Melissa Halliday’s Blog

You’re Ghana Love It….

Ok, so that title is for Clint, who left today. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that throughout the last few weeks and even as corny as it is, for some reason it made me laugh each time. After a VERY long day in the OR (Clint and Dr. Young) and running back and forth between mini-crises/little things in the wards (me) I crashed last night, only to wake up at 4:30a today to head to Tamale.

Clint is flying from Tamale to Accra tomorrow and then out of the country on Friday. Dr. Young, her husband Bob, Clint and myself all headed down to Tamale this morning and attending a morning conference at Tamale teaching hospital. It was a great conference and great to hear some good med ed again. Dr. Young had a meeting to go to this afternoon so Clint, Bob, and I ran some errands, and then visited with friends of the Youngs in Tamale. It was great to be able to spend the last day together as a little group and say our goodbyes.

It’s been a great last week and a half of being here. It has involved HUGE adjustments, but it was so great to have the team from Buffalo here to socialize with and help gradually adjust to the culture alongside others. Clint was a huge help to me, since I was figuring out really basic things like when we rounded, how to use the water in the house, to more complicated things like the diagnosis and treatment of malaria/typhoid and other tropical diseases which I’ve never seen. It was great to learn with him and figure things out. Also, it helped to have someone else to just laugh with and relax when things were stressful or you just needed to unwind.

But now it was time for him to go home. I wish him all the best and know he’s going to do amazing things with his life. I have mixed feelings about the next few weeks. While I’m a little bit anxious about being the “only one left” I know it is an opportunity for a lot of growth and that will be awesome. I have to become a lot more independent in my diagnosis and treatment plans and also I have to learn how to cope and lean on God when I’m all by myself and feel like I have no other outlet. I know it’s going to be difficult at times with the schedules we keep and the intensity of it all, but that’s half the reason I came here right? To see if I could hack it. I know it’s going to be amazing and in a few weeks I know I’ll look back at this as one of the most defining and amazing experiences of my life. I just hope I can work hard and help out here while I’m still here!

Thanks for all of the encouragement, prayers and support. You don’t know how much your comments, emails and other forms of communication brighten my day. I know people say that but I’m serious! I look forward to looking in my inbox and seeing new mail or on here and seeing new comments! I hope you all are doing great and can’t wait to catch up in person!

Love and blessings,
Melissa