Ashley Shira’s Blog

Day Twenty- “Just call us doc”

Today was our first day of clinic with 4 med students. We weren’t sure how it was going to go because the hospital is quite small. Kim and I ended up with our own consultation room and we saw patients on our own again today….”just call us doc” has become our little joke. The nurses come to us for signatures on all types of papers now…even insurance forms. I hope the national insurance is okay with that. Andrew and Izzy sat in with Dr. Akosua today. Kim admitted a 16 year old boy with sickle cell crisis and possible acute chest syndrome. I saw an adorable 1 month old who was perfectly healthy, but he was the first born to young parents and they just needed a little reassurance. After clinic Kim and I went around and checked up on our patients on the ward that we have admitted the last few days. Anita, the 6 year old girl with periorbital cellulitis and malaria that I admitted on Monday is doing much better. She now runs up and hugs me whenever she sees me….everyday she reaffirms why I want to be a pediatrician. She and her mother are so appreciative. She even posed for a picture with me! After Dr. Akosua, Izzy, and Andrew finished the four of us walked over to the canteen for lunch, but they were already out of food…it was almost 3pm. We decided to change and venture out for the evening. Andrew and Izzy needed to get groceries. So we walked down to drop our fabric off with Gilbert’s wife so she could get started on our dresses then we all got in a cab and headed toward the mall. We had the taxi driver drop us off on Spintex Road just before the mall and we shopped at all the little stalls on the side of the road on our way to the mall. I found an African female doctor to add to my collection!! She is carved out of wood and hand-painted….I’m very excited. When we got to the mall we showed Izzy and Andrew around then ate dinner and got ice cream at the food court. We made a stop at the grocery store then took a taxi home.