Day four of maternity week was very similar to the preceding three days. There were several C-sections, but the attending had me stay with him for the entirety of rounds which was good because my experience there has been fragmented to this point due to interruptions with C-sections. After work, we had a new arrival at the guest house, another medical student from Germany. She knows a student that had been to Kiwoko in the past and, therefore, was in contact with one of our friends we met here, a nurse anesthetist. For this reason, we had coordinated a cooking lesson with this friend for dinner. She taught us how to make chapati and roasted goat. The spice on the meat was red chili pepper, salt, garlic, pepper, soy sauce, and beef bouillon. It was mouthwatering. We made this and also cut up fresh fruit, including papaya and mango, and made an eggplant (“aubergine”, as the country uses British terms) stew. Everything was so delicious and not that difficult to make apart from the time commitment that goes into preparing so many foods from scratch – it took us about three hours. This, in addition to the mountain of ironing I was tackling as the group was cooking, made me very appreciative for modern technology and amenities that are so readily available to us in the US. In many ways, this does make you slow down, savor your time, and forces you to be more intentional with what you choose to fill your day doing. I hope to bring this back with me when I leave Kiwoko.
Lugandan word of the day: bulungi (“boo-loon-jee”, a phrase conveying “I’m fine” or “it’s all good”, usually in response to oli otya)
Medical learning point of the day: Avoid use of pethidine (meperidine, an analgesic not used in the US) in patients with sickle cell disease, especially pregnant patients and those with severe anemia, as it could cause seizure.
