26 July 2012
Hey all!
IT’S MY BIRTH-WEEK!!! I was determined to make every day this week be awesome…just because my birth-week normally is.
On Monday we showed Rahul the ropes; we took him through the morning CPAP checks, introduced him to key doctors and nurses, and set out a running schedule for the week. We ended up tackling everything on the day’s list so we made a Shoprite stop in preparation for the Christmas in July party on Tuesday. While I was at Shoprite I bought a hinge lock and padlock for the cupboard in Chatinkha; apparently some of the nose prongs for the CPAP have grown legs and walked off.
That evening we had dinner at Prof. Molyneux’s house; her husband, sister, brother-in-law, and one other doctor from QECH were all there. It was the best entertainment I’ve ever had amongst people I didn’t know; I never knew how found of British wit I was until this evening…I am very glad she invited us for dinner on my birthday!
Tuesday was Christmas in July Day! It was all I could think about…good, good food. We went to work as usual; it was another day of training for Rahul, however the WIFI was down at the hospital so showing him the CPAP documents on Dropbox took much longer than necessary.
When we got home the challenge was on: Kathleen and I had to roast 2 chickens, make vegetarian stuffing, sweet potato casserole, frosting for the Christmas cookies, corn and green beans—all of this from scratch (minus the can of corn and green beans)…and work around the scheduled 6pm blackout…for 14 people! If all else failed we would all be eating plain Christmas cookies, rolls, and a three bean casserole that Alice, the Kabula Lodge owner, made me for my birthday; she’s such a sweet woman!
Christmas in July was an EPIC SUCCESS! The food was ready by 8:30 (and everything was so yummy!),
We got to decorate Christmas cookies, and some friends even helped us do the dishes after we finished cooking…the only thing that could have made this evening better is some Christmas music or a Christmas movie classic.
The next day at Queen’s I showed Rahul how to do the CPAP test. After lunch we began a second round of searching for missing CPAP patient files in the Pediatrics’ Medical Records room; which is the most boring thing I’ve ever had to do while being here, but it still must be done. Through our search of thousands of patient files we managed to find two! This is counted as success in my book.
When we got back to Kabula Kathleen baked peanut butter cookies and strawberry oatmeal bars for our last night of Bible study on Thursday.
I knew today was going to be action-packed when Toni (one of the British doctors in pediatrics) summoned us as we were walking out of the morning meeting to tell us that there was an oxygen concentrator that needed tending to because its audible alarm was triggered. Normally what the nurses and doctors do to combat this irritant is switch the concentrator off and on again.
When I got to Peds Special Care Ward the alarm was still sounding, but when a nurse toggled the power button the alarm ceased. Then arose another issue; one of the CPAP machines had gone missing *sound effect: DUN DUN DUN!*…which in this hospital could either mean it was rolled away to another ward or some curious wanderer decided to relieve their mischief with this device—fortunately it was the former. Laura (the American doctor in pediatrics) told us that an oxygen concentrator stopped working in Peds Nursery so they took the nearest one, which so happened to be one of the CPAP study oxygen concentrators.
I brought down the oxygen concentrator that I fixed the previous week from the library to place it in Peds Nursery…finally, this oxygen concentrator has found a home! I then moved our oxygen concentrator back to its rightful place.
After lunch I decided to make a trip to PAM (Physical Assets Maintenance) to see if they were able to take a look at the oxygen concentrator that had stopped functioning in Peds Nursery; I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to watch how they assessed the issues and fixed the devices that got sent to them. By the time I got there, the concentrator was already fixed! I was not very happy…yes I know, that’s very selfish of me; however, I was glad the concentrator was able to be fixed. I signed a form and wheeled the concentrator back to its home in Peds Nursery.
To top off this perfect Thursday, I decided today was the day that I demonstrate the Babalung apnea monitor to the nurses in Peds Special Care Ward. The nurses pointed out an apneic child about 4 to 6 months old (much bigger than the children I’ve tried the monitor on before); unlike the previous times I’ve placed the Babalung apnea monitor on an infant, this time the breath LED turned on when the infant inhaled and turned off when the baby exhaled…SUCCESS!!! The monitor finally detected breaths on a baby!
Out of all the birthdays I’ve had, this one was truly the most rewarding. It has been my dream to do the things that I’m doing here in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, with my dream senior design project, and with results that I could have never imagined!
With love,
Bridget
Things that were new to me:
Making cornbread with corn flour
Malawi red sweet potatoes (which are purple if you ask me)
Things I wish I had:
Food containers
A sleeping bag for our Mt. Mulanji trip this weekend
Christmas music and movies
Christmas tree
For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: PB&J with banana sandwich / banana in oatmeal
For lunch: PB&J with banana sandwich / leftovers from previous dinners / chicken, rice, and stew ( I forgot the name of the restaurant) and once at Hotel Victoria
For dinner: Soup, steak, rice, beans, and fruit pie (at Prof’s house) / Vegetarian stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn, apple sauce, roasted chicken three bean casserole, Christmas cookies, and rolls