Uganda 2012

Yesterday and today were fairly uneventful in comparison to some of our other days. We headed to clinic around 9:30, but notbefore first hearing that one of the children we had saw a couple of days before had died on the way to a different hospital the night before. This came as a shock to most of us, as last time we had saw him he was getting a blood transfusion, and doing fairly well. Apparently what had happened was that he deteriorated Sunday night and required another blood transfusion and needed oxygen as well. However, his IV had already been taken out, and it had already taken a few hours the 2 days before to get an IV into his neck. Also, apparently the blood and oxygen were locked up in a room, and none of the staff knew where the key to the room was. Therefore, one of our students had made an emergency referral to a hospital not more than 15 minutes away, and the child died in transport. It was really frustrating that something so preventable had to cause the death of a young child, just due to disorganization. After finishing rounds in the wards, we came back and just hung out until lunch time. After lunch, we worked on some more group project stuff and Mr. Apooli also came to visit. He is our community liason, and wanted to make sure we knew the expectations of the community, and also to deter expectations of us making huge changes to their lives.
After evening tea, Christy and I went to one of the rain water tanks to try and get what water we could out of it. Up until this point, we had not showered since Thursday! (gross I know, but apparently they turn the water off for the entire weekend and then some) I do not think I have ever felt greasier in my life! Deodorant and face cleaner can only go so far, and those who know me, know I am a stickler for hygeine, so I was going insane! We both managed to get about 3 cm of water into each of our buckets, and decided that if we couldn't have a real shower, we would at least try and sponge bath ourselves. The water was only enough to put soap onto our bodies, but not enough to rinse it off, so we decided we would rather be covered in soap than in dirt. However, we were promised water today, so we reserved washing our hair till the next day. I felt somewhat better.
This morning we did not get to start rounds until about quarter to ten, and even then only about half of the students joined us. There seems to be a gradual decrease in enthusiasm for clinical experience, which is something totally lost on Christy and I who cannot wait to go and actually DO something. When we were finished rounds, I headed back to the hostel and found out that our water was back on! I could barely control my excitement! I basically ran to my room, threw my clothes off, grabbed and towel and dashed to the shower. Freezing cold water has never felt so good on my skin! I finally got to wash my hair and give myself a thorough scrub down. It amazing the little things that you are so pumped for here! haha
By the time I had got ready and came out to see what everyone else was doing, Dr. Maling, the Associate Dean of Medicine and our site supervisor had just pulled up. For the next two hours, he asked how our projects were coming along, and we voiced some of our concerns, namely the lack of water!! By the end of the meeting he said that he would deal with some of the concerns that were within his control, and he seemed happy with our progress in our group projects. He also brought us bananas which is always a welcome gift!
Since then, I have done very little. We were supposed to go to the community today but there were a few factors preventing me from going. 1) My foot still has not healed, although I now have Deep Heat spray (very similar to Rub A5-35), therefore it prevents me from walking very far and 2) it began raining soon afterwards, and when it rains here, it POURS! Due to the rain, no one ended up going to the community, so I decided to read and have a nap. The nap felt amazing as I am lucky to get 6 hours of sleep here!
I am currently sitting in the dining room typing this up, my book not very far away, while others are playing a card game or reading. Pretty chill night I'd say! I kind of like it :).
Anywho, better get back to my reading! I am a nerd, I know! Oh well :)
Till next time!