I’ve been at Kapsowar Hospital for two weeks already. We leave early tomorrow morning for our Pokot trip. It’s quite exciting—one of the other med students and I will be doing all the prenatal visits for the moms there, as well as any other OB/GYN related issues, since the resident gynecologist here isn’t going. It’ll be a little taste of acting like a doctor. Prayers for the success of our trip would be wonderful—we hope to reach many of the people there, both medically and spiritually. At least half the point of the trip (if not more) is to encourage the very small church in the area, and we hope to reach at least some of the community with the message of the Gospel. I’m sure it’ll be a very different experience as a Christian in a very un-Christian area.
Today was a fairly laidback day. Fridays usually are—no one wants to be in the hospital over the weekend. My sick Pokot baby is still very sick, but he’s still alive, which is more than we expected a few days ago. For those who know antibiotics, we started him on chloramphenicol today which is pretty much last resort since it has some pretty serious side effects (but it’s a great drug). We sent several kids home, including the baby with heart failure from the beginning of the week and a child with malaria. I had my first real experience on pediatric side of a c-section today; we had an emergency c-section since baby’s heart rate was not going well during labor, and I was one of the people resuscitating him. He did fabulously, especially for coming out fairly limp and lifeless. That was about the most excitement we had over the course of the day; everything else was pretty quiet. I did see my first chameleon; that was fun. For some reason Kenyans are terrified of them, so I heard the shrieks of the kids before I saw the tiny thing (maybe an inch long). After work, we had a great walk a little ways toward the valley for the beautiful views and the exercise. It still amazes me how excited the kids get when they see us, yelling out mzungu over and over. It’s really cute when they tentatively come down to shake our hands, as though we’re a completely alien species. Living in Kapsowar, where there are white people all the time, you’d think they’d get over the amazement.
I hope everyone back home is doing well. Again, any prayers for the trip would be much appreciated. I’m told it’s a very different area down in the valley, and the church down there is doing its best to stay alive and spread the Word. Plus, the people have to walk for at least a day, if not more, to see a physician, so there is a lot of medical need as well. I’ll be sure to share all about it when we get back!