Rounds went well last night. Today, we rounded on all the patients in the ward, and discharged lots of people. It was good to finally be sending some of them home. The reality is that we healed some, helped others get better control of their chronic disease (like HTN or DM), or simply had to say that there is nothing else that we can do to help the patient…which is super frustrating.
Some common problems here that I see less often in the US is hepatitis (both from BBC and HCV) as well as from alcohol and other diseases, postpartum cardiomyopathy (large, less functional heart after child-birth) leading to shortness of breath, and tuberculosis.
I went to church with a family from Belgium who is working at the BMC right now. We went to a Fulani church; from what I have heard, they are a nomadic people group similar to the Gypsies of Europe. Here, they often have a poor reputation. The church was planted by a man who works in the pharmacy of the BMC. The church building was probably 10ft x 20 ft and was filled with about 20 adults and 40 kids; it was packed. I enjoyed the service which was in both English and Mamprusi. The key passage was in Ruth where it says “where you go I will go.” This passage was part of my wedding ceremony and it made me reminisce about times with Tyler. I am excited to be having these serving adventures as a couple in the future.
After lunch, I worked on a presentation about Tuberculosis that I will give to the other doctors and medical students on Tuesday. I was a little nervous about presenting on TB since it is so common here, but I hope I can teach someone something new. It was challenging to get the information for the presentation with a slow internet connection, but I made it work.
Sunday was a good day to rest and get other things done…like my presentation! It is definitely good to have some time off. Dr. Cahill invited everyone to his house for games that night, so I was definitely excited! We played Taboo and Cranium. It was so fun to hang out with his family and the family from Belgium again. What a great way to finish the weekend!