I arrived safely back to Tanzania 8 days ago. Nice couple of flights on KLM, with a short layover in Amsterdam. I landed in Dar Friday night and took a cab to my favorite hotel, the Econo Lodge. I spent the weekend relaxing and trying to adjust as quickly as possible to the time difference (8 hours ahead) here in Tanzania. The weather has been just as I had left, hot and humid, day and night!
I spent Saturday at the beach relaxing with another volunteer based in Dar Es Salaam.
There are plenty of "resort" style beaches in Dar and if you go to one of the more popular beaches on a nice weekend you'll find a ton of "wazungus" (White European descent) lying out or walking around. Almost gives you a feeling like you are not in Tanzania but at a resort in the Caribbean!
On Monday I stopped by the VSO office to meet with my program manager to discuss how the job in Lindi is going and to discuss other issues coming up in the next couple of months.
I flew down to Mtwara (the largest city in Southeast Tanzania close to Mozambique) on Wednesday and from there I took a dala dala (overcrowded public transportation minibus) to Lindi (about two hours north).
In Lindi I took a cab back to my house in the town of Mtanda. There I met Hadija, my housekeeper who I was happy to see and to hear that everything had been well at my house, i.e, no robberies or attempts at break-in.
I found the house just as I had left it - without water and with very sporadic bouts of electricity that seem to come and go at completely random times. My first night back in the house I had no electricity for most of the night. I spent the evening with my security guard sitting around in the dark talking by candlelight. I was lucky to have about 25 liters of water which had been collected from a recent downpour but that water was soon consumed and I'm now left with buckets of water used very sparingly!
I went back to work at the hospital on Thursday. I spend most of the morning doing "ward rounds", meaning I see all the Maternity patients (antepartum, post partum and laboring patients) and Gyn patients who are admitted in the ward. Fortunately there were no very sick patients in-house. We had a few patients with prolonged hospital stays due to post op wound infections. There was one patient admitted to the gyn ward with a large adnexal mass awaiting surgery and another patient in preterm labor at 32 weeks of gestation. In the afternoon I went to clinic and saw about a dozen patients. The most interesting case of the day was a relatively young woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She went to Dar Es Salaam last year to receive radiation therapy. She came for a follow up and seems to be doing well with normal blood counts, however on exam she still has evidence of a large residual tumor mass on the cervix. I told her that she should go back to Dar Es Salaam to potentially receive more radiation therapy. There were two or three patients with infertility who came and got a work up. I scanned about a dozen patients in ultrasound and then went home for the day.
Hadija had prepared fish (red snapper) with vegetables and rice. It was plenty of food for me with leftovers remaining for the next day.
On Friday I had two operations scheduled - an elective repeat cesarian section and tubal ligation for a woman who is HIV+ with a history of one prior cesarian section and undesired fertility. She had an uncomplicated repeat cesarian section and delivered a vigorous baby boy.
The second case of the day was also HIV+. She was a young woman with a large ovarian mass. We found about a 10cm hemorrhagic ovarian cyst at laparotomy and performed oophorectomy. She was recovering well when I checked on her at the end of the day.
I saw a few more patients in clinic yesterday afternoon. More infertility patients arrived and a few patients came for regular antenatal care.
Last night I went to the Santorini bar, a nice local hangout on the beach to relax and get a drink. The laid-back social scene here is something that I will miss. There are no "wazungus" which I socialize with outside of the hospital, but there are plenty of friendly Tanzanians who like to relax at the bar and go dancing until early hours in the morning.
I'm heading to the market now to stock up on some fish and meat, fruits and vegetables and then do a little bit of work at home. Badaaye! (See you later!)
I spent Saturday at the beach relaxing with another volunteer based in Dar Es Salaam.
There are plenty of "resort" style beaches in Dar and if you go to one of the more popular beaches on a nice weekend you'll find a ton of "wazungus" (White European descent) lying out or walking around. Almost gives you a feeling like you are not in Tanzania but at a resort in the Caribbean!
On Monday I stopped by the VSO office to meet with my program manager to discuss how the job in Lindi is going and to discuss other issues coming up in the next couple of months.
I flew down to Mtwara (the largest city in Southeast Tanzania close to Mozambique) on Wednesday and from there I took a dala dala (overcrowded public transportation minibus) to Lindi (about two hours north).
In Lindi I took a cab back to my house in the town of Mtanda. There I met Hadija, my housekeeper who I was happy to see and to hear that everything had been well at my house, i.e, no robberies or attempts at break-in.
I found the house just as I had left it - without water and with very sporadic bouts of electricity that seem to come and go at completely random times. My first night back in the house I had no electricity for most of the night. I spent the evening with my security guard sitting around in the dark talking by candlelight. I was lucky to have about 25 liters of water which had been collected from a recent downpour but that water was soon consumed and I'm now left with buckets of water used very sparingly!
I went back to work at the hospital on Thursday. I spend most of the morning doing "ward rounds", meaning I see all the Maternity patients (antepartum, post partum and laboring patients) and Gyn patients who are admitted in the ward. Fortunately there were no very sick patients in-house. We had a few patients with prolonged hospital stays due to post op wound infections. There was one patient admitted to the gyn ward with a large adnexal mass awaiting surgery and another patient in preterm labor at 32 weeks of gestation. In the afternoon I went to clinic and saw about a dozen patients. The most interesting case of the day was a relatively young woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She went to Dar Es Salaam last year to receive radiation therapy. She came for a follow up and seems to be doing well with normal blood counts, however on exam she still has evidence of a large residual tumor mass on the cervix. I told her that she should go back to Dar Es Salaam to potentially receive more radiation therapy. There were two or three patients with infertility who came and got a work up. I scanned about a dozen patients in ultrasound and then went home for the day.
Hadija had prepared fish (red snapper) with vegetables and rice. It was plenty of food for me with leftovers remaining for the next day.
On Friday I had two operations scheduled - an elective repeat cesarian section and tubal ligation for a woman who is HIV+ with a history of one prior cesarian section and undesired fertility. She had an uncomplicated repeat cesarian section and delivered a vigorous baby boy.
The second case of the day was also HIV+. She was a young woman with a large ovarian mass. We found about a 10cm hemorrhagic ovarian cyst at laparotomy and performed oophorectomy. She was recovering well when I checked on her at the end of the day.
I saw a few more patients in clinic yesterday afternoon. More infertility patients arrived and a few patients came for regular antenatal care.
Last night I went to the Santorini bar, a nice local hangout on the beach to relax and get a drink. The laid-back social scene here is something that I will miss. There are no "wazungus" which I socialize with outside of the hospital, but there are plenty of friendly Tanzanians who like to relax at the bar and go dancing until early hours in the morning.
I'm heading to the market now to stock up on some fish and meat, fruits and vegetables and then do a little bit of work at home. Badaaye! (See you later!)
