As I've mentioned before, I'm currently not staying near the hospital, but am staying closer to the capitol so that I can chase down the letters I need to for the coming medical team. I need five of them (letters that is). The first letter I need is pretty important because it gets the ball rolling and I can't do anything without that first letter.
I requested the letter before I went home in November, hoping that it would be sitting here waiting for me when I got back. Oh, silly Emily. When I got back and realized I didn't have the letter yet, I had my friend ( a Sierra Leonean who helps with the teams when they come) get on the phone and see what he could find out. We ended up sending two people to the area to get the letter....but with no success. I am absolutely NOT saying this was the case, but it appears he may have been holding out for a bribe. Well, I decided I'd head over there (about a 4 hour drive) myself to find out what the hold up was.
Some of you who know me, have travelled with me.....or really even just ridden around my home town with me, may know that I was born with an unfortunate lack of a sense of direction. Literally. Zero. I still get turned around and slightly lost in the town I've lived in for 15 years. And it is NOT a big town. One of my biggest (and probably most realistic) fears about living over her is taking a left at the "that one village there" when I should have taken a right and ending up in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, no fuel, no water, and a full bladder. Nightmare!
Since I try to live by the "safety first" motto (besides moving to a third world country with bad water, little health care and lots of animals that want to kill you) I usually take someone along with me keep me from getting lost and to help me change any of those pesky flat tires. (Although I got new tires on our container and I literally get comments every time I drive my car about how "strong" my tires are). Thanks Aaron!!
I digress. The guy who came with me this time is someone I've known for awhile and has accompanied me on road trips before. It's always a hoot. The differences in culture often make it appear as though some of the Sierra Leoneans have no social filter but this guy...wow. Definitely no filter. He keeps me on my toes, but also makes for interesting road trips.
This guy's M.O. is that he asks a ton of questions.....and then makes strong statements. We'll sit in silence for a while and then all of the sudden you can tell exactly what track his mind is on by the questions he asks. Here are some of my favorite questions/comments of the trip.
"Emily, why didn't you get married while you were home in America?" (For the 2 months I was there)
"Emily, someone told me that if a woman is wearing a bracelet around her ankle, it means she's a lesbian. Is that true?"
"Emily, forgive me for using this language, but you are more beautiful than your father." Sorry Dad! He's not into you. :) I'm telling you, I'm way better looking over here. The marriage proposals from the street make me think that my American passport is a nice accessory.
"Emily, is it true that you cannot relieve yourself (urinate) on the street in America?"
"Emily, sometimes when I've worked with Americans, I will be with them for four, maybe five hours and they never urinate. Do you all take drugs for that?"
"Emily, is it true that if you have an earring in your nose, it means you're a prostitute? (Me: No. I really wanted to get my nose pierced a few years ago.) Him: I would not talk to you if you had your nose pierced. I mean, I would greet you, but I wouldn't really talk to you. (Me: Ouch)
"Emily, if you have children in Sierra Leone would you breastfeed them the way our women do?" (For those of you who haven't been here....let's just say that there is no battle over breastfeeding in public here. It's a free for all (Me: Er, um, eh....?)
Anyway, those are just a few snippets of the 8 hours in my car. :) Incidentally we got the letter we were after so....win win!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Why Hello Mr. Ambassador!
Last night I met the American Ambassador for Sierra Leone. He was just delightful. I found out about a meeting a the Ambassador's house in which he was going to be discussing several different things. Since I was in town I decided to hit up the meeting with some friends of mine.
We got to the house and saw that the terrace was set up for a lovely little garden party. Cookies and juice?? Yes please! (Incidentally while my friends and I were waiting for the meeting to start we went up to snag some refreshments. About 5 minutes later they started the meeting and while going through the agenda for the evening mentioned that at the end of the meeting there would be some refreshments while we socialized.) Oops! Jumped the gun on that one. Party foul.
We heard from various different sections of the embassy. The chief economic guy spoke about doing business in Sierra Leone and was I felt, ridiculously upbeat. I can imagine fewer things more frustrating than trying to run a for profit business here (it's hard enough to try a not for profit business) but he was very encouraging. Apparently the GDP? (or some form of measuring the prosperity of the country) went from 5% last year to 52% this year....which is an astronomical climb. He said it would be one of, if not the largest increase in the world. Way to go Sierra Leone! A large portion of this is due to the oil that was recently discovered off the coast, as well as the mining that's taking place here now.
The biggest reason I wanted to go to the meeting was to hear about the upcoming elections. Like in America, this is an election year for Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, the likelihood that the elections here will turn violent is a little bit more than in America (although it must be noted that during the last elections the power went from one party to the other party, and they still remained non-violent). It turns out that they actually didn't talk about security very much during the formal meeting so a few friends and I accosted the security detail after it was over and peppered him with questions. He really didn't say much that I wasn't expecting. "We're monitoring the situation" "You should avoid having teams come in during that time" "Might be a nice time to take a vacation" "We'll let you know if things escalate." etc. He did however, say two things that stuck out to me.
1. Security begins with you so you should have a personal plan in the event of some kind of emergency. Hum. So this year I'm DEFINITELY going to let the embassy know that I'm here! As far as a bigger plan....I'm going to have to think about that one.
2. When I asked him about the elections this year versus 5 years ago, he mentioned that one thing that concerned him was that this year, with all the money coming in from mining, etc. there was a lot more at stake than during the last election. It might make people more desperate. Hmm. Some good things to chew on.
This weekend I was out and about with some people and there were some political parades going on. On the one hand, I really love seeing people excited about their candidate, excited about being involved in the progression of their country. On the other hand, the war is still looming in my mind and big groups of people congregating (especially when a lot of them are wearing masks) can be a little intimidating.
Suffice it to say, while I'm not afraid, I have decided it's time to start praying for peaceful elections once again! :)
We got to the house and saw that the terrace was set up for a lovely little garden party. Cookies and juice?? Yes please! (Incidentally while my friends and I were waiting for the meeting to start we went up to snag some refreshments. About 5 minutes later they started the meeting and while going through the agenda for the evening mentioned that at the end of the meeting there would be some refreshments while we socialized.) Oops! Jumped the gun on that one. Party foul.
We heard from various different sections of the embassy. The chief economic guy spoke about doing business in Sierra Leone and was I felt, ridiculously upbeat. I can imagine fewer things more frustrating than trying to run a for profit business here (it's hard enough to try a not for profit business) but he was very encouraging. Apparently the GDP? (or some form of measuring the prosperity of the country) went from 5% last year to 52% this year....which is an astronomical climb. He said it would be one of, if not the largest increase in the world. Way to go Sierra Leone! A large portion of this is due to the oil that was recently discovered off the coast, as well as the mining that's taking place here now.
The biggest reason I wanted to go to the meeting was to hear about the upcoming elections. Like in America, this is an election year for Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, the likelihood that the elections here will turn violent is a little bit more than in America (although it must be noted that during the last elections the power went from one party to the other party, and they still remained non-violent). It turns out that they actually didn't talk about security very much during the formal meeting so a few friends and I accosted the security detail after it was over and peppered him with questions. He really didn't say much that I wasn't expecting. "We're monitoring the situation" "You should avoid having teams come in during that time" "Might be a nice time to take a vacation" "We'll let you know if things escalate." etc. He did however, say two things that stuck out to me.
1. Security begins with you so you should have a personal plan in the event of some kind of emergency. Hum. So this year I'm DEFINITELY going to let the embassy know that I'm here! As far as a bigger plan....I'm going to have to think about that one.
2. When I asked him about the elections this year versus 5 years ago, he mentioned that one thing that concerned him was that this year, with all the money coming in from mining, etc. there was a lot more at stake than during the last election. It might make people more desperate. Hmm. Some good things to chew on.
This weekend I was out and about with some people and there were some political parades going on. On the one hand, I really love seeing people excited about their candidate, excited about being involved in the progression of their country. On the other hand, the war is still looming in my mind and big groups of people congregating (especially when a lot of them are wearing masks) can be a little intimidating.
Suffice it to say, while I'm not afraid, I have decided it's time to start praying for peaceful elections once again! :)
Monday, January 30, 2012
Water, water everywhere!
On Friday I headed back towards Freetown because we have a medical team coming in March and in preparation for them coming I get to do a lot of visiting different government buildings, etc. Since it usually takes multiple visits to one office to get a document I need and since I need a bunch of different documents, the 7 hour trip from Freetown to where I live makes it a little tricky. That being said, for the few weeks leading up to a medical team I come hang out with my friends near Freetown.
This year, two of my friends, John and Kaysie, were finishing up a 2 week "camping trip" in the middle of nowhere, so I decided to join them for a couple of days at the tail end of their trip. Part of what WMT has begun to do is drill wells. They drill a bore hole using a completely manual method. John has about 7 or 8 guys that he's training in this method. They spent 2 weeks in the middle of nowhere drilling two wells in two different villages. Since I live so far away I don't get to be a part of this very much so I was excited to see it going on in person.
When I arrived I felt like I was camping back in the States! These guys know how to camp!! I almost expected there to be a little fire pit with the bars to put over it and a camp ranger to swing by and make sure we had the right permit.
This year, two of my friends, John and Kaysie, were finishing up a 2 week "camping trip" in the middle of nowhere, so I decided to join them for a couple of days at the tail end of their trip. Part of what WMT has begun to do is drill wells. They drill a bore hole using a completely manual method. John has about 7 or 8 guys that he's training in this method. They spent 2 weeks in the middle of nowhere drilling two wells in two different villages. Since I live so far away I don't get to be a part of this very much so I was excited to see it going on in person.
When I arrived I felt like I was camping back in the States! These guys know how to camp!! I almost expected there to be a little fire pit with the bars to put over it and a camp ranger to swing by and make sure we had the right permit.
Our excellent campsite!
When I arrived they were finishing one of the wells but were having trouble with the second one. Since all the drilling is done manually it's not 100% guaranteed that they'll be able to complete a well. The agreement is that they'll try 3 times and if they're unable to get it then they stop but the people who hired them only lose a deposit. They were on their 4th attempt when I got there (John really didn't want to give up). Apparently they kept hitting rock and just couldn't get through it. On their first attempt they hit this rock at about 25 feet and worked for 3 days with zero progress. That's a little disheartening. So they moved to a different spot but kept hitting rock at about the same depth. Finally, they moved a little farther away from the community. They still hit the rock at the same depth but hit water a lot earlier (about 8 feet) so there will be plenty to last all through the dry season. Yippee!!! The thing that is so cool about this well drilling is that they do both profit and not for profit wells so that the for profit wells can fund the not for profit ones. So sustainable!
In addition to drilling the wells, they were also there to share about *esus. They had some teaching every night and shared the *esus film in their native language. There was no church in that village so the people had a lot of questions. Some of my favorites were "can a man be a *hristian if he has more than on wife?" and "why do *uslims take their shoes off to enter their house of worship but *hristians don't?" There were quite a few people who got really really excited about it and are excited about starting a church in that village. Awesome blossom...extra awesome (name that TV show).
Getting ready to show the *esus filmJohn and Kaysie brought their 6 month old son Aden along on this adventure. One of my favorite parts was seeing all the villagers, both men and women, fawning all over him and yelling his name all the time (well, kind of his name....they couldn't really say it so they shouted "Idi, Idi, Idi." He ate it up. :)
"Idi" with one of the older ladies in the villageI got to experience some new things like a new kind of meat called Fritombo. It was actually pretty delicious. Kaysie convinced me to try some of the liver of the Fritombo which was NOT delicious.
Fritombo roasting on an open fire...When I was little and we would go on road trips and one of us had to go to the bathroom, my dad would always give us the option to "go like the campers" which meant pull off on the side of the freeway and have at it. After the unfortunate event in which my dad thought it would be hilarious to move the car and turn the headlights on my brother while he was doing this (turns out it WAS hilarious!) I never voted for that option. However here, there was no other option so....go like the campers I did. I was a little nervous about how my shy bladder and I would do (is that an overshare?) but we did A-Ok. Of course I was glad to be back to my flushing toilet after a couple days. Kaysie is a rock star for doing it for 2 weeks! With a baby!!
On Sunday we had a church service and then packed up and headed out. It was a great time and I was so glad to get to see the awesome things that God's doing through this well drilling!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
A couple of days ago I was nestled all snug in my bed when I heard the familiar "whoop, whoop, whoop" of the ambulance. It was in the wee hours of the morning but since I'm trying to learn everything I can about OB in about 10 days (that's possible right?), I hauled myself down to the hospital to see what was going on.
When I got down there I found the midwife with a woman who had been laboring for about 36 hours. The fetal heart tones were low but when we were contemplating whether or not to do a c-section we realized that she had progressed too far and by the time we called everyone in for the OR, it would be too late. So we gave her some medicines, got out the vacuum (which is of course a manual hand pump vacuum)and gave that a try. Side note about the vacuum: It's great, and I've seen it work really well however, whenever you gently pull but the suction comes off, you get a face full of vacuum....and other gooey stuff. Not cool vacuum, not cool.
Anyway, we were vacuuming, she was pushing...but that baby just did not want to come out! Finally, after what seemed like forever, the baby came out. But he wasn't breathing. The other nurse worked with mom and I did my best to resuscitate baby. Unfortunately our resuscitation options are pretty limited. We gave him some oxygen and bagged him....but just couldn't get him to breath on his own. The books say that you work on them for about 20 minutes and if you don't get anything then you call it. Well, we worked on this guy for probably about 40 minutes. Just as were were getting ready to call it, I touched him and he took a small breath on his own. Oh man! Now what do we do? So we started again. We worked on him some more but just could not get him to breath on his own. So we called it again. It was frustrating because I felt like if we could have intubated him (stuck a tube down his throat to help him breathe) for just a little while, he probably would have done great!
After it was done I was just looking at him...and he looked so perfect!! 9 months of carrying this baby and nothing to show for it. I've noticed something about working in the OB. When they lose their baby, they don't wail in their grief like they do when they lose other family members. In fact, they don't even give their baby a name for 2 weeks. This mom didn't even cry. She just turned her head and slept most of the day.
A couple hours later another woman came in who had been in labor for over 24 hours as well. Her pelvis was really small and she was only a couple centimeters dilated so we headed off to the OR for a c-section. Both mom and baby did great. I love bringing a baby out of the OR because there's always a crowd around (family members and other random visitors at the hospital) who all want to see the baby. They're just so excited! It's quite a little high.
I felt like that day kind of summarized living in Sierra Leone. Everyone was so excited about this baby that had been born, but just a couple beds down was a woman who had lost hers. It was hard to feel complete excitement because I knew this woman was in so much pain. Sierra Leone is absolutely beautiful, but all around you are signs of so much poverty. So many people are loving and great, yet the corruption here is horrible!
Well, I don't mean to get all philosophical...just some thoughts that I had during that day. Living here often feels like living on a roller coaster.
When I got down there I found the midwife with a woman who had been laboring for about 36 hours. The fetal heart tones were low but when we were contemplating whether or not to do a c-section we realized that she had progressed too far and by the time we called everyone in for the OR, it would be too late. So we gave her some medicines, got out the vacuum (which is of course a manual hand pump vacuum)and gave that a try. Side note about the vacuum: It's great, and I've seen it work really well however, whenever you gently pull but the suction comes off, you get a face full of vacuum....and other gooey stuff. Not cool vacuum, not cool.
Anyway, we were vacuuming, she was pushing...but that baby just did not want to come out! Finally, after what seemed like forever, the baby came out. But he wasn't breathing. The other nurse worked with mom and I did my best to resuscitate baby. Unfortunately our resuscitation options are pretty limited. We gave him some oxygen and bagged him....but just couldn't get him to breath on his own. The books say that you work on them for about 20 minutes and if you don't get anything then you call it. Well, we worked on this guy for probably about 40 minutes. Just as were were getting ready to call it, I touched him and he took a small breath on his own. Oh man! Now what do we do? So we started again. We worked on him some more but just could not get him to breath on his own. So we called it again. It was frustrating because I felt like if we could have intubated him (stuck a tube down his throat to help him breathe) for just a little while, he probably would have done great!
After it was done I was just looking at him...and he looked so perfect!! 9 months of carrying this baby and nothing to show for it. I've noticed something about working in the OB. When they lose their baby, they don't wail in their grief like they do when they lose other family members. In fact, they don't even give their baby a name for 2 weeks. This mom didn't even cry. She just turned her head and slept most of the day.
A couple hours later another woman came in who had been in labor for over 24 hours as well. Her pelvis was really small and she was only a couple centimeters dilated so we headed off to the OR for a c-section. Both mom and baby did great. I love bringing a baby out of the OR because there's always a crowd around (family members and other random visitors at the hospital) who all want to see the baby. They're just so excited! It's quite a little high.
I felt like that day kind of summarized living in Sierra Leone. Everyone was so excited about this baby that had been born, but just a couple beds down was a woman who had lost hers. It was hard to feel complete excitement because I knew this woman was in so much pain. Sierra Leone is absolutely beautiful, but all around you are signs of so much poverty. So many people are loving and great, yet the corruption here is horrible!
Well, I don't mean to get all philosophical...just some thoughts that I had during that day. Living here often feels like living on a roller coaster.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Having a baby....Sierra Leonean Style!
Wow! Today was an adventure!! The other day I was talking with one of the doctors here and we were discussing the potential problems we’re going to have because several people from the OB ward are leaving. We are already short staffed and it will most likely only get worse in the near future. That being said, I volunteered to orient to the OB so I can figure out what the heck is going on in there. As an ER/ICU nurse, I have always run (very fast) in the opposite direction of the OB patients (no offense moms...but you're scary!!) So I was definitely getting out of my comfort zone…..but I was/am so excited to learn!!
I’d only been in the OB ward for about 30 minutes when they came and told us there was an ambulance call. I asked if I could go, so a nursing assistant and I jumped in the ambulance and off we went. During the very fast and very bumpy road, I was reviewing the possible things I might find there and how I could stabilize them until I got to the hospital. Bleeding patient? Septic patient? Seizing patient? Who knows? One of my old roommates had a really bad experience where a woman actually died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, so I was trying to prepare myself for anything!
The patient was being referred from a health center so we rode with our siren on the whole way (keep in mind I think we passed exactly 2 cars the whole way). But the siren’s there so...might as well use it! However, we did turn the siren off about 5 minutes before we got to the health center because apparently the siren scares the nurse there. Alrighty.
After arriving at the health center, I walked into the labor room to see the patient walking around. Well that’s a good sign!! At least she’s not on death’s door! The nurse came in and told me that they were referring her to the hospital because she is just not cooperating. OK? I began to see what they meant when she refused to sit down, would yell if you even attempted to touch her and kept walking away from you. It took me forever to get her to settle down enough to just take a blood pressure! I wasn’t sure how we would make her cooperate more at the hospital but…ok, we can give you a lift.
At this point there is a huge crowd around, all yelling at the patient and her mother. Then the mother started to cry because she didn’t want to go to the hospital because she doesn’t have any money. She wants her daughter to deliver at the health center. I’m not sure ethical guidelines were exactly followed as the crowd pretty much bullied them both into the ambulance. We turned on the siren (guess it only scares the nurse on the way in) and away we went. For about 5 minutes. Then the ambulance driver remembered he didn’t get the ambulance fee paid yet so he stopped in the middle of the road and went to the back to ask for the money. They didn’t have it. But the nursing assistant who was with me convinced him to go ahead. So we did.
We got to the hospital and went to check the patient. Wow. That was difficult!! The midwife and I tried first, but we couldn’t keep her down. Every time we went near her she would scoot all over the table, throw her legs together and try to turn over. She was really strong! We called her family in to see if they could talk to her and convince her to let us check her. They tried and tried and ended up slapping her on the legs and arms. Multiple times. As hard as they could. They kept asking her if she wanted to kill her baby and making slightly inappropriate innuendos about her not being this afraid 9 months ago. Yikes! I could understand their frustration because she literally did not want us to do anything but……I tried to picture any of this going on in the States and I had to chuckle a little. Could. Not. Happen.
Anyway, it didn’t take long to decide that unfortunately, she would not be able to deliver vaginally. She just wasn’t cooperating. So they went to do a c-section. I wish that they could have waited, but I could see their point. Might as well take the baby now when he’s nice and strong instead of waiting until she’s been laboring for hours, the baby starts to decompensate and she still refuses to push. But I always think it's a bummer to have to go the c-section route (although of course better than the alternative).
So I was down in the OR waiting for the anesthesiologist when I got a call from the midwife. There was another lady who was laboring and was ready to start pushing. I ran down to the OB ward and sure enough…there was the head! The midwife tried to let me deliver it and I started to…but I got so scared! I was afraid I was going to pull the head off! I watched really closely and the midwife gave me some pointers for next time. I want to deliver one SO bad!!! The miracle of life and all that.
Anyway, it was my first day back…and what a day it was!! I love my job.
I’d only been in the OB ward for about 30 minutes when they came and told us there was an ambulance call. I asked if I could go, so a nursing assistant and I jumped in the ambulance and off we went. During the very fast and very bumpy road, I was reviewing the possible things I might find there and how I could stabilize them until I got to the hospital. Bleeding patient? Septic patient? Seizing patient? Who knows? One of my old roommates had a really bad experience where a woman actually died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, so I was trying to prepare myself for anything!
The patient was being referred from a health center so we rode with our siren on the whole way (keep in mind I think we passed exactly 2 cars the whole way). But the siren’s there so...might as well use it! However, we did turn the siren off about 5 minutes before we got to the health center because apparently the siren scares the nurse there. Alrighty.
After arriving at the health center, I walked into the labor room to see the patient walking around. Well that’s a good sign!! At least she’s not on death’s door! The nurse came in and told me that they were referring her to the hospital because she is just not cooperating. OK? I began to see what they meant when she refused to sit down, would yell if you even attempted to touch her and kept walking away from you. It took me forever to get her to settle down enough to just take a blood pressure! I wasn’t sure how we would make her cooperate more at the hospital but…ok, we can give you a lift.
At this point there is a huge crowd around, all yelling at the patient and her mother. Then the mother started to cry because she didn’t want to go to the hospital because she doesn’t have any money. She wants her daughter to deliver at the health center. I’m not sure ethical guidelines were exactly followed as the crowd pretty much bullied them both into the ambulance. We turned on the siren (guess it only scares the nurse on the way in) and away we went. For about 5 minutes. Then the ambulance driver remembered he didn’t get the ambulance fee paid yet so he stopped in the middle of the road and went to the back to ask for the money. They didn’t have it. But the nursing assistant who was with me convinced him to go ahead. So we did.
We got to the hospital and went to check the patient. Wow. That was difficult!! The midwife and I tried first, but we couldn’t keep her down. Every time we went near her she would scoot all over the table, throw her legs together and try to turn over. She was really strong! We called her family in to see if they could talk to her and convince her to let us check her. They tried and tried and ended up slapping her on the legs and arms. Multiple times. As hard as they could. They kept asking her if she wanted to kill her baby and making slightly inappropriate innuendos about her not being this afraid 9 months ago. Yikes! I could understand their frustration because she literally did not want us to do anything but……I tried to picture any of this going on in the States and I had to chuckle a little. Could. Not. Happen.
Anyway, it didn’t take long to decide that unfortunately, she would not be able to deliver vaginally. She just wasn’t cooperating. So they went to do a c-section. I wish that they could have waited, but I could see their point. Might as well take the baby now when he’s nice and strong instead of waiting until she’s been laboring for hours, the baby starts to decompensate and she still refuses to push. But I always think it's a bummer to have to go the c-section route (although of course better than the alternative).
So I was down in the OR waiting for the anesthesiologist when I got a call from the midwife. There was another lady who was laboring and was ready to start pushing. I ran down to the OB ward and sure enough…there was the head! The midwife tried to let me deliver it and I started to…but I got so scared! I was afraid I was going to pull the head off! I watched really closely and the midwife gave me some pointers for next time. I want to deliver one SO bad!!! The miracle of life and all that.
Anyway, it was my first day back…and what a day it was!! I love my job.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Back again, back again, jiggity jig
Well, 30+ hours later I am back in my sweet Sierra Leone....with weird, mixed emotions. On the way over I had a sense of fear that I hadn't felt in a long time. I know it's because I was leaving everything that was comfortable and familiar and even though I've lived in Sierra Leone for a while now....it's just so different! And kind of scary sometimes. :)However, when I felt that old fear coming I started thinking of how incredibly faithful God has been to me and that even though I felt like I was alone, I definitely WAS NOT! Deep breath, ok, all better. :)
I was expecting to get blown away by the heat when I got off the plane, but it was actually pleasant! I had to turn the AC off on the way home because it was too cold. Now that's just crazy talk!
I finally fell asleep around 1am and slept until 11am (I'd missed 2 nights of sleep while flying, so cut me some slack) when I was awakened by a gaggle of kids jumping on me. Apparently Aden (John and Kaysie's 6 month old and the future husband of my niece) couldn't wait to see me. :)
Today I relaxed a little, made some phone calls to some people to let them know I'm back and pretty much just tried to stay awake so I can sleep tonight (ALMOST made it!)
When I went to greet our day guard I got the comment I knew would come. "Oh Emily, you body fin-o" said while flexing his muscles. What this means is, "Emily! You got chubby while you were gone!!" I know they mean it as a compliment but...well, yeah. But what could he expect? The combination of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, my birthday the knowledge that I have a brief window to eat everything delicious, and cable television well...the pounds just come on easily that way!! Fortunately Jillian Michaels could hardly prescribe a better diet plan than living in Sierra Leone so...I'll just chuckle away at the comments and thank God for keeping me humble. :)
It's good to be back!!!!!!! :)
I was expecting to get blown away by the heat when I got off the plane, but it was actually pleasant! I had to turn the AC off on the way home because it was too cold. Now that's just crazy talk!
I finally fell asleep around 1am and slept until 11am (I'd missed 2 nights of sleep while flying, so cut me some slack) when I was awakened by a gaggle of kids jumping on me. Apparently Aden (John and Kaysie's 6 month old and the future husband of my niece) couldn't wait to see me. :)
Today I relaxed a little, made some phone calls to some people to let them know I'm back and pretty much just tried to stay awake so I can sleep tonight (ALMOST made it!)
When I went to greet our day guard I got the comment I knew would come. "Oh Emily, you body fin-o" said while flexing his muscles. What this means is, "Emily! You got chubby while you were gone!!" I know they mean it as a compliment but...well, yeah. But what could he expect? The combination of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, my birthday the knowledge that I have a brief window to eat everything delicious, and cable television well...the pounds just come on easily that way!! Fortunately Jillian Michaels could hardly prescribe a better diet plan than living in Sierra Leone so...I'll just chuckle away at the comments and thank God for keeping me humble. :)
It's good to be back!!!!!!! :)
Friday, December 16, 2011
Want to Help??
Merry Christmas Friends, Family, and occasional random blog reader who stumbles onto my blog by mistake!! Well,as I write this I'm sitting in front of the Christmas tree with the heat blazing and my precious niece sleeping in the next room. Oh! And I just ate a Christmas cookie so......pretty much can't get better than that! I hope you are all enjoying this special season as well!
Well, I'll come right out with it. I have a hidden motive for writing this blog. Well, I guess it was hidden until I just told you it was hidden...so I guess it's not hidden anymore. Wait. I'm confused. Anyway, the other day I was talking to a friend of mine (shout out MAS, you'll know who you are). She was asking me about what kinds of things we'll need at the hospital in Sierra Leone, and how she could help. Since I've had multiple people ask me this, I thought I'd throw out a few ideas if there are any of you who feel the same.
Number One: D50. In the time I've spent at the hospital, I think one of the easiest but most important things we do for our kiddos who are sick is check their blood sugar. You can read about two of these instances here http://emilyinsierraleone.blogspot.com/2011/10/so-proud.html and http://emilyinsierraleone.blogspot.com/2011/08/bleh.html
Kids with malaria often have low blood sugar and the thing that saves their lives (I've seen it many many times) is a medicine called D50. When we have it, it's like gold. :) Unfortunately we haven't been able to find it in country so the only way we can get it is to bring it in. I did some research today and found out that a vial of 50ml is $1.40. We usually give a kid 5-10ml, so one vial can be used on quite a few kids!! Awesome deal! :)
Number 2: Glucose monitoring strips. Although the D50 is pretty cheap, the strips that we use to check the blood sugars are pretty expensive....about $1.25 per strip. Since we have to use them to find out if the blood sugar is low before we can give the D50, they're pretty important.
Number 3: RhoGam. We have two pregnant women who have recently come to the hospital who are RH -. This means that they can safely deliver one child, but the way the antigens and antibodies work (might want to Wikipedia it)she won't be able to have a second baby unless she gets a shot of RhoGam. It's $90 a dose. I need two doses.
Anyway, those are a few practical ways you can help if you want to. :)
Checks can be made out to
Willamette Medical Teams
PO Box 772 Albany, OR 97322
Thanks guys! Merry Christmas!
Well, I'll come right out with it. I have a hidden motive for writing this blog. Well, I guess it was hidden until I just told you it was hidden...so I guess it's not hidden anymore. Wait. I'm confused. Anyway, the other day I was talking to a friend of mine (shout out MAS, you'll know who you are). She was asking me about what kinds of things we'll need at the hospital in Sierra Leone, and how she could help. Since I've had multiple people ask me this, I thought I'd throw out a few ideas if there are any of you who feel the same.
Number One: D50. In the time I've spent at the hospital, I think one of the easiest but most important things we do for our kiddos who are sick is check their blood sugar. You can read about two of these instances here http://emilyinsierraleone.blogspot.com/2011/10/so-proud.html and http://emilyinsierraleone.blogspot.com/2011/08/bleh.html
Kids with malaria often have low blood sugar and the thing that saves their lives (I've seen it many many times) is a medicine called D50. When we have it, it's like gold. :) Unfortunately we haven't been able to find it in country so the only way we can get it is to bring it in. I did some research today and found out that a vial of 50ml is $1.40. We usually give a kid 5-10ml, so one vial can be used on quite a few kids!! Awesome deal! :)
Number 2: Glucose monitoring strips. Although the D50 is pretty cheap, the strips that we use to check the blood sugars are pretty expensive....about $1.25 per strip. Since we have to use them to find out if the blood sugar is low before we can give the D50, they're pretty important.
Number 3: RhoGam. We have two pregnant women who have recently come to the hospital who are RH -. This means that they can safely deliver one child, but the way the antigens and antibodies work (might want to Wikipedia it)she won't be able to have a second baby unless she gets a shot of RhoGam. It's $90 a dose. I need two doses.
Anyway, those are a few practical ways you can help if you want to. :)
Checks can be made out to
Willamette Medical Teams
PO Box 772 Albany, OR 97322
Thanks guys! Merry Christmas!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
