Nalerigu Day 12

Nisa Nuri (Good evening),

Today was a much better day (although maybe will seem more boring to y'all). The majority of my babies were doing well this morning on rounds! I was even able to send several home. The most exciting discharge was our little baby who previously had severe abdominal distention and concern for possible necrotizing enterocolitis. He has been tolerating his feedings well and abdomen has returned to near normal!! Another baby with severe malaria who had major fluid overload was also significantly improved today. It’s wonderful to see some children get better. It gives some hope for the work we’re doing here.

After rounds, we headed to the theatre “operating room” for procedures. I did a cyst removal above a woman’s right eyebrow with some help from Terry the medical student and John the family medicine resident. It was fun! I got it all out in one piece which is critical. We had a few other procedures to do and then headed back to the house for lunch. My lunch included rice, Ghanian chocolate ice cream (see pic) and of course, iced tea. At lunch, we were greeted by a new staff member from West Virginia named Hollynn. It’s always exciting to have new people come to join our crew here!

Following lunch, we relaxed for a short time, took Hollynn for a tour of the campus and then came back to the main house for some fun. On our way back from the hospital, we walked by the nutrition center (place for the malnourished children to come for food/portage). We took one picture of a beautiful child, showed it to the mother at which time the rest of the mothers decided they all wanted a picture of their child. Of course, this was wonderful for me since I’m gathering pictures of the children, but did become a bit overwhelming. Overall, it was a blast! I’m making kwashiorkor and marasmus (severe malnutrition) my diseases of the day. Read about these diseases on the web to learn more!

When the weather improved, Jessie, Hollynn and I headed to the village to do some wandering. We stopped at Joyce’s shop again since I have plans for her to make a skirt for me with some of the fabrics I’ve gathered. She’s just wonderful and has become a great friend. We continued around the village which was another fun experience. The children are all fascinated by the sulamingas (white person). So, we were followed around the village by a mass of children. The smallest child tried to keep up with us, but tripped on the ground in the process and started crying. I picked her up and she placed her head on my shoulder. I then continued to carry her throughout our excursion until she fell asleep on my shoulder. We eventually ended up back at Joyce’s shop where I dropped the sleeping child off to be sent to her family.

Joyce made the children stay with her until we were able to get away to head back to the hospital. Little did we know that several of the little munchkins continued to follow. When we returned to our house, we soon found a small group of children had followed us. We helped them find their way home and returned back in time for dinner. Dinner was leftovers which meant more rice for me as well as another dose of chocolate icecream. I’m now uploading pictures and finishing my blog in preparation for laundry and sleep.

Interesting point of the day…I changed my clothes three times and took two showers today. I got blood on my scrubs this morning, so showered and changed. When the children followed us back to our house after the village, one sat on my lap and proceeded to urinate on me. I showered after that one as well. The third change came when my delicious chocolate icecream dripped all over my shirt. That one was worth it! Overall, everyone here has been kept entertained by my frequent tiny disasters. I'm glad somewhat is enjoying it! :)

Tomorrow I’m on call once again (and not very excited considering my last call). Please pray that this one is better than the last!!

Today I saw a man with a large growth on his face. He came for an elective procedure and did not have insurance, so would have to pay out of pocket to have the lesion removed. The procedure was to cost 35 Cedis which is around $25 in the US. He told us that he only had 6 Cedis and could not afford the procedure. He was sent home until he was able to save enough to have the procedure done. I’m thankful today, are you?

Miss you all!

Jill

PS This is a “shout out” to Stephanie who will be reading this blog after we return home. We have vowed not to read each other’s blogs as to not skew the process. Hi Steph!! Hope you are well!