people like us, we don’t need that much

my first week in tanzania was really interesting. obviously, you all read about my severe “homesickness” from kenya, which I should let you know I am almost over. I still miss the kids at little ray of hope like crazy, and I really miss my host sisters, but I don’t feel as upset about it as I was 11 days ago. but I am going back to nairobi for a weekend visit in my couple of weeks… I just spoke to anna and vicky and makena, and I miss them all so much, I will happily spend money on buying another visa to re-enter kenya, and then to re-enter tanzania. I might be crazy, in fact I know I am, but it’s only 250km away.

anyway, tanzania. I have been placed in a clinic called kijenge RC dispensary, RC stands for roman catholic. so there’s usually a few church songs playing in the background during the working hours, which definitely make me feel like I’m in a gospel choir or something (that’s my ultimate dream, to be a gospel singer. I’m just not a good singer nor am I black enough… one day). there’s two huge (and I don’t mean tall) nuns who run the show who I’m waiting for them to start singing “oh happy day”. the clinic is quite nice, they don’t need for much. I’ve had a look in their pharmacy and it’s stocked to the brim – they obviously have great sponsorship.
my first couple of days there were relatively observational, which I expected, and to be honest, it’s really captivating as people just don’t go to the doctor in australia for these sort of things. I sit in with the doctor (who is also my supervisor) as he does consults , and some really interesting cases have come through over the past week. the doctor is awesome, he includes me in the consults and asks my opinion, as well as translating to me what the patients say and what he thinks they have and what he will prescribe, and asks if patients in australia would receive the same treatment. I’m not completely up to date with what diagnoses require what medication, but a few things I recognised and could say yes or no. obviously we don’t have malaria cases back home.

the doctors office; the wall I sit and look at while he chats to the patients

things that came through the clinic last week include (but certainly not limited to):
– 3yo girl with malaria
– 25yo female with hypertension (220/150 on both arms)
– 6yo boy with mumps
– HIV positive woman for medication to prevent spread of disease to kid (niverapine)
– 25yo guy with cut finger
– 6yo boy with UTI
– 30yo female for stitches removal post caesarean
– 8 month old baby boy with otitis media
– 18yo girl with malaria
– 14yo girl with mumps
– baby with facial skin rash whose mother is HIV +
– 8yo boy and his 30yo dad with amoebiasis (a type of gastro) – treated with flagyl (metronidazole)
– 18 month old girl with bronchitis
– 5yo boy with productive chesty cough
– 3yo boy with malaria
– 5yo boy with huge abscess behind right ear (lidocaine before lancing, hardly done at all kid screamed the whole time, lots of shit (obviously not a medical term) came out)

hand washing facilities in the treatment room… yep, gross.

I spent one day working alongside a midwife doing antenatal checkups; learnt how to measure fundal height (basically measuring how big a women’s pregnant stomach is… that’s a very lay person description) and how to listen for a heartbeat with an archaic tool that looks like a weird mini-trumpet but not before harassing the baby through mum’s tum to figure out where the head is, therefore where the chest/heart might be (I’m still practising this new and difficult skill).

some of the things in the treatment room, apparently anything inside the silver tins is sterile. yet to see a steriliser though

some awesome things I learned this week:
– all malaria tests and treatment are free; children just don’t die of malaria here anymore as treatment is free (provided they can make it to a clinic)
– all tuberculosis tests are free
– all HIV testing and treatment are free

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that we had three mumps cases in the clinic. for those of you who don’t know, mumps is one of the things that we’re all vaccinated against in the big MMR injection (measles, mumps and rubella) at 12 months of age and (I think) the booster is at 2 years. mumps is a viral infection that usually causes painful swelling of the salivary glands, but can cause other serious problems including encephalitis (swelling of the brain), which can lead to permanent brain damage and/or deafness.

I was dumbfounded. like measles, isn’t mumps ‘extinct’? I mean obviously nothing is ever completely extinct – except dinosaurs- as these patients had it. even things like the bubonic plague (the black plague) have surfaced in madagascar and the middle east in the past few months. crazy stuff. I guess because I’ve not seen it in australia, and I know I certainly don’t have an extensive work history due to only just finishing uni, but I’ve never heard or seen anyone being diagnosed with mumps, at least not my age or younger. even though vaccines are pretty much readily available here in east africa (as far as I’ve seen), there are many factors that prevent kids being vaccinated against things that we’ve all been vaccinated against – unless you’re one of those crazy people who believes there’s a correlation between receiving certain vaccines and developing autism. don’t even get me started on that, that’s a topic for another day and a lot of wine… moving on… one website writes about the challenges of getting kids vaccinated here; i) lack of medical personnel to administer the vaccines, ii) lack of vaccines, iii) inability to store refrigerated vaccines in rural areas, iv) inability to transport refrigerated vaccines and v) poor record-keeping (reference: east africa partnership). I’ve seen all of these things, even to the point of only being able to have certain vaccines at the medical camps I worked at in kenya.

beautiful baby girl with the awful skin rash on her face, likely correlated to being HIV+

the baby girl who had the facial skin rash was such a beautiful little kid, I managed to take a picture (obviously after checking it was okay with her mum and the doctor). she wasn’t the patient, but the doctor and I obviously noticed something was wrong. her mum was coming in for more HIV anti-retrovirals (ARV’s) and the doctor mentioned that the baby’s skin rash is almost 100% indicative that she is also HIV+. I’ve done a lot of google-ing about rashes that relate to HIV and haven’t seen many that correlate to the same rash as the baby, but her mum didn’t consent to having her daughter tested on the day. the frustrating part of our job; you can’t force anybody, even when it’s in their or their child’s best interest.

it’s been really eye opening. and I’ve learnt a lot. not in terms of clinical skills, and by no means are they improving, but I’m learning a lot about patient care and how important it is for patients to feel like they’re being listened to. picking up on small cues about how certain medical professionals look at and/or speak to (or don’t) their patients; I know how much they drummed it into us at uni that you need to give patients eye contact so they aren’t feeling ignored. I thought it might have been a culture thing, but now I don’t, because patients are constantly looking at the doctor or midwife, hoping for some sort of interaction, yet they rarely receive it.

on a side note: I’m totally and utterly exhausted. I had no idea how tiring this volunteering thing would be, and I think I’ve been chronically tired since mid-september. dragging myself out of bed some days has been really difficult, I’m really sick of not showering (when the power goes off here in tanzania, so does the power, so you have to get water out of the well in our front yard to bathe with), I’m so so sick of eating carbs and carbs and more carbs (dinner the other night was spaghetti and mashed potato), I’m so tired of having irregular bowel movements and getting ‘travellers diarrhoea’ on a regular basis (yes that’s an overshare but I don’t give a shit) and spending every fortnight sick like I am now.
but it’s made worth it by a lot of little things – including an elderly gentleman who paid for my bus ride home from town yesterday to thank me for what I’m doing for his community. this guy was so unbelievably old (I always say that africans always look young, until they hit a certain age, then they look 150 years old), and had hardly any teeth left, and spoke terrible english, but I felt so humbled by how generous his gesture was. or by the kids and how they have to run their hands over your skin to admire how different the colours are… or pull your arm hairs out.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t counting down until my holiday in zanzibar, only 27 days until I’m lying on a beautiful, idyllic, crystal clear beach and actually relaxing. bring it on, baby. I’ll be so ready for a break by then!

somewhere deep inside, something’s got a hold on you

the day finally arrived! my very own medical camp, made possible through the generous donations of all of you and the amazing anna.

the days leading up to saturday saw us getting more and more excited; anna spent a good couple of hours sticky-taping a toothpaste box to the back of a toothbrush (all 200 of them), last minute phone calls from marcus telling me about the shit he had to deal with from certain organisations (this country can be so exhausting), heading into the city centre in heavy traffic to buy stethoscopes and BP cuffs to use on the day and then to give as donations for the future medical camps… it was as exciting as it was stressful. but it was so goddamn worth it.

rubiri primary school grounds

I hardly slept on friday night – partially due to the fact we had a few beers with some other volunteers at our local bar & may have been a bit inebriated – but also because I was so excited. something we had been planning for a while was finally happening and was now coming to life.

a very early morning saw me up at 6am (although I was awake well before then) and getting a matatu with anna and her friend nikki, who helped out, to meet the other volunteers (ashley, richard and sarah) at the local shopping centre just before 7am so we could get going, naivasha is about 2hrs from nairobi in good traffic. we arrived just after 9am, and the best part was seeing patients already waiting when we arrived. I was actually a little worried, partially due to the fact that the camp was being held in a really rural location – rubiri primary school, on the outskirts of naivasha – and for patients to get there, they would have either had to get a piki piki (motorbike) which would cost money that not many people have, or to walk for quite a few hours. so seeing people there made me grin like an absolute loser.

patients already waiting to be seen

the biggest thing I’ve learnt about medical camps is that it’s not about the number of people who come. you don’t want to have huge huge numbers of people who come because you’d be so pressed for time and resources, they wouldn’t get the care and treatment they deserve. it’s about the quality of the care they receive, that each patient is listened to and treated accordingly.

a slightly negative part of the lead up to the camp was the crap marcus had to deal with from certain groups of people – apparently there was some shit storm about the people who we had organised to do the HIV testing, apparently the certificates held by the ‘testers’ were different to what is normally accepted and the testers would have to be met to assess their ability; ridiculous, considering these people are qualified and would have been doing what they do for quite some time. it sounded like they weren’t happy about us having HIV testing available at the camp… and this only came to light a couple of days before saturday. we couldn’t take away the HIV testing only a few days before; it had been advertised in the flyers we had printed and via the community health workers who had a loud speaker and we going through the surrounding villages and towns telling people to come on saturday. there’s a massive importance on the role of trust; patients have to feel as though they can trust whoever is treating them, otherwise they would never come back to another camp. if we took away something we had promised would be at the camp, would these patients trust anything we said again? simply put, no. there was a lot riding on this camp too as KCC are hoping to build a primary school just next to rubiri primary school. this was to be the chance that the people in the area would get to know KCC and what they’re all about, and they would trust that we’re delivering what we say we will deliver. and seeing the amazing work that KCC has done in their early development schools, for them to have their own primary school would be amazing; hence this camp being a big deal.

a classic example of the political bullshit we have to deal with here in kenya. it’s so hard to do something good for others when you’re jumping through hoops trying to make everyone happy.

the camp started at about 10:30am, a little bit behind schedule but there was lots to be done once we arrived. even though marcus, anna (a different one) and steinar, plus a few others, were already there and had clearly been getting things organised, we had to sweep the floors of the classrooms we’d be working in, figure out what classrooms would be used for cervical cancer screening and HIV testing and black out the windows for privacy, set up the registration area (and later a tent to protect flavia and anna (the norwegian one) from the blazing sun), set up the pharmacy with all the medications we had in stock, organise desks into makeshift tables for doctor/patient conversations etc etc. lots to do, but lots of hands make light work. and man, did we have a lot of hands!

getting organised!

after the debacle of gaining a medical licence for the day (the kenyan government got incredibly strict about ensuring only qualified medical professionals work in a volunteer capacity, enforcing that volunteers need to ‘purchase’ a licence in order to work here. it is a really important thing that has happened though, which I’m glad to have been to first one to get it organised so future medical volunteers can easily get it sorted.) mine cost $100 which covers me for a month, even though I only needed it to work one day – and even then it wasn’t like I was doing anything that would put anyone’s lives in any danger, all I was just gonna do was work in triage – taking patients vital signs… that’s hardly cause for concern. bloody political drama, but that’s a story to be told another day with a few beers.

triage, hectic as per usual

little leo had his first ever checkup

patients receiving their uji/porridge

the day flowed really well; richard, ashley and nikki helped with the public education forums and did a fantastic job. we had oral hygiene, hand washing, germs and reproductive health (a lady from kenya red cross did that talk) and every child got a toothbrush and toothpaste, then we had enough for almost all of the adults.

the tooth brushing talk

the hand washing talk

handing out toothbrushes and toothpastes

anna practising hand washing with some kids

statistics wise, we had 229 patients who registered: 50 women had cervical cancer screening, 50 patients volunteered to be tested – 31 of which had never been tested before… that is an incredible result. to have 31 people now know their status when before they had no idea is fantastic! there was also a room for family planning, we also had immunisations should any kids need them but only one had a measles injection – didn’t have any other kids needing any. but at least we were prepared.

eating lunch while we work

cleaning the uji cups

sah hipster

we saw our last patient at about 3:30pm, although I’m sure a couple of extras came later on. the long task of packing up everything, including medications that we’re left over (counting them as well), putting the desks back into the classrooms, taking down the blackout shades, cleaning all the dishes from the day. by the time we had our debrief, it was time to head home. anna and I were going to go to a festival that night but decided against it a few days prior, as I was leaving so soon and wanted to spend as much time with my host family as possible. turns out we were so exhausted we probably would’ve collapsed the second we had a beer and listening to some music! it always surprises me how tired I am after medical camps; this was my fourth one in four months, and each time I feel like I come home and pass out. whether it’s just the long day in general, or having to use the ‘medical knowledge’ part of my brain – which I’m not really using here – I always sleep like a log that night!

we were definitely delirious by this stage

honestly this camp couldn’t have been done without the huge support and organisation of marcus, of the KCC slum project. the fact that he can organise a medical camp amongst all of the other work he does at KCC is amazing, and hugely appreciated. also a big thanks to the volunteers from NVS, staff from kijabe mission hospital, district ministry of health, NHIF, kenya red cross, the public health office, area administration and of course, where we held the camp, rubiri primary school.

and of course, you guys. all of you who donated to my “taking healthcare to kenya” fund, this happened thanks to you. what I’ve done in kenya over the past 4 months hasn’t been as medical as what I thought it would be, and you’ve all been so supportive of ‘little ray of hope’, where I’ve spent the majority of my time, and some of the donation money. but I was over the moon to do something medical – your donations went towards the meeting that was held a month ago with all of the above mentioned organisations, buying medications for the patients, ensuring we had an allowance for the staff members who worked during the day (only kenyans received this), printing flyers to give to the kids at rubiri primary school to give to their family and neighbours, purchasing enough toothbrushes and toothpaste for almost every patient, buying the HIV test kits, mobilising community health workers in the days prior with loud speakers to get the word out, purchasing my medical licence so I could actually work during the day, ensuring we had food for the patients during the day, transport of goods and volunteers, providing lunch for the staff who worked during the day… there are so many more things but I honestly can’t think of them now (when the report of the day is written, then I can let you know!)

the a-team

thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t say it enough.

if you had one shot, one opportunity

september is already amazing; part I.

this week has only just started and yet it has already hit the mark of fan-bloody-tastic. I hit AU$4000 in donations, which is – quite literally – out of this world. even people I’ve never met have donated. so a huge thank you to my family and friends who have spread the word of what I’m doing. really, all of you are my backbone here in kenya.. I wouldn’t be able to help the people I’m helping without the selflessness of you all. so here is my thank you #1.

there’s a quote by mother theresa which says something like, ” if you can’t feed the world, then just feed one person”… I’ve slightly adapted it to, “if you can’t help the entire world, then focus on one small part and do as much as you can”. that’s how I feel about the ray of hope school. my amazing uncle ron is back home making skipping ropes to send over for them because I said they use old wires instead. this is everyone’s project, everyone who has donated, not just mine!

so as I’ve let you all know, I’ve already used a fair bit of the donation funds here in kenya – particularly on stationary, books and necessities for my little angels at ray of hope, as well as at other medical camps and donations to slums I’ve visited. however I didn’t realise that gofundme (the website I use to fundraise) and paypal both take a percentage of these funds. but that’s life, nothing comes without a small fee! anyway, long story short, I still have approximately $2700 – an incredible amount of money – for this medical camp; which brings me to the second part of this post.

september is already amazing, part II.

I met a pretty awesome norwegian girl called anna, who volunteered here in kenya last year, and loved the country so much that she’s now moved here for university. I was telling her about my goal of running my own medical camp, and she said she was really happy to assist with funding the camp with some of the money she raised for separate volunteer projects… approximately $850. I was speechless. and then finally, when I found my voice, extremely thankful! how on earth did I get so lucky with such generous people in my life? cue part three…

september is already amazing, part III.

yesterday I met with marcus, the co-founder of KCC slum project, to discuss my medical camp. he was at the last camp I did in naivasha, and knows a thing or two about the organisational side of things. anna came with me, so she can know where her donation money is going too.

he was blown away with the amount of money I managed to raise and was excited at the concept of how far it will go. usually volunteers organise one day medical camps, but he is certain that these funds can make an entire weekend-long medical camp, on october 26-27. that’s huge! the potential number of people we could see in two days is phenomenal, hundreds and hundreds, at least.

I let him know that I would love it run just like the one in naivasha as it was so so organised, but would love it to be for everyone, not just women. still have triage and doctors (maybe even specialists) and a pharmacy and voluntary HIV testing, also cervical cancer & breast cancer screening stations… but I would love to include dental in it as well. he loved the idea, as he had been brainstorming places to have the camp, and came up with a school on the outskirts of naivasha with a huge number of pupils, which would ensure we had a huge turnout. and I loved the idea of ensuring kids had dental checkups, as well as adults. some of the kenyans teeth here are shocking, I’ve seen in the past two months, which is what inspired me to have a dentist at this camp. I also thought of having little take home packs for kids after having a dental checkup, you know like a toothbrush and toothpaste (maybe a sticker or two), like we used to get when we’d go to the dentist as kids.

so marcus is going to get in contact with the local hospital, the school and then give me a run down of a potential budget for the camp. and then everything will start from there; getting staff, organising volunteers to help out, getting medications, getting equipment ready, making flyers & posters to spread the word throughout the entire area of naivasha and the surrounding villages and towns. it’s going to be a huge job, but it will be so worth it.

september AND october are going to be amazing

I don’t know if there’s a way to describe how inspired and excited I’m feeling right now. words are failing me! this was my goal, my dream. running a medical camp for the people who can’t easily access or afford healthcare. it’s my passion, what drives me every day here in kenya.

marcus said to me today “I remember you saying you wanted to fund a medical camp on your very first day in kenya”. this was my goal, and it is actually happening. my ‘one shot, one opportunity’ (cheers eminem). but it’s not just my medical camp, it’s ours. anyone who has donated, this is your medical camp that you’re helping run so that hundreds of hundreds of people can have medical attention, for free, close to their homes.

so now is the time to share my story, if you haven’t already. share what I’m doing with your work colleagues, your parents, your extended family, your children, your aunties brothers sister-in-law’s step-daughter, your boss, your favourite barista, your tram driver, your great-grandma with a huge estate and is unsure of how to spend it, your school, your basketball team or your church… this is it. if I raise any more funds between now and october 26-27, my idea of sending kids away with a toothbrush & toothpaste could come to life. I’d love to have vitamins for children as well (a new idea I just thought of), we’ve not had them at any other camp – and so many kids are malnourished, vitamins could do the world of good. and I am very open to suggestions, the brainstorming starts now!

if you’ve donated and want to again, or haven’t yet because you’ve waited until the right time, this is it. this is where all of the donation money is going (except for the little bit I’m saving for the clinic in Tanzania). this is your chance to directly help hundreds of kenyans, adults and beautiful children, reach healthcare. click on this link:

taking healthcare to kenya

asante sana, from the absolute bottom of my heart. ♥

all I have I will give to you

nakuru medical camp.

what a day. I honestly don’t think I’ve been that exhausted since one of my last shifts as a paramedic student after working a solid 14/15 hour shift. and that was in a first world country.

the camp itself was the ‘baby’ of fellow volunteer lindsay who is a nurse from the US and had been in nakuru (a pretty large town/almost a city outside of nairobi by about 3 hours) for a few weeks. the pastor she’d been staying with has set up programs for the people who live at the gioto garbage slum and is well known and respected in nakuru, so he helped set up the camp with her – and by ‘help set up the camp’, I mean he organised everything and used her money to do so. it’s hard being here and wanting to organise things because – obviously – not being able to speak kiswahili makes things a little difficult.

so me and two other volunteers headed to nakuru from nairobi on tuesday afternoon via matatu, which was officially the longest matatu trip I’ve taken; was the point I was at my absolute snottiest and sickest, and I couldn’t even breathe out of my nose. so the poor two kenyan souls I was sitting next too are now probably as sick as I was then. thats how small the vans are. arriving in nakuru at the matatu stop past 7pm when it was dark wasn’t exactly my idea of fun and didn’t exactly encourage the feeling of 100% safety, but we were picked up pretty quickly.

that night we organised the ‘paperwork’ for the next day, which included tearing A3 sized paper into quarters and each patient would receive a piece which would eventually have their name, their vitals, their chief complaint, their diagnosis and what drugs were required. not the extensive documentation process I’m used to, and it’s bloody sweet. none of that “ooh you better document every little thing the patient says/does/breathes just incase of a lawsuit down the track”.

the next morning we were up bright and early for the camp. it was relatively disorganised to start with however once things got rolling, we saw upwards of 700 patients that day. words to describe it; exhausting, tiring, humbling, educative, chaotic, daunting, headache-worthy, but amazing.
we’d been separated into the different stations; registration, vital signs (including BP, temp & weight), adult doctor, paeds doctor, neonatal doctor, HIV testing and pharmacy. there were 8 of us volunteers, 3 of which were nurses so we were to work with the doctors. I was with the adult doctor, although in true african fashion, nothing was organised and none of the doctors had separate specialties so patients sat patiently and waited to see one of the three. initially there weren’t enough chairs for us nurses to sit next to the doctors so I was floating around with the people helping take vital signs, realising pretty soon that we couldn’t take temperatures without a thermometer, so the pastor went off to buy more medication and supplies and comes back with three oral thermometers, because that’s all the place had. excellent, how do we take the temperature of over 700 people efficiently but still hygienically? one of the other nurses had the genius suggestion of ripping off the fingers of gloves. what a legend. I will totally be using that as an example of “tell us about a time you had to improvise…” for my paramedic interview next year.
“well, this one time in africa, I was volunteering in a medical camp and…”

you can sort of see the glove tip at the end of the thermometer

doing the extensive documentation required… on a scrap piece of paper

the vital signs section with kyle, a medical assistant, and wanika, a biology student.

jenny, a psychology student at the pharmacy

checking out what the pharmacy had to offer

so many different ailments and problems came through the camp, people with generalised coughs, sniffles and a whole lot of problems that they had probably had for quite some time but had been waiting/hoping/praying for a free medical camp. the three nurses, me included, were sitting with the doctors and were helping diagnose patients through the symptoms they described. however a few people where seriously sick and had to be taken to the local hospital, pretty quick smart. a beautiful little 6 month old baby had a fever of 39.8 celcius with a distended tummy (I took her temperature, got a bit worried so encouraged them to the front of the line to see the doctor), turns out the poor bub hadn’t pooed for 4 days. the beautiful little girl had a probable umbilical hernia and needed surgery. sadly her mum was the one to convince as she had no money and was worried about the hospital fees. somehow someone convinced her that it could be taken care of later but she really needed to get her baby to the hospital. just one example that shows how different life is here. when I did my shifts at the royal children’s emergency department, mothers (and some fathers) were bringing in their bratty toddlers with just a bloody runny nose… how I wish I could somehow make people at home who really need a wakeup call come step into these people’s shoes just for a day. they don’t know how lucky they’ve got it.

one really ridiculous patient came through stating that his eyes won’t stop watering, especially when he wakes of a morning and when he looks at light. the doctor was sure he had a kind of viral conjunctivitis – very common in the slums (which is where we were). so she prescribed not one, but two types of antibiotics. what?! I’ve already stated how much it frustrates me when people are like “oh I went to the doctor and he didn’t even give me a prescription”… probably because ya don’t need it mate! so this was baffling to me. when she was questioned, she didn’t really give a straight answer. this doctor, she was so lovely, however she was only an intern… still a newbie, so hardly a doctor (shhh), so I think she was a bit scared to start with and just wanted to treat everyone.

we reckon a couple of patients pretty much had tuberculosis, except had nothing to properly test with so it was a symptomatic diagnosis but very strongly recommended for one bloke that he go to the hospital to be tested. he was extremely reluctant because he just thought he had a sore throat but it got to the point where we had to tell him (via an interpreter) that he was putting everyone he came into contact with, including his family, at risk. I think we got through to him, as well as in the process probably contracting TB every time he coughed.

a lady came in with an insanely swollen leg below the knee complaining of pain. straight away I was like ‘holy shit, dvt’ to the doctor next to me, since I couldn’t feel a pedal pulse and her leg was paler than what her other one was. funny considering I thought it would be difficult to tell when people with dark skin have poor circulation. reminded me of a job I did as a paramedic student in mildura when a woman had one huge swollen leg after sitting in the car for 10 hours. we had MICA (intensive care paramedic) backup within 30 seconds and were at hospital within 5 minutes. so this poor lady needed to get her and her swollen, pulseless and pale leg off to the hospital ASAP for some interventions aka anticoagulation therapy.

another volunteer, moriah (a nurse), told me of a lady who came through wearing simply a skirt and a scarf tied around her chest. as she sat in front of the doctor, she removed the scarf only to show the most horrendous wounds and scabs all over her shoulders, arms, chest and stomach. she claimed a candle fell on her, but no one was believing her… moriah said to get that sort of huge extensive burn, she’d have to have had a huge pan of hot water or something tipped or poured on her. It makes me sick and I hate to think what actually happened. I’m pretty sure she got referred to the hospital as well.

sitting playing doctor with the doctors (almost more so than the doctors themselves)

exhausted smile

having a stand up snooze with a very sleep baby who’d been patiently all day with her mama to see the doctor but fell asleep when they finally came through

the group

and I am – again – so grateful to my amazing friends and family who donated so generously before I left. thanks to you guys, all of the donation money I had in my wallet at the time AU $155 (12,000 kenyan shillings) was spent on medications, thermometers and other medical supplies required to help run this camp, because we ran out of lindsay’s donation money. and it was so appreciated by all those people we helped on the day. if I had’ve taken more out beforehand, I would have given more. it was a fantastic day, but so incredibly draining. I haven’t had to think that much since my shifts as a paramedic student when I was treated like an actual ambo and expected to do everything for the patient – assess, diagnose, treat. felt so good to do actual medical stuff, a good 9 months after my last shift in health. but farrrrrk me, when we finally got back home to nairobi at 8:30pm that night, I slept like an absolute baby.

aaaand because it’s never too late to donate !
www.gofundme.com/takinghealthcaretokenya

and bad mistakes, I’ve made a few

people usually learn from their mistakes. whenever I get sick, it takes me a good couple of weeks to actually go to a doctor because I hate antibiotics and I like to think I’m either supernatural or made of a supreme higher power and that eating oranges or drinking lemon & honey will cure me. even after everything I’ve learnt at uni. you’d think I’d learn by now.

we were joking around the other day after the medical camp in nakuru, and having treated patients with potential tuberculosis, I was certain I now had TB. loss of appetite, persistent cough, TB exposure, fever, weight loss, night sweats… yep I had all those. but that’s the worst part of knowing too much medically. but I don’t have TB. surely not. power of positive thinking. .

but anyway, today I finally caved, spent an entire 250 kenyan shillings (AU$3.10) to see the clinician at the clinic I work at, for him to tell me I have tonsilitis as well as an upper respiratory tract infection. no wonder I feel like shit, don’t want to eat & can’t eat because of the huge golf balls that were once my glands.

so after being given a course of amoxicillin, a course of cefatrizine & a whole bunch of ibuprofen (all included in my $3.10 fee already paid)… here’s hoping I’m back to 100% within the week – big medical camp to look forward to in naivasha this weekend!

I guess I probably should get a mantoux (TB) test before I come home. I definitely have been exposed to it here, not even joking.

fever in the morning, fever all through the night

who graduates from university with two specialised degrees in health yet neglects to bring a basic first aid/medical kit over to kenya? me. that’s who.

when I left australia, my ‘drug bag’ consisted of the following:
– atenolol (required heart medication)
– lariam (required malaria medication)
– aspro extra strength (the only thing that works for me when I have a headache)
– gastrostop & immodium (I didn’t even buy these, my aunt who is a nurse bought them as a ‘haha’ birthday present for me to start packing my medical kit for kenya, along with some disposable undies and extra large condoms – “because black men are well endowed”… very haha)
– bushmans 80% deet bug spray (because I am not coming home from africa with malaria, although I’m sure I probably will)
– gloves and alcohol hand sanitiser (for when I would be in hospitals/clinics)
aaaand yep. that’s it.

then I got to france and buggered my feet something shocking so had to buy the following:
– bandaids (but they’re so un-sticky I’d be better off without them)
– sports tape (and it’s so sticky, it’s the best 20 bucks I’ve spent on a sports tape)
– ibuprofen (because I figured aspro might not help with ‘open wound/raw skin’ pain… although ibuprofen wasn’t all that good either
– also bought sunscreen as I realised I would soon be in turkey and in constant 30deg sunshine, and didn’t feel it necessary to bring such a silly item from home because I could just as easily purchase it from somewhere whilst overseas… of course in paris, they pretty much only sell really really nice sunscreens so after spending €30 on a clinique sunscreen because that’s all they had left, I was kicking myself for not bringing some cheap banana boat coconut scented sunscreen with me. yes mum I should’ve listened.

then I got to turkey and got swimmers ear, so I got bottle of prednisolone ear drops. not that I’ll likely need them whilst I’m in kenya, but it’s another addition to my pathetic ‘kit’. oh and I stocked up on proper band aids. win.

and then I got to kenya, and see people have the most amazing first aid/medical kits. things like antibiotics for when you get travelers diarrhoea, antibiotics for just in case you get this infection and this antibiotic might fix it (ie. bactrim, amoxycillin, etc) burn cream, after sun cream, extra strength hydrocortisone cream for bites and itches, tongue depressors, antiseptic wash, bandages, finger splints, instant ice packs, paracetamol, tylenol, motion sickness tablets, tylenol with decongestant properties, sleeping tablets, anxiety medication (not prescribed, just in case), muscle relaxants, cough syrup, blister protectors, drops for pink eye, anti-itch wipes for bites… the list goes on. basically everything you may need for when disaster strikes and the world ends and you just happen to be stuck in kenya at that point of time.

shit.

and these are legitimate examples from people’s first aid kits that I’ve had a nosy at and felt utterly idiotic for not listening to my mother who said before I left (and I quote) “you know you really should see the gp to get some prescriptions for antibiotics just incase.. you never know. oh and while you’re at it, perhaps a first aid kit wouldn’t go astray”. but in true ‘victoria the fiercely independent fool who doesn’t listen to other people’s suggestions form’, I decided that would be silly as its just another example of doctors too readily giving out antibiotics and that’s why the world is building up antibiotic resistant diseases à la VRE and MRSA, and that I shouldn’t encourage that behaviour blah blah blah. as well as the fact that I convinced myself that I wouldn’t be the patient so I shouldn’t waste money on things that I could use on someone else.

yeah well I pretty much slapped myself in the face when 2 weeks ago I had a productive cough with green gunk coming from my lungs and a decent fever… classic chest infection. antibiotics would have gone down a bloody treat then. absolute idiot. or when a few days ago, my symptoms reappeared but instead of the cough, my head was so full of snot I thought my eyes were going to bulge out of my head it was so congested up in there… cold and flu/decongestant stuff would’ve been amazing.

this deems me to be the worst prepared qualified healthcare professional, ever, to set foot in kenya, I’m sure of it. and I’ve also learnt that you should always listen to your mother, even when you’re 100% certain she’s crazy/nuts/ridiculously wrong/gone off her nutter… she’s not. she’s always right.