July 7th and 8th: I'm a little behind on my blogging since my days have been JAM PACKED with many exciting things that I am much too exhausted by the evenings! So I'll combine Thursday and Friday.
Both days were spent in the main theaters yet again. We found a doctor we really care for, an anesthesiologist named Dr. Seco. He has been excellent -answering any and all of our questions! He also has been great about quizzing us as well! He had me draw out the entire Krebs cycle and questioned me on other biochemical pathways! He explains everything he is doing and everything the surgeons are up to as well. There are medical school students in this program as well and it is always fun to listen to the questions they ask him and the questions he shoots at them! It gives Whitney and I plenty of topics to look up when we return to our compound in the afternoons (we keep a notebook on us and scribble different terms we would like to learn more about!)
The surgeries are really interesting...but the transition between them is often a bit slow and our time spent there doesn't exactly seem to fly by. On Thursday we decided to venture down to the maternity ward. We were hoping to see a birth but as we were walking by the 'cubicles' of delivery areas, I noticed a little nugget of a precious bundle on one of those heated newborn beds. I was with Phoung and Candice (Phoung just finished her first year of med school and Candice had spent the day in the maternity ward). We noticed a oxygen tube laying beside the little baby boy with a piece of tape attached.
The baby boy was blue -scalp, fingers, toes, everything. He was still covered in a layer of the afterbirth, all sticky and clammy. He had a blanket around him but he had wiggled free from it enough that it barely covered him. He wasn't crying, which was frightening. I got so riled up. Why wasn't anyone attending to this little child? I was so so so angry.
All three of us put on our gloves and tried to position the oxygen tube as best we could, rewrap him, and get him to show some sort of life. I didn't want to leave him. I stood beside him for quite awhile but finally had to leave because our ride home from the hospital doesn't wait for maternal instincts or emotional attachment. I've been wondering about that little boy ever since. I have no idea if he made it or not, I sincerely hope so. It's really REALLY aggravating to see such poor patient care. Nobody becomes an advocate for their patients. People die, young and old, and they are all so conditioned to it that it doesn't affect them. They just move forward. I guess I can't blame them, it must just be a defense mechanism. But it is so extremely hard to see firsthand. -to see a suffering baby put on the back burner because of his bad condition... Oh it breaks my little heart!
Throughout these little doses of horrific moments, it really brings me closer to God. I'm finally a step away from the easy street that I am accustomed to and starting to see some of the REAL hardships of the world. Even though I am powerless in the situations I have been exposed to here so far, I feel God's presence in the situation more than I ever thought possible. Strangely, it is amazingly inspiring. I hope that God will choose to work through me while I am here, giving me the strength to make a difference in His name.
It is enough to keep me awake at night. Thinking too many thoughts. Too many thoughts. Oh for Heaven's sake I just can't step away from the images of the day...But this quote brought me peace one night:
"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much" - Mother Teresa
Everyone here seems to experience so much during our mornings at the hospital. We all seem to come home in a lull, just in our own thoughts. Patients passing away in the ICU because they couldn't afford dialysis, violence/rape victims checking in to casualties (the emergency room). But we know it would be good for us to get out and see Mombasa to try to escape the heavy cloud of the day's experiences.
On Thursday we went to a beach/resort area called White Sands that is annoyingly populated with aggressive bartering vendors. We all came home with loads of souvenirs -myself carrying a heavy table all the way home. It just might have to become my carry-on item. Oops! ;)
On Friday we all went to a 7:00 showing of The Lion King! So so so so great! It was in 3D, go figure! We were all nearly brought to tears when Mufasa died in the stampede. And all laughed at "Asante sana, squashed banana!" from Grafiki the monkey! ('Asante sana' means 'thank you very much' in swahili). We all bonded for awhile back at the compound and some of the crew here went out to explore the nightlife, I opted for bed instead -emotionally and physically spent from my first full week here in Mombasa.
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