawn from minimal means, yet these people look much happier than those in america.

tomorrow is my first day at work, updates soon to come.

Venice of the North

I didn't know that Amsterdam is known as "The Venice of the North". After the 4 hr tour I just took, I completely understand. The city is incredible because of not only its architecture but also the canal system. There are even homes right on the canals. One day I want to travel here for a longer period of time. Since I wasn't with anyone for the tour, I found myself taking pictures of myself in front of windmills and bridges; needless to say, I felt ridiculous. Also, I'm sure you already know but the Europeans make so much fun of America, its pretty funny. Also also, I past by a coffee shop with a marijuana plant in the window. The drinking age is 18. That is all I have to say on that.

I'll be including pictures later, simply because I don't want to be fumbling around with cords and such in the middle of the airport. Oh yeah, I'm in the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. It's also unsurprisingly beautiful. Honestly, Europe is consistently putting America to shame thus far. But I love my country. and my tribal scarf.

When I was going through customs before and after my tour around Amsterdam, I liked listening to sentimental music on my ipod. Then I would look around at everyone saying good bye to their loved ones--  I was putting a soundtrack to their special moment. It made me feel giddy. It made me smile.

Final Touches

This morning, my mom walked into my room at 6:45 AM with two glasses of chai. She sat on the edge of my bed and gave me a loving look accompanied by an endearing, "Your room is a mess." Mess is an understatement. My room is an amalgamation of dorm unpacking and Africa packing.

Just a few hours after my mom's tea surprise, Hannah Schmitt came to my house to, essentially, watch me pack. She has been a best friend of mine since 8th grade and she wanted to be able to see my face before I leave. With Hannah, I ran around Schaumburg and Barrington dropping $$$$ everywhere in preparation for the trip. Having her around was really stellar because in between finals at the end of the term, packing my dormitory, and packing for Africa, I haven't had a time to breathe. Her presence calmed me. If you know her, then you definitely know what I'm talking about. I even got to video chat with Ally and Isolina, my other pillars in my life. I'll be thinking about them while on this trip.

On a more relevant note --

Things to pack:
- white v-neck shirts
- cargo pants
- quick dry towel
- I just got too lazy to actually complete the entire list. But I'm sure that as the entries ensue, the necessities I packed will eventually come to light.

My 7 lb maltese poodle just snuggled against my thigh as I'm typing. He can fit in my suitcase.... I am becoming eager/excited/nervous/optimistic/all of the adjectives for the next few hours. My next post will likely be from Kenya (I arrive there on Saturday) and I will be sure to include pictures of my city tour around Amsterdam and my arrival in Nairobi.

Also, I bought the most hideous shoes today.

I leave for Amsterdam in 24 hrs

I probably spent too much time trying to pick the right font and font colors for this. It's just another way I can procrastinate from the nerve-wrecking experience that is packing for a trip to Africa.

Usually when I go on trips, especially ones to other continents, I travel with the comfort of knowing that my family is just an arms-length away. I'm going to Migori, Kenya to work at a St. Joseph's Mission Hospital for 3 weeks, followed by a week on a safari tour of the Serengeti. Admittedly, it's much easier to type these words than it is to fully realize them. I don't think reality will settle in until my first day at the hospital in Africa, in all honesty.

I'm keeping this blog for a number of reasons. First, I want to have a record of my experiences there in Africa. Pictures will, hopefully, be posted regularly so my readers can have a context of what I'm talking about (I suppose its a bit bold of me to assume that I'll have readers...). Second, maintaining a blog will help me keep track of how I change over my stay. I suspect that this trip will be "life-changing" and will "probably change me forever", so I want to monitor those changes over time. I still haven't packed yet. This blog will also be used to keep my friends and family back home in the loop -- I think it will help my parents sleep at night if they are able to check on me daily, even if it has to be through the interface of a blog.

When I arrive in Amsterdam, I have a 14 hour layover. My dad, the mastermind behind this trip, has scheduled a city tour for me, which I am quite excited for. I guess I'll talk about that more when it happens. Also, sidebar: I will not be quite as punctual as my entries continue. I feel a first-post-ever-on-the-internet obligation to be a bit formal in my first post. But I digress.

I'll miss everyone terribly and I will undoubtedly change in the next few weeks. But those changes won't hurt me -- they will make me stronger and wiser.

In the meantime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0