Winding down

We are over halfway through our last full week here. We will be working Monday and Tuesday and then heading to Mombossa on the coast of the Indian Ocean for two days before heading out. It’s crazy how fast things have gone. We have been getting a little sad to be leaving…this has really been a fantastic experience. We have met some amazing people, learned a ton, and really grown as a couple and as Christians. This week has been good so far overall. One patient that we discussed previously with TB meningitis that both Sara and I worked with came back by the ward to say hello today. He looked great, completely well. It is definitely gratifying to see patients that sick come back looking healthy. On the sadder side, the patient that has meningitis and possibly rabies died a couple days ago.
One slightly humorous and nearly tragic story from this week happened Sunday night (about 10 minutes after I finished blogging about what a quiet weekend it had been). I was called in that a young guy had been found in a field by his friends after drinking a ridiculous amount of alcohol. He was completely passed out and was unresponsive. His friends had the bright idea that they should revive him by pouring a ton of porridge into him (reportedly about 1/2 gallon). Clearly, being unable to swallow, at least half of that ended up in his lungs. He came in unresponsive and in serious respiratory distress. We suctioned copious amounts of this stuff from his airway and his stomach and had to put him on a mechanical ventillator. Thankfully, he woke up the next morning and was off the breathing tube later that day.
One interesting feature of the hospital is where the patients spend their time. Often, unless the patients are extremely sick, they will walk/wheel themselves outside (IV poles and everything) and sit in the sun. They will do this for multiple hours during the day. I don’t blame them, because the hospital ward is a crowded place. This is also a good indicator about when they are getting close to being well enough to go home. Everyone calls this activity “basking.” A related fact is that patients cannot go home until they pay at least a portion of their hospital bill. Sometimes we will see a discharged patient basking for the next few days while their relative gets the money. This at first seemed a little heartless but the hospital can’t stay afloat unless they get money from the patients. Tonight is my second to last call…amazing that the time has gone so fast.

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