29 July 2012

Hey all!

Kathleen has been sick since Thursday, and now Rahul is feeling ill as well! I’m sure this is not how they imagined their last week and first week of work would be. So without a doubt we will be staying here in Blantyre instead of going to Mt. Mulanji.

I hadn’t realized it, but for a few days there has been a water strike going on in Malawi; I thought it strange that the water wasn’t working in the women’s restroom at the hospital, but had not realized it was something affecting the rest of the hospital let alone the whole community. I think some things may be getting resolved because we had water in the hospital today.

This Friday I did CPAP checks as usual (Rahul ended up going home early because he wasn’t feeling well), then I went on a hunt for the Head of Obs & Gynae but to no avail; this week is just probably a bad week to try to get any meetings arranged because it’s exam period for all of the medical students…I’ll try again next Monday.

After lunch the day got pretty eventful…I don’t think I should go into the specifics on my blog page so I shall leave it at that; but family and friends feel free to ask me about it when I get home!

On Saturday Rahul woke up feeling much better, however, not the same luck with Kathleen’s fever. So we went to Blantyre Adventist Hospital up the road from Kabula…completely different from QECH! The doctor wasn’t able to pin-point what exactly she had, but said whatever it was is flu-like; he gave her some meds so hopefully they’ll kick in soon.

Sunday

With love,

Bridget

“We’re kind of like boys…we talk about sports, [we] have big feet…”
–Kathleen amidst her delirious, feverish state

What I’m glad I brought:
Shoe laces and bungee cord – Used to hold my 2 heavy check bags together when wheeling around the airport and served as a clothesline when I got to my living area
A bottle with milliliter markers on it
Laundry detergent
Nail kit – with tweezers, nail clippers, nail filer, nail scissors
Shower caddy – I hate putting my personal items on the floor
Shower shoes (flip flops)
Long socks – bedbugs can’t bite thru them
Small container of safety pins – I used them to hem torn bags, hang wet clothes, other misc. things
2 ½ weeks worth of underwear and socks
Flash light
Laptop

What I’m glad Kathleen and Rahul brought:
Debit card – I brought my credit card instead…definitely bring a debit for withdrawals
Big bottle of hand sanitizer
Sandwich Ziploc bags
Dish soap

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: PB&J with banana sandwich / banana in oatmeal
For lunch: leftovers from previous dinners / chicken and cheese sandwich and strawberry and cream ice cream (Kips)
For dinner: leftovers from previous dinners / stir-fried rice and soup

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

22 July 2012

Hey all!

The internet subscription for the dongle that Kathleen and I were using has ended, so that means it’s back to busting out blogs with my 5 minute free trial at Kabula and at the hospital whenever the WIFI is not being finicky.

Friday, I met with the Electrical Technician at queens about getting a new switch for the space heater in Chatinkha. I showed him the melted/corroded switch that needed replacing and he told me to check back with him next Friday to see if he gets some in his anticipated shipment of parts.

I also fixed the 2

nd scale!!! This one was a bit more complicated than the first; I put in a new battery and it didn’t work. This one also didn’t appear to have any external defects—which meant that I had to open it up and probe around. After two days of work it turns out that the switch was faulty, so I rewired the power leads to the pounds to kilograms toggle switch…works like a charm now!

I was able to diagnose the problem with one of the suction machines in the Library; turns out that an important piece to the internal pump has broken…and I’m not able to mend it with neither Epoxy nor tape…the chances of getting a replacement part is inexistent. Sad times indeed. I’m planning on asking Professor Molyneux if I can alter some connections on one of her (unused) suction machines so that I can use the battery of the broken one for the new one that just needs a 220VAC to 12VDC converter.

And just as I was packing up for the day to leave the Library, I shocked myself with the suction machine power board that I left plugged in and exposed. That hurt just as bad as when I accidentally resting my hand on the soldering iron some weeks ago! Welp, lesson learned…don’t leave your circuit boards out while they’re being powered, and definitely don’t pick up a piece of paper that’s lying on top of it while it’s being powered.

That evening we went to Chez Maky for Sarah’s farewell dinner…I have really grown to despise eating at this restaurant; we only seem to go when someone is departing from Blantyre.

Saturday was another French toast day out on the veranda at Kabula; I was a bit of a fatty the previous night and ate the last banana, so I suffered the next morning by not having the banana with my French toast and caramelized-apples like I usually do. After we finished brunch we were off to Chileka Airport to pick up the other Rice student that would be completing our trio in Blantyre, Rahul. To think, only 7 weeks ago that was Kathleen and me arriving and Jocelyn awaiting us!

We had predetermined that Rahul was going to receive the same first day experience we’d received when we arrived in Blantyre…so after he got settled into his room we took him straight to market and all around town. We got back home before sunset, had the routine blackout, then began cooking Sarah’s surprise farewell dinner. We made her one of her favorites; Sheppard’s pie. She said it tasted exactly how she makes it at home!

After dinner I washed my last big bundle of laundry I will do here! I’ll be giving my clothes away piece by piece until the day Kathleen and I get on the plane to go back home.

This morning Kathleen and I woke up early to have breakfast with Sarah before she left; no tears this time! …At least not in front of her. After she left we went to Blantyre Community Church; one of the Bible study leaders picked us up. It was very much a Western style church, which I was not expecting; it was nice getting to see some of the friends from Bible study. Going to church today reminded me that I’m going to have to look for a new church home when I move to Indiana to start work.

When we got back went to Veg-Delight and wandering about Blantyre with Rahul. This evening we went to Gelato Carnival, which is apparently a chain of a variety of restaurants in one building, one of which sells Gelato! We were all amazed at the variety that was offered and Kathleen and I both agree that Chez Maky will not do for our farewell dinner when it comes time; we shall eat at Gelato Carnival once more! I finished my last load of laundry when we got back and what happens while I’m letting my jeans soak in the sink? –A puddle on the kitchen floor led me to discover that the water leaks from the pipes whenever you put the stopper in the drain.

I’m expecting nothing but happiness and great accomplishments on the day of my 23

rd year of life!

With love,

Bridget

Things that were new to me:
Gelato Ice Cream…um um umm!
Getting shocked

Things I wish I had:
A mop to clean up this puddle

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Toast, jam, eggs / banana in oatmeal / French toast, caramelized apples, banana, and egg
For lunch: PB&J with banana sandwich / Rahul’s pickings from Veg-Delight
For dinner: Mongolian chicken (Chez Maky) / Chilli-Cheese Fries (Gelato Carnival)

 

19 July 2012

Hey all!

Big Monday—Kathleen and I found out WE GOT FUNDING TO CONTINUE THE CPAP STUDY!!!! WOO HOO!!! I thought we were excited, when we told the CPAP nurses they were ecstatic; Florence (one of the nurses in Chatinkha) asked in confirmation “So we will get to keep our jobs?” Once I told her yes, for at least 3 years she even did a little praise dance!

After the morning checks, Sister Patrige (one of the CPAP nurses) showed me a space heater in Kangaroo Care that was broken; the switch to turn it on was burnt…when I dismounted the switch from the wall the inside looked even worse than the out. Hopefully the only problem with the heater is it needing a new switch…that would be an easy fix.

I got permission to use some of Jocelyn’s spare CPAP machine tubing to replace the disintegrated tubing inside of an oxygen concentrator I’ve been working on in the Library (a storage room that also contains a few books). Guess what folks…I FIXED THE OXYGEN CONCENTRATOR!!! This has been another one of my greatest moments working here; having the chance to reverse-engineer the inside of the concentrator…and succeeding, was a bit challenging but so much fun!

Later that day we made some more progress with finding missing study files; Dr. Laura confirmed that she had at least 2 in her possession. It was such a good Monday.

Monday evening Kathleen and I made Mexican food! It is amazing what you can do with the foods from the Blantyre Market and a mini-kitchen. We ate Spanish rice, tortillas, shredded chicken, guacamole, and brownies while we watched an episode of Modern Family. And right before I went to sleep I changed the code for the apnea monitor, so now the sensor belt is more sensitive to stretching!!! I can’t wait to show Dr. Sandi and Dr. Queen!

Tuesday Morning I got some 3V coin batteries to fix two scales in the Library. One of the scales wouldn’t measure weight because it was missing a foot, so I took some of the scrap tubing that I used to fix the oxygen concentrator the other day to make a replacement foot for the scale. Fixed 1 scale, tomorrow I shall fix the other!

I just realized that I’m finally running out of American snacks!!! I brought an entire carry on suitcase full of goodies and managed to shove one extra outfit and 2 pairs of underwear in as well just in case my check bags got lost during my travels to Blantyre…I’ve gotta make my little bit last for 12 more days.

On Wednesday I talked to the Head of the Electrical Building about the heater switch in Chatinkha; I’m beginning to notice the funny looks I get when I tell the men that work in the Electrical Building, Carpenter’s Building, and PAM (Physical Assets Maintenance) that I need parts, I’ve already diagnosed the problem with the machine, and that I can fix it myself if they don’t have time.

For the first time since I’ve been here the power went out for about 10 minutes in the hospital; I went to check in Pediatrics Special Care Ward if the babies had the nose prongs from the CPAP machine removed so they would not suffocate with no oxygen being pumped through them. Chrissy had that already taken care of; these nurses are so on top of things!

Prof. (Professor Molyneux…who is also a doctor) invited us to a Monday night dinner at her house, I’m so excited…though that means my Christmas in July birthday celebration will have to be postponed until Tuesday.

And I’m nearly done with reading Pride and Prejudice; you’re probably thinking I should be done with this book already…I really am a slow reader, but I definitely don’t read every evening.

Today we had the CPAP training for the Malaria Research Ward nurses. Kondwani led the training and Florence and Chrissy did a full-out, step-by-step demonstration. It was PHENOMENAL! These women were very engaging and naturally commanded attention as they presented; especially Florence. She did an excellent job at giving a thorough explanation of how you assemble the machine and parts, how you hook it up to the baby, and what not to do in order to avoid harming the baby. If Jocelyn was here she would be impressed.

This weekend we lose a Sarah but gain a Rahul! I’m excited and sad at the same time…but more so the former than the latter.

With love,

Bridget

Things that were new to me:
Being called Professor is a higher honor than being called Doctor; my British friend explained to me why Prof. Molyneux was called Prof. and not Dr.
Watching Definitely, Maybe

Things I wish I had:
Some sour cream and salsa

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: PB&J with banana sandwich / Toast, jam, eggs / banana in oatmeal
For lunch: PB&J with banana sandwich / chicken rice and stew (Hotel Victoria) / leftovers from dinner
For dinner: Chicken noodle soup…without chicken / Stir-fried rice for dinner / Spanish rice, tortillas, shredded chicken, guacamole, and brownies

 

 

12 July 2012

 

Hey all!

 

Oh man this week was super productive! Kathleen and I listed out everything that needed to be accomplished within the next 3 weeks…nearly complete with half of them!

 

Monday we showed the Namitete crew around queens! They have been super busy creating an electronic database for patients in St. Gabriel’s Hospital and have come here to help implement the same thing in the Palliative Ward in Queens.

 

After we split up I did the morning CPAP check-up and saw that there were 2 available CPAP machines. I was super excited to get to run the 2 Hour Test with the Labview program I had altered!!! Everything ran smoothly, I started the program before lunch and a few minutes after I had come back it was nearly finished. The only problem was that when the program saved all of the collected data the file exports as one big column…this means1 minute data collection in 5 minute intervals for 2 hours worth of data (each data point was sampled at the millisecond). So basically I’m going to try writing a Labview program that will reformat the file.

BIG DAY WEDNESDAY!!! I scheduled a meeting with one of the doctors that works in Chatinkha (neonatal nursery) to demonstrate the Bablung apnea monitor. Sandi, Kondwani, and 3 other nurses were also present. They gave me some great feedback about what they like about the device and what more they would like a future model of it to have. After about a 10 minute exchange amongst them in Chichewa Sandy told me that they wanted to try the monitor out on an apneic baby in Malaria Research Ward…OH MY GOODNESS!!! I was very excited to see if the smaller strap I made here in Blantyre would fit the babies and work.

 

Sandi took me to the Malaria Research Ward, introduced me to the nurses, and asked the mother of the apneic baby permission to try the monitor on her baby after explaining how the device could help. As I connect the alert light and the sensor belt to the black box of the device I watched the baby…and notice that he wasn’t breathing. Sandi rubbed his chest and said “see, poor baby is too tired to breathe”; he resumed breathing. I was definitely nervous about putting the monitor on this tiny baby, not because it could harm him, but because I had never seen an infant have so many apneic events so close together. I wanted the apnea monitor to work more than ever.

 

When we tried the monitor the baby it only detected his deep breaths (which occurred after an apneic episode). His normal breaths were too faint to be detected by the stretch sensor; thus, there were tons of false alarms. After 15 minutes of readjusting the strap and watching the baby I told Sandi that I would adjust the threshold of the monitor to be able to detect more shallow breathing. She told me to come back to the Malaria Research Ward whenever I had finished and let her know so she could see it.

 

I refuse to be discouraged by these first two failed demos…I’ve only learned how to adapt and overcome the constraints this setting has presented me. I’ve thought of more designs for this monitor since this demo than when Team Breath Alert first started brainstorming this apnea monitor! Attempt 3 will be a charm.

 

Thursday morning was an early start; Kathleen and I woke up to see our two friends off…I never imagined being so sad about people  departing that I’d only known for 5 weeks!

 

Just the night before, we were looking at the photos my friends had taken around the hospital and I saw one of needles holding the electrical wires of a space heater into a socket! I was beyond appalled; I asked them where in the hospital was this fire hazard located and they replied in the nurse’s office of Obs & Gyne. Fixing this potential danger became my number one priority when I got into work today.

For lunch the Namitete group, Kathleen, and I had lunch with Mrs. Casey (Z’s mom)! She’s pretty awesome and I had a lovely time talking with her. Kathleen and I showed here around the pediatrics ward and the neonatal ward before we went back to knock things off of our To-Do list.

 

When I got back to Jocelyn’s office (did I ever mention that it’s a storage closet?) I happened across a bag of extra CPAP machine tubing…which just so happened to have the exact inner and outer diameters of the oxygen concentrator with the broken, faulty tubing in the library! I emailed Jocelyn straight away asking permission to use some tubing to possibly fix an oxygen concentrator; can’t wait to hear her response!!!

 

Kathleen and I are on a mission to find the missing files of patients that have either died or been discharged in the CPAP study…today our adventure was in the neonatal ward, Chatinkha. By the end of our search we found one, so I dub that a success!

 

This evening Kathleen and I finally had a meeting with Professor Molyneaux; she had been out of the country our first month and we were using her office during this time. We got a chance to talk about the CPAP study, some of the material we needed for it, and got to demonstrate the devices we brought with us; she was impressed and gave wonderful feedback.

 

Tonight at Bible study Kathleen and I met Dr. Frank and his wife…what a small world! Dr. Frank is volunteering at Cure hospital and he just so happens to be a Rice alum from ’64. It was fun talking about how Rice and Houston has changed since he had graduated; he’s really got me thinking I need to go to campus and take a ton of photos so that I can remember what Rice looked like when I graduated.

 

It feels so strange to say it…I’m a Rice alum!!!

 

With love,

Bridget

 

Things that were new to me:
Veg-Delight (The first Indian restaurant I enjoyed)

Panir (did not enjoy so much)

Things I wish I had:
Containers to pack up leftovers

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Toast, jam, eggs / banana in oatmeal
For lunch: chicken pie / PB&J with banana sandwich / chicken, rice and stew (Hotel Victoria) / veggie curry
For dinner: Dinner at the McGrath’s (Bible study night) / Tons of Indian food I fail to remember the name of (Veg-Delight)/ mashed potatoes, baby corn, peas and carrots, and chicken (made by Bridget and Kathleen!) / Chicken croquette (Chez Maky)

 

 

15 July 2012

 

Hey all!

 

I am so sore…and I love it!!! Kathleen Sarah (one of my remaining Kabula friends from UK), and I went to Zomba plateau this weekend; we’re taking our baby steps towards Mt. Mulanji!

 

 

On Friday Kathleen and I were very pleased to see that a group of 6 new people had arrived to Kabula lodge, and we’ve discovered that they’ll be here for 4 weeks! Yay, more friends!!! This day was the first I’ve ever had a working lunch at Queens…I was so wrapped up in getting things done and I was on such a roll I couldn’t manage to stop.

 

That evening the 4 Manchester girls, Sarah, Kathleen, and I had a wonderful evening of scrounging together each group’s scraps of food to make a pretty awesome dinner of vegetable chili and rice…which I shortly thereafter added beef sausage to because the thought of chili with no meat offends me. Later on I went to Doogles and played pool with two of the Manchester girls that were leaving this weekend…I’m going to miss all of my UK friends! I definitely have to make a trip to visit them all next summer.

On Saturday Kathleen, Sarah, and I set off for Zomba at 8am and got there around 11:30am. Our plan was to take a taxi up the mountain, go to the view points, get a few souvenirs, then walk down the mountain.

 

We took a taxi most of the way up Zomba which dropped us off at a hotel/touristy point. We walked on a dirt road the rest of the way up; I was expecting more of a narrow trail but I had not considered the fact that this heavily forested area was their main source of lumber. Walking up to the plateau was not so bad; approximately an hour-and-a-half journey up to the Emperor’s and Queen’s View…we did make many scenic stops on the way up, so it was a bit quicker coming back down.

 

When we got to the top we had lunch at the Emperor’s View point; coincidentally met up with some of Sarah’s friends at the Queen’s View point, then started our way back down. We got some great valued souvenirs at the stands near the hotel then started our EPIC journey down the mountain.

 

To go down the mountain we took the Potato Path, which I’m assuming is the path that the locals take to go down because it was definitely not tourist friendly! The path was never wider than 2-3 feet of walking area and had tall grass and brush obstructing the path. It was rocky and sandy all-at-once and the terrain seemed a consistent 45 to 75 degree decline which rarely leveled off to give pity on my poor left knee! At one instance we had to do a surfing slide down the mountain because it was too sandy to try to walk down; I know Kathleen has a video of me going down at this point…I will have to talk her out of revealing such embarrassment.

 

Everything we saw was simply beautiful; the windy path the water flowed in the spring, looking out on the towns in the distance from the plateau, the way the sunset lit up the town below us, even the baboons lounging on the edge of the road on the way up the mountain…I kind of felt like my 3-year-olds in Sunday school saying “Thank you God for the trees, and the spring, and the rocks, and the animals…”

 

When we got back to Kabula I was so hungry; we made spaghetti and meat sauce and I don’t think we could have picked a better night to cook meat. And the Manchester girls got me an early birthday gift! They’re a sweet bunch of girls, I’m going to miss them so much! After our meal, some early birthday chocolate cake, and 2 episodes of Modern Family I called it a night and went to bed the earliest I have since we’ve been in Blantyre.

Of course on Sunday morning I woke up to feel the aftermath of yesterday’s adventure…oh man, I love the soreness after a good work out! We treated ourselves to another wonderful homemade French toast, caramelized apples, banana, and eggs breakfast on the veranda; and despite the fact that I got nearly 10 hours of sleep I took a 2 hour nap shortly after brunch.

 

When I woke up we went to market to pick up fabric to get outfits made; I’m going to have a tailor make my both of my nephews pants, and dresses for my nieces…maybe even a skirt for me if there’s enough material. I still haven’t decided what to get my brothers and sisters yet…but I know what to get their children!

 

To finish off the evening we met up with some friends at Veg-Delight for dinner, and came back to Kabula for an ever-so-girly night of braiding hair! I taught Kathleen how to underhand braid, cornrow, and even cornrow with extensions! Sarah is such a good sport for letting us play in her hair.

I’m ready for another action-packed week of work! I have a broken wall heater, an oxygen concentrator with disintegrated internal tubing, my apnea monitor to fix, and normal CPAP checkups and tests to run…I can’t wait for tomorrow!

 

With love,

Bridget

 

Things that were new to me:
Walking down a mountain!

Braiding kinky-twist weave into fine-blonde hair

Watching The Notebook

Things I wish I had:
A spare toothbrush to scrub the gunk and dirt off of my sneakers
Non-stick pans to make French toast
A real can opener

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Toast, jam, eggs / banana in oatmeal / French toast, caramelized apples, banana, and egg
For lunch: PB&J with banana sandwich /
For dinner: Vegetable chilli…with sausage and rice / Spaghetti and meat sauce / Tons of Indian food I fail to remember the name of (Veg-Delight)

8 July 2012

 

Hey all!

 

Had another weekend at Cape Maclear! New group of friends, different lodge, still a great experience!

 

On Friday I got packed up for my three-day-weekend in Cape Maclear! I was so excited to see how Malawians celebrate their Independence Day…surprisingly enough there were no big celebrations when we got to the lake. The worst part was the power cut off for nearly 2 hours, and right in the middle of my shower; fortunately someone brought me a candle. Since the power went out getting dinner was very slow.

 

Friday was not at all how I was expecting a Malawi Independence Day to be; the most festive thing I saw was a traveler light one bottle-rocket firecracker while we were at Gecko Lounge. Though I didn’t get to see any locals celebrate, all 11 of us went out to Gecko Lounge and did tons of dancing! I had so much fun!

 

On Saturday I was a bit of a risk-taker; I basically did the same boat-and-kayak deal I did the first time I came to the lake…just with a different group of people. And I not only kayaked to the rocky island, I got IN the lake as well! (This is all very big for me since I cannot swim; however, I did have on a life vest). The fish kept nipping at my legs, which made me feel sort of violated, so I got out shortly thereafter. A few friends and I did a bit of exploring through the rocky island right before lunch; and I unintentionally caught a nest of baby spiders…in my hair. This experience was already better than my first at Cape Maclear; I have many more stories to tell!

After lunch (which had much less grit than the last time I was at the lake) we went back to shore on a souvenir hunt. The evening was very peaceful; I laid out on the beach for a bit, listened to one of my new-found friends play the guitar as one of the locals drummed, and best of all I was able to take a shower without the power going out.

 

Saturday evening was the BEST evening I’ve had at the lake. While we were waiting on dinner we could hear a live band down the shore. I told my friends we should go check it out. We followed our ears and found ourselves at the Reggae Hut; there were so many little kids dancing and shouting and playing…it was absolutely beautiful. As we drew closer they began to notice us outsiders (well mostly the British people I was with…I tend to blend in here).

   

I insisted that we all join the kids in dancing on the stage, but of course my friends were a bit hesitant. So family just guess what I did next…that’s right…I hopped on staged and began dancing with the children! They swarmed around me and imitated my moves, I imitated theirs, and I gave out tons of high-fives once the song had finished.

 

Of course we went back to Mufasa’s (the lodge I was staying at in Cape Maclear) to recruit more friends to enjoy this experience. We had a blast! We dance for four songs straight and a different new-found friend bought at least 6 Fanta sodas for the children to share; what a gentleman.

 

We went back to Mufasa’s to have dinner, hung out at Gecko Lounge then Saturday had ended.

 

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes to two Kabula Lodge friends that were continuing their journey through Africa from the lake. When we got back to the lodge this evening we met up with the other Rice crew (Tara, Teresa, and Kamal) that is based in Namitete, Malawi; they’ll be here for the week! We ate dinner and chatted a bit before we all passed out; it was a busy weekend.

 

I’m just realizing that by the end of this coming week Kabula will be out 9 people, including the Namitete crew! Sad, sad times!

 

With love,

Bridget

Things that were new to me:
Buying a Chitengi

Things I wish I had:
Chicken to go with Sunday’s dinner
More time with my friends that are leaving!

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich / beans, eggs, toast and jam
For lunch: fish, rice and stew / Peanut butter sandwich
For dinner: rice and veggie casserole / Chicken, rice, and stew / chicken and chips

 

5 July 2012

 

Hey all!

It’s an Independence Day celebration for Malawi and America this week! Kathleen and I plan on doing it big while we’re away from our families.

 

It was a weird Monday without Jocelyn around…everything got done as usual, but it still felt like we were one person short.

 

On Tuesday we went to the AMAZING Shoprite…they had barbeque sauce, mustard, ground beef, sausages…all of the foods and condiments I thought were scarce to come by have been a 15 minute walk away from the hospital all this time! Kathleen and I were planning on going all out for the 4^th of July.

 

Kathleen fell ill that evening so I went to Bible study on my own. When I got back to Kabula I brought her the news that nearly everyone at Bible study was going to be at the lake this weekend so she would get to see them before they left Blantyre!

 

The next morning Kathleen thought she was doing better but had to go back to the lodge shortly after arriving to work. I did the usual morning meeting, CPAP check-ups, data-entry, and other tasks of the day…it was an okay day, but it didn’t feel as productive because there was nothing I found that needed fixing.

 

On Wednesday Kathleen and I had an EPIC INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION!!! I think we hyped this 4^th of July celebration up so much over the past few days we had people at the hospital telling us about the celebration that was happening at Kabula lodge that Americans were having!

We cooked a super big feast; chili and cheese hot dogs, “freedom fries”, and apple crumble pie…it was all so good and so worth the extra money spent on groceries. During the cook time we colored American flags with 3 of our British friends and the 6-year-old grandson of the lodge owner, and while we ate dinner we watched an episode of Modern Family…what could be more patriotic! Normally after we watch a movie or a TV show everyone else is pooped and I’m wishing I had a night-owl friend…but tonight, I was slipping fast into a food coma.

 

The mortality morning meeting was held on today instead of Friday since it was also Malawi’s Independence Day this week. Again, I was at work by myself since Kathleen was still a bit ill. The morning felt awfully wrong, I felt down; something about having a mortality meeting and hearing different cases where children die just doesn’t get my gears pumped. I think it affected me more so today because Kathleen was not here; so before I started anything off in my work-day I prayed.

 

After doing the morning CPAP checks, Chrissy (one of the CPAP nurses) gave me an available CPAP machine to test! This meant that I could try out the new Labview program I had been working on that would self-collect 1 minute of data in 5 minute intervals for 2 hours (instead of me doing this manually and risking the chance of me forgetting to collect data or wasting valuable work time). Unfortunately during the 2 hour test Chrissy came by the closet to pick up the machine a patient in Special Care Ward needed it.

 

I’m super glad my Thursday picked up…can’t wait to set off towards the lake during for the 3 day weekend!!!

 

With love,

Bridget

 

Things that were new to me:
Making chili

Things I wish I had:
NIV version of the Bible
A second stomach so I could eat more of this chili!
More of Kathleen’s AMAZING apple-crumble pie

 

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Toast, jam, eggs / and Toast, jam, banana in oatmeal
For lunch: chicken pie (Cure Café) / croissant (Cure Café) / PB&J with banana sandwich
For dinner: chili and cheese hot dogs, “freedom fries”, and apple crumble pie / hot dogs and sausages (bible study) / dinner at the McGrath’s house (bible study)

 

 

1 July 2012

Hey all!

 

By Friday I was feeling much better! I went in to work and got right back to it. All-in-all Dr. Woods and I managed to fix: 4 plugs, 1 lamp, 2 scales, 1 light box, and the frame around a resuscitation unit…I feel pretty darn good. There a still a few things that could be salvaged if we get batteries and a few other parts; I will try to find these things after Dr. Woods leaves.

 

That evening we went to dinner with Jordan (one of my Breath Alert group mates!) who is traveling with Nick Kristoff! We at the super fancy hotel in town…it was so good! Nick asked Jocelyn a lot of questions regarding the CPAP device and the study. Afterwards Jocelyn, Kathleen and I went to celebrate Jocelyn and our friend’s farewell. It was so much fun; Jordan even came out with us for a bit!

 

The next morning Kathleen and I decided to make Jocelyn’s last breakfast at Kabula the best…we made French toast with apple cinnamon topping!!! After breakfast Jocelyn left and the rest of Saturday was a do-nothing day.

On Sunday Kathleen and I were planning to meet with Jordan and Nick to show them the CPAP machines in use at the hospital; however, they had to leave Blantyre early. So instead of going in to Queens on a Sunday we decided to go with our friends to the pool again, but this time early enough to catch lunch. Once again I did very little swimming, but I did start reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice!

 

After we showered off we all went to the TV lounge to watch Bridget Jone’s Diary; it was pretty funny and coincidentally had a Pride and Prejudice type of plot to it. And of course the evening wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have shadow-puppet time! I promise I’ve done more random things here than I have in years!

 

I can’t believe I’ve hit the month mark!!! The time has gone by so fast!

 

With love,

Bridget

 

Things that were new to me:
Meeting Nick Kristoff

Watching Bridget Jone’s Diary

Things I wish I had:
A ukulele

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Toast, jam, eggs / and Toast, jam, banana in oatmeal
For lunch: chicken pie and a croissant (Cure Café) / beans and rice / Debonair’s Pizza
For dinner: Buffet at Ryall’s Hotel / Debonair’s Pizza / PB&J with banana sandwich

 

28 June 2012

 

Hey all!

 

These four days with Dr. Richards-Kortum and Dr. Oden felt like one big blur! These women are always on turbo-speed…I love it!

 

On Monday Kathleen and I got to sit in on a meeting that Dr. Richards-Kortum, Dr. Oden, and Jocelyn had with the Vice Principle of the Polytechnic school right beside Queens Hospital. It was really awesome hearing the future steps that will be made with the Bubble CPAP.

 

We all had lunch at Hotel Victoria (which was not a hotel at all); it was a hop-skip-jump away from the office and I had no idea it even existed! After lunch Dr. Woods and I went to scope out the storage room where all of the broken and miscellaneous equipment go to see if anything was salvageable. We diagnosed many machines and took inventory and decided it would be best to list a few now and fix as many as we could while he was still here.

 

On Tuesday I started off the day with the morning meeting then went straight to the storage room for some fun work! All-in-all we fixed a scale, a plug of a suction machine, a surgery light that had a severed cord, and a torn hose inside of a suction machine…SO MUCH FUN!!!

When we got back to the lodge we hung out with our friends before Bible study. Kabula has blackouts at least 3 times a week; Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday all around the same time. During this particular blackout we all did something so amazing…had a UKULELE NIGHT!!! We all had known that one of our friends was President of the Ukulele club during high school…but we didn’t know she brought her ukulele and song books with her! I’m so sad we didn’t start this earlier; blackouts are going to be unexciting once more when she leaves.

Wednesday was much like Tuesday; went to the storage room to work on devices and had lunch with the professors at Hotel Victoria. Today, however, we also ate with the CPAP nurses. It was really nice to hear the nurse’s perspectives of using the CPAP machines and how much they care about the study.

 

When lunch was over Dr. Woods and I did A LOT of running around Queens. So the task was to make a frame for one of the resuscitation tables in the neonatal nursery; from lunch we walked to the maintenance building to see if they had spare tables or frames…they had neither. We then walked to the carpenter’s building to see if they had wood to spare to make a frame. They had wood so we went to the nursery to get measurements of the table. We then walked back to the carpenter’s building to give him the measurements; he told us he’d be done in 40 minutes time…so we went back to the nursery to see if we could fix a resuscitation table heater in the meantime. We went back to the carpenter’s building to pick up the frame then attached it to the table back at the nursey…SO MUCH WALKING!!! I definitely learned the value of emails this day.

When I got back to Kabula I watched 10 Things I Hate About You in the TV lounge with my friends.

 

Thursday I woke up feeling a bit ill, but I went to work anyways thinking it would pass. When I got to the hospital Dr. Kennedy went over the library inventory with Dr. Woods and me; we showed him all of the equipment we had fixed and he pointed out all of the remaining equipment that were worth trying to fix and the ones that were not.

 

By this time of the day it hurt to walk. Jocelyn, Kathleen, Dr. Woods and I went to Cure Café to eat lunch; once I ate I was absolutely miserable, so I took a taxi back to Kabula to rest. I woke up when everyone got back from work and attempted to cook dinner, but the smell of food alone made me nauseous.

 

All of our friends sat in our living room to await the blackout, but the power never cut…and we waited for nearly an hour. At this point I was impatient, so I lit the candles and turned out the living room light so we could commence our ukulele night…once again, it was amazing.

 

After we determined the power was never going out, everyone dispersed to make dinner; we all came back together to watch Friends. I still had no appetite but I forced myself to eat a sandwich. First bit of traveler’s sickness…pretty bad…but it could be worse.

 

With love,

Bridget

 

 

Things that were new to me:
30 Rock

Friends
Traveler’s sickness

Things I wish I had:
My CJ Kliff teddy to curl up with
A budget for buying replacement parts for the broken medical equipment

For my parents—I promise I’m eating:
For breakfast: Toast, jam, eggs / and Toast, jam, banana in oatmeal
For lunch: chicken, rice, and stew (Hotel Victoria) / Double Decker sandwich (Cure Café) / PB&J sandwich
For dinner: Spaghetti and meat sauce (Bible study) / Pasta and veggies / PB&J with banana sandwich