Week two started off great. Every Monday night the long term volunteers and physicians host dessert night at one of their homes. It is a time to get to know each other and provide a means of fellowship for everyone. This week someone made the most amazing ginger snap cookies I have ever tasted, and the son of the family was the DJ and played Michael Jackson the entire time.
I also started this week in the outpatient pediatric clinic. Unlike the clinics in the US, the physicians here only see newborns to age 5 and after age 5 they are usually sent to the family medicine clinic. It has been a whirlwind to say the least. I am seeing so much pathology. Of course, we still see common things like asthma, URTI, constipation, and ear infections but I also have seen some pathology I have yet to see in the US. Another major difference in the clinic here versus the US is that the person working the clinic also sees the pediatric patients that come to casualty (the ED) and does the workup on the patient prior to handing off to the inpatient team.
With this system, I was given the opportunity to perform three lumbar punctures on patients with presumed sepsis. I saw a child with organophosphate poisoning that was unable to be immediately admitted due to the inability to pay the deposit, which was extremely difficult to wrap my mind around. I’ve seen coccygeal teratomas, multiple imperforate anuses, and numerous cleft lips/palates with malnutrition, TB, and a large CP population. I never expected the outpatient setting to be so diverse.
I ended the week with multiple hikes. Saturday we hiked Hell’s Gate, took a boat ride on lake Naivasha, and hiked around Crescent Island. Hell’s Gate was breathtaking. We hiked down into the gorge. Of course, I slipped off the rocks into the water but it didn’t matter because the views were worth every bit of my wet, squishy socks and shoes. The boat ride was peaceful, relaxing and we got to see more hippos. We finished the day with Crescent Island. It’s hard to imagine ever going to a zoo again after this trip. As we hiked around the island we walked next to giraffes, gazelles, wildebeests, and zebras roaming freely. The views from the island were beautiful and it was the perfect end to the day.
Sunday was spent hiking the volcano, Mt. Longonot. This was the most physically taxing experience I have ever endured. The hike to the rim and all the way around the rim was 5 ½ hours. I initially thought the climb to the rim was extremely difficult; little did I know that the hike around the rim would be even more difficult. Even though it was challenging, I learned that I could push my limits a lot farther than I expected, I am tougher than I thought, and that facing my slight fear of heights was extremely scary at the peak of the volcano but with God anything is possible. The experience and the views were worth every drop of sweat that day.
Recently someone told me, “Wherever you are, be all there.” I try to remember this each day and focus on living in the moment to make the most of what little time I have here.