For my second day at the hospital I opted to stay in minor theatre and casualty (the equivalent of the emergency room). It rained for most of the morning so the hospital was not as busy. In casualty a woman brought in her baby because he was weezing. I could see that he was “belly breathing” (thank you UTSW) and he treated with suction and a breathing treatment. I also saw a REALLY big hernia but I didn’t stick around to find out how they treated them. In Minor Theatre I helped re-dress a woman’s wounds. She was traveling to work on Monday and was attacked by “men with knives”. She had many injuries and the redressing took a little while. I made friends with a Kenyan medical student named James and he wanted me to drain this little boy’s abscess. I was trying to be a little more aggressive today so I went for it. The boy was around 9 years old and was TERRIFIED of the local anesthetic. As much as I wanted to stick around, this was my first awake patient and I started to get that it’s so hot in here im going to faint feeling so I had to step out momentarily. This instance made me so grateful to anesthesia and the advances that have been made that allow us to put patients to sleep. I came back in time to see the abscess be drained and had to assist in holding down our frantic little patient. For the rest of my time at the hospital I got acquainted with my fellow students and some of the foreign students in the hospital.
A brave medical student in the house named Jennifer taught me how to do a Canuli and how to draw blood this afternoon. She has really good, visible veins so the challenge was supposedly easier. I did the Canuli in her hand and effectively got blood all over the place. The next bout was much better and If I was grading I’d give myself a B- on this adventure.
I’m heading to Safari tomorrow so I’m not sure when the next update will be. I’ll be traveling by bus back to Nairobi and we will spend 3 days at the Masai Mara game reserve. I’m excited for the adventure and pictures to come!
