A Full Moon

We had a full moon the other night. Maybe it was the moon's effect but a few strange things have been happening around here. At work its been unusually busy! Not a bad thing, just more work..... And one of the AMOs in the department is on 'likizo' (Vacation). The other AMO in the department is away at a teaching seminar. Thursday I spent most of the day doing ward rounds in Maternity. Almost a full day of rounding on patients because there are a ton of antepartum, post partum and gyn patients. After the ward rounds i went to clinic to see patients and then after clinic I went to ultrasound to scan a dozen or so patients.
Yesterday was a OR day. Did 4 hysterectomies (three vaginal hysterectomies and one abdominal hysterectomy) plus one cerclage placement. I took a short break for tea and bread around noon otherwise was busy in the OR operating all day. Was pretty tired after operations but still had more to do..... about a dozen or so patients were waiting in clinic and a few waiting for ultrasound. I was happy to be finished with all of the work by about half past 6.

The short rains are starting to come. Its nice because the weather cools off and we get a nice breeze from the ocean. The rains and the wind are causing a ton of my mangos to ripen and fall. This moring I went around picking up mangos in my back yard. I found thirty-two fresh mangos....... it felt like I was on an easter egg hunt. (Not that I have much experience in easter egg hunting:) but now I know what that's like). There are so many mangos that I end up giving most of them away. Otherwise if I eat them all I'd end up with some sort of mango toxicity!

In two weeks I'll be traveling to Dar Es Salaam for the annual VSO conference. Its a 3 day conference for all of the volunteers in Tanzania to come together to share stories about the work that's being done and to discuss issues during the past year and talk about future plans. Definitely looking forward to the conference.

Hope everyone is well at home and enjoyed Thanksgiving! Till next time......Badaaye (Later...)

In and around Lindi

View from the 'sokoni' (market). There is a roundabout in front of the market and one of the largest banks in town, CRDB, is visible in the distance, opposite the roundabout.

Sokoine Hospital. N.B. The wards and the outpatient rooms are usually filled with patients and their relatives, whom are not present in this picture.

Mitema Beach is about a five or ten minute drive north of Lindi town center. Its a nice beach to go to if you are looking to veg out.

COTC Teaching

I spent an hour this afternoon teaching the third year COTC (Clinical Officer's Training College) students. Lindi has a COTC which awards its graduates a certificate to become an 'Assistant Medical Officer'. The College is a 3 year program with approximately 130 total students. There are 43 students in the third year class and I think all were present today for my lecture on "pelvic masses". The semester will end in January and the students will graduate in July.
For now, the COTC principal has selected 7 ob/gyn topics for me to teach the students during the remainder of this semester.

Compared to my last class of nursing students, teaching at Lindi's COTC is much nicer because the students have a better fund of knowledge and clinical understanding. In addition, the students are much more capable of understanding my lecture in English! No translator is needed....

The students rotate in the hospital and are always hanging around the maternity department - in the wards and in the OPD. Some students are good, some are not so good just like back home in US medical schools. The other day I sat with one of the students in the OPD. The first patient came with a history of post menopausal bleeding. The student asked me 'what are the causes of post menopausal bleeding'? I told him to read and give me the answer by tomorrow. He told me he doesn't have a book. There was a moment of silence because I didn't have a justifiable response, so I gave in and just gave him a brief rundown on the causes. I wonder though, how much are the students really retaining by learning from lectures and handouts without textbooks? I don't think all students are lacking books, but I think the majority do not have the resources to buy textbooks. This is a problem and I'm not sure how I'm going to go about finding a solution because its difficult to find donations to purchase new textbooks! In the meantime, I'm resorting to repetition through handouts and the old-fashion chalkboard....which isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Murphy's Law on Life in Lindi

If it hasn't been written already, I'd like to add a new 'Law' to the famous 'Murphy's Law's on Life', that being: "Water will only leak from your toilets and sinks AFTER the plumber leaves your house". This was the case in my house the other day. After waiting all day for the plumber to arrive, he finally came and "installed" my water system. When the work was done, the toilets were flushing, water was flowing from the faucets in the kitchen and in the bathroom and the showers even had good water pressure. I paid the plumber 20,000 Tsh (about $20) and left to go to town to run a few errands. When I returned home I found water leaking out of two of the toilets in the bathroom into the hallway and into one of the guest rooms. Fortunately none of my possessions were damaged and the water didn't cause any damage to the house. I spent my evening mopping up water.

Fortunately I managed to get in touch with the plumber to inform him of the results of his 'brilliant' work, only to be told that he wouldn't be able to return to fix the problem until later in the week! I guess I should be fortunate that I now have running water, even if it is on the floor and in my hallways :)
(photo courtesy of www.greekshare.com)

Celebrating victories!

Time to celebrate! Like the majority of Americans I'm celebrating the news of the new presidential elect - Barak Obama. The news of his win on Tuesday was no doubt a historical event, and will be remembered as one of the great moments in history. For me its a little bit of a weird feeling to be living in Tanzania and watching coverage of the election so far from home. Albeit most Tanzanians are very happy with Obama's win, and most are celebrating but there is not the special feeling of unity and pride which I can imagine most Americans are feeling back home.

On a smaller scale I'm celebrating a victory of my own. Last night, for the first time in over a month, I took a shower! No, I didn't go a month without bathing, instead I was using the bucket over the head method, which was getting old very quickly! But after a month of persistance, patience and a little bit of luck, the plumber finally managed to fix my shower system and I can take a shower now like most of society, (although there is no hot water, but that is not something I can complain about!:) Its a small victory but a victory nonetheless and I was so happy to take a shower that I showered for almost a half an hour.....maybe I used about 500 liters of water or so, but it was definitely refreshing!

Its going to be a relaxing weekend. I'm planning to go to the beach, read and maybe go for a little swim in the Ocean. I received a bicycle from VSO the other day, so its much easier to bike to the beach (about 10-15 min. by bike) than it was before when I was using my two feet for transportation....

Raining mangos, a bloody dog, hospital news and trick or treators?

Its 2:00 in the morning and I wake up to the sound of a loud bang, like the sound of a gunshot. At first I'm startled, but then I realize that its mango season and a mango has just fallen from the tree and hit the roof of my house. Mangos are falling all around Tanzania this time of year espically from the 5 mango trees in my backyard. The loud noise is unsettling to wake up to, to say the least!
November and December is peak mango season. Little kids have been threatening to climb the fence and steal mangos. I don't really mind if the kids take a bunch of mangos because there are so many to go around....

Two days to go until the big day. Everyone here is talking about the election. Everyone's asking me who will win....Based on the polls its obvious now, but electoral votes are different and it looks like both Obama and McCain are concentrating on swing states. I'm guilty of not registering at the American embassy in Dar Es Salaam so I won't be able to vote.

My three dogs are doing well, but I'm getting concerned about Obama. For the last two or three days, he hasn't been himself. The other morning I saw a few drops of blood outside my door. Then I saw a broken light bulb sitting in the dirt, next to where he was sleeping :( He was foaming saliva out of his mouth this afternoon and decided he wanted to be by himself. I hope he feels better soon. And most importantly I hope its not some sort of a sign of what will happen to Obama, the presidential candidate!:)

Work is going well. One of the AMOS in the Ob/Gyn department is taking his annual leave next week. That will mean more work for me and the other AMO working in the department. More cases to do in the OR and more time to spend in the ward. I don't mind at all, treating the patients here is very rewarding and there is so much pathology....

No trick or treating for me this year. Halloween doesn't exist in Tanzania:( I have to live vicariously through the pictures of all the halloween parties posted on facebook! Looks like everyone had a good time, some people more than others!