Julie Myhren’s Blog

Week in Review

Wow, I have been busy!  Sorry it’s been several days since my last update, but there has been a lot going on over here!  So, here are some snapshots of my week:

TUESDAY: I watched my very first C-section!  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we don’t have clinic.  Generally, they are surgery days, and since there’s not a ton going on in the pharmacy, I can don a set of scrubs and head to the OR.  Oli did most of the work and Andy explained most of what was going on (commentary is always more fun in a British accent!) 

After we welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world, I helped Solomon and Peter in the IV room.  The IV room here is absolutely nothing like “making IVs” in the States.  At home, we just add things to bags… Here, we make the D5W, saline, and D5W + Darrows solutions.  Overall, the system is excellent: the IV room is separated from the rest of the pharmacy by essentially a walk-through closet, and at least one door is closed at all times.  We wore scrubs, scrub caps, face masks, and big rain boots in the “secret room” to cut down on outside germs, etc.  There is a laminar flow hood and an autoclave and a sink.  The solutions are made according to a recipe sheet on the wall and pumped through a 0.2 or 0.4 micron filter into 500 mL or 1 L glass bottles.  The bottles are then capped with a rubber stopper and an aluminum screw (reminds me of making jam….) and then autoclaved to kill any nasty germs that may have slipped through filtration.  Solomon explained that buying premade bags like we do at home is more expensive (although not quite as much as it used to be) and difficult because supply and delivery are not always guaranteed.  I also had some excellent time to chat with Solomon and Peter, who are both sort of like grandfathers.

After work, Carolyn, Andy, and I ventured to town to drop my fabric off at Joyce’s house for skirt making and to try fufu.  Fufu is essentially a white mush made from African yam that reminds me of mashed potatoes.  It is served as a ball in a bowl of soup (ours was guinea hen soup, we think) and eaten with your fingers.  The wierdest part is that you’re not supposed to chew, just break off a chunk with your fingers, shovel it in, and swallow!  I liked it, but Andy wasn’t crazy about it.  I think Carolyn and I will go again.

WEDNESDAY: Clinic day!  Busy, busy, busy!  Jane informed me that the hospital can go through 80,000 tablets of Tylenol (I still have a hard time remembering to call it paracetamol here) in a month.  That is some serious counting!  Today I hung up half of the new shelf labels above the counting table… Thankfully, they were met with general approval by the pharmacy team…I’m really glad I brought clear duct tape!

THURSDAY: More counting to prepare for Friday’s clinic… But, I am slowly learning Mampruli greetings, and really enjoying getting to know that crew in the pharmacy.   Yussif helped with hanging the rest of the shelf labels… Next week, I think I will tackle the boxes of precounted tablets.

Every Thursday night, all volunteers and the missionaries and their families have Station Meeting at 7pm.  Essentially, it’s a time for refreshment and fellowship.  We started off singing a few hymns and then Kate and I were asked to share whatever God laid on our hearts.  I shared Solomon’s benediction from when he dedicated the temple to the Lord because I had just read that and talked for a few minutes about God’s faithfulness then and now.  We then shared prayer requests and lifted them up to Jesus.  It was a blessing!  And THEN, we had dessert: Swedish no bake chocolate ball cookies and coffee! (Sweden was the theme of the meeting, actually, because it was Miriam and Annalie’s last time.  So we sung Swedish hymns (they in Swedish, us in English) and ate Swedish dessert!)

FRIDAY: Clinic again; busy again!  By 9am, I must admit that I was absolutely bored with counting.  So, Yussif taught me how to bill Ghanaian insurance, and I got to use my brain for the rest of the day!  Please don’t misunderstand–so many people come to clinic that EVERYONE counts at least for the morning, just to prepare for the onslaught… and then, a few people continue to count all day.  I had hoped that at least in Africa I could be away from insurance plans, but, alas, that was not to be!  For 7 Ghana cedis (about $7), anyone can sign up for Ghana’s national health insurance plan.  Unfortunately, many people can’t afford that, but for those who can, it’s a pretty sweet deal.  All submissions are handwritten on a special form, so I quickly got used to the most commonly prescribed drugs and I got to look through each chart and med list.  Jane met me leave at 6:30…I found out this morning, that a few stayed till 7:30.  Reminder: our day starts at 7:30 am.  It was long!

SATURDAY:  This morning, I went into the pharmacy from 8-12 to help with prep for Monday… more counting, but I am getting pretty speedy!  When I got home for lunch, a group of 11 new people had arrived from Tenessee.  This afternoon, a group of us are heading to an escarpment about 45 minutes away to hike and admire the savannah.  Actually, I just looked at the clock and had better go or I’ll be late!