third week already!
i can’t believe it’s almost the end of the third week here, already!
this week i have spent mainly in clinics – which actually has been a welcome (oh my goodness – what a welcome!) change from the minefield of life that is st. augustine (the male medical ward where i was last week). it’s kind of like a gp practice, being in general clinic – people just rock up and you take a history and exam and then decide what to do – prescribe some meds, followup, or admit to wards. btw did i mention that we can prescribe, and basically do anything here? that’s pretty kewl. so in a day you can see about 20-30 patients with a wide range of conditions. for example today i saw an amputated finger, assault, sickle cell crisis, a new dx of diabetes, pneumonia, tb, pleural effusion, depression, sciatica, anaemia, epistaxis (blood was everywhere! i had to do an emergency packing. sounds grander than it actually is tho), impetigo, malaria, bowel obstruction, massive stroke and unconsciousness, and probably a lot more. i’m actually really enjoying it. maybe i should become a gp? not. hehe it’s not sexy enough (as ilia would say)?
yesterday i did a ward round on the female medical ward though, as colleen was sick and i had to replace her there for the day. i was dreading it at first, but it was actually really really good. there were 3 psych patients on the ward, which i kinda plunged into. there was a case of depression, a brief psychotic disorder, and a relapse of a chronic paranoid schizophrenic whom i thoroughly got stuck into. she had the most fantastic delusions and her behaviour, speech and thought were totally disorganised. anyway my point is that i found them interesting because i find psychiatry so thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. mental illness is tough enough back home, on the patient and the family. but here, when families already have such limited resources, it can be devastating. i would almost understand if people abandoned mentally ill people here, but the love and compassion from families is quite amazing. the rest of the ward round was great too. no disasters. things made sense, and things were working.
so in summary, this week is going quite well. touch wood.
we won our soccer game on sunday 3-2. (p.s. rayji how are the kinky nuns doing without their star goalkeeper? cough cough. i miss u guys). no real amazing saves from me but a few crucial ones especially a couple in the last few minutes, and also a massive graze on my right knee.
been drinking a lot of zambian beer (mosi and castle) and having nice evenings hanging out with everyone. there’s a good bunch of people here. there are the odd doctors who can’t seem to stop whinging and whining. i hate that. sure, it’s not easy. sure, everyone needs to whinge and bitch a bit to vent emotions. but some people seem to be constant whingers, like the constant whine of a mosquito in your mosquito net (the bastard must have bitten me ten thousand million times last night! bastard bastard i kill you!). they seem to think that things should be perfect like they are so perfect back home. it just gets everyone down beyond a certain point, and furthermore it just wastes time and does nothing productive. i wish i could tell them to get over it and build a bridge. maybe i will one day :)
i can’t wait for my yellow suit! friday is the day! i am sure tracy will love it! she will love it so much i reckon, that she will love it to bits if i turn up to heathrow airport to pick her up, dressed in my yellow african suit. i think she will love it so much in fact, that she will promptly turn around and go straight back home.
we’re trying to plan to go on a safari next weekend to luwangwa national park (i think that’s how it’s spelt). and in our last week in zambia we’re planning on going to livingstone to see the magnificent victoria falls, and do some touristy things, and maybe even do another safari. it’s all very exciting! especially since there might be about six of us doing it, so it might work out cheapest to actually charter a plane! how extravagant like donald trump’s hair!
anyway. another looong blog! actually it’s not *that* long. voops. it’s so good to hear from everyone. keep the emails and blogs flowing. i love hearing from you all - it really warms my heart and makes me smile at the end of a long and tough day. hope you are all well,
dha
this week i have spent mainly in clinics – which actually has been a welcome (oh my goodness – what a welcome!) change from the minefield of life that is st. augustine (the male medical ward where i was last week). it’s kind of like a gp practice, being in general clinic – people just rock up and you take a history and exam and then decide what to do – prescribe some meds, followup, or admit to wards. btw did i mention that we can prescribe, and basically do anything here? that’s pretty kewl. so in a day you can see about 20-30 patients with a wide range of conditions. for example today i saw an amputated finger, assault, sickle cell crisis, a new dx of diabetes, pneumonia, tb, pleural effusion, depression, sciatica, anaemia, epistaxis (blood was everywhere! i had to do an emergency packing. sounds grander than it actually is tho), impetigo, malaria, bowel obstruction, massive stroke and unconsciousness, and probably a lot more. i’m actually really enjoying it. maybe i should become a gp? not. hehe it’s not sexy enough (as ilia would say)?
yesterday i did a ward round on the female medical ward though, as colleen was sick and i had to replace her there for the day. i was dreading it at first, but it was actually really really good. there were 3 psych patients on the ward, which i kinda plunged into. there was a case of depression, a brief psychotic disorder, and a relapse of a chronic paranoid schizophrenic whom i thoroughly got stuck into. she had the most fantastic delusions and her behaviour, speech and thought were totally disorganised. anyway my point is that i found them interesting because i find psychiatry so thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. mental illness is tough enough back home, on the patient and the family. but here, when families already have such limited resources, it can be devastating. i would almost understand if people abandoned mentally ill people here, but the love and compassion from families is quite amazing. the rest of the ward round was great too. no disasters. things made sense, and things were working.
so in summary, this week is going quite well. touch wood.
we won our soccer game on sunday 3-2. (p.s. rayji how are the kinky nuns doing without their star goalkeeper? cough cough. i miss u guys). no real amazing saves from me but a few crucial ones especially a couple in the last few minutes, and also a massive graze on my right knee.
been drinking a lot of zambian beer (mosi and castle) and having nice evenings hanging out with everyone. there’s a good bunch of people here. there are the odd doctors who can’t seem to stop whinging and whining. i hate that. sure, it’s not easy. sure, everyone needs to whinge and bitch a bit to vent emotions. but some people seem to be constant whingers, like the constant whine of a mosquito in your mosquito net (the bastard must have bitten me ten thousand million times last night! bastard bastard i kill you!). they seem to think that things should be perfect like they are so perfect back home. it just gets everyone down beyond a certain point, and furthermore it just wastes time and does nothing productive. i wish i could tell them to get over it and build a bridge. maybe i will one day :)
i can’t wait for my yellow suit! friday is the day! i am sure tracy will love it! she will love it so much i reckon, that she will love it to bits if i turn up to heathrow airport to pick her up, dressed in my yellow african suit. i think she will love it so much in fact, that she will promptly turn around and go straight back home.
we’re trying to plan to go on a safari next weekend to luwangwa national park (i think that’s how it’s spelt). and in our last week in zambia we’re planning on going to livingstone to see the magnificent victoria falls, and do some touristy things, and maybe even do another safari. it’s all very exciting! especially since there might be about six of us doing it, so it might work out cheapest to actually charter a plane! how extravagant like donald trump’s hair!
anyway. another looong blog! actually it’s not *that* long. voops. it’s so good to hear from everyone. keep the emails and blogs flowing. i love hearing from you all - it really warms my heart and makes me smile at the end of a long and tough day. hope you are all well,
dha
posted by SuperDha at 4:59 am
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