Out for Sarah's Birthday

 

With the Birthday girl

It was an incredibly stressful day on the wards today.  Lots going on, and it is never ending.  I had a patient that I was managing die last night.  I was getting to know him and he was improving.  He was septic from a diabetic foot wound, had a DVT, and was super dehydrated.  We do not know why he passed, but we are speculating it was from a PE.  He was supposed to be receiving Heparin, but we are out of stock.  He was the first patient that I truly knew, and I am really dissappointed that we could not help him more.

After rounds, I went to the Sally Test Pediatric Center to destress.  Sally Test is where the children from the pediatrick ward go to play and just forget about their illness for a few hours.  We got to play outside today, and I made a new friend named Wesley.  He is about 5 years old and quite rambunctious.  He was riding on a tricycle when I came out to meet all of them.  We shook hands, and then I taught him how to do a fist bump and explode.  Myra and I demonstrated how to do it properly.  When it came time for him to try, he punched me as hard as he could fist to fist and then exploded.  He and all the other children there are adorable.  We pushed the boys around on bikes for a bit and then headed home.

Thank goodness it was a half day because after lunch I went and crashed for about 2 hours.  Then Molly, MyNa, and I all chatted for a long time.  Kenya buddy bonding!

We went to Mama Mia's for dinner again to celebrate Sarah's birthday.  It was a very interesting meal.  it has been storming all afternoon, and I mean rhinos and elephants (that is what is said here instead of cats and dogs).  The power went out, so we dined in the dark.  There was only 1 candle lighting our huge table of 10.  The power outage affected what we could choose for our meal as well, nothing from the oven (no pizza, no garlic bread, etc).  While waiting for our slow cooked meal, the midwife from Mother Baby Hospital told us some pretty funny stories.  Her name is Johanna, and she is from the Netherlands.  She and her husband have boisterous personalities.  When I had to go to the bathroom, I had to have a waiter escourt me and then take a candle in with me.  I did find it funny that the bathroom doors were labeled 'Boss' and 'Better Half'.  Smart Kenyans!  The restaurant staff decided to sing to Sarah as they brought out the suprise birthday cake.  Did I mention that the table had a Lazy Susan :)

I want to share a story about a little boy I made friends with in the Nyayo wards.  He cannot be much older than 2 years, and he is here on the pediatrics side being treated for I don't know what.  On Wednesday, he was running out into the waiting area between the wards screaming and pitching a fit for his mom.  I could see that he had an IV line in and was just miserable.  I tried to say hi to him that day "Hibari matoto", but he wanted nothing to do with me.  On Thursday, I saw him out between the wards again, and this time he was with his dad.  I was working up some patients, trying to get away from the horrid smell, and I said hi to him again.  He still did not reply back.  I went back to work and took out a banana for a mid-morning snack.  That got his attention.  He started smiling at me and got down from his bench to come over and visit me.  I gave him a blue lollipop which made his day.  he stood by me the rest of the time, not talking, just sucking on his lollipop.  Building bridges? or tempting children with candy?  I'll leave that one for you to decide.