Geeez....it's been a while since my last post! One of the main reasons has been that the internet has been really slow here and wouldn't let me access the blog site to log into my account! I have also been pretty busy around here. Lot's has been going on! (This will be a long one)
So where do I start...
Thursday - procedure day. Lots of wounds to change their dressings. Especially the little girl with the burns, she is such a warrior this one. Her mom spilled hot soup on her and half her arm had burnt. She is healing well, but still suffering. I also got to remove someones ganglion cyst from their wrist. Under supervision of one of the doctors, they taught me how to do it....this was awesome and went really well! I got about 2 of these - more like lipomas (fat cyst) on my arms....I am thinking I may try and remove these on my own now....not here though, maybe in Mistissini lol. That night I was also on call...it was an interesting night...kind of felt like obstetrics. All our new admissions were women with bleeding post delivery or miscarriages. One woman was few weeks pregnant and lost her pregnancy...I got to do a D&C on her from start to finish alone, again under proper supervision. These procedures happen often here, so I have seen a few and was comfortable doing one now. The rest of the night was quiet...so I got to sleep a few hours :)
Friday we got to experience some real Ghanaian food. We told our cook that we would be going out into the village for some food. Me and Femke (young doctor from Holland) went to play volleyball with the local kids again. Man...they are so competitive...for some reason they kept calling me out on fouls for things I had no idea what I was doing wrong...I'm like we don't play like this in Canada...they replied...well you are in Ghana now learn :) Haha...they are all really nice kids but don't mess with the rules! Once we were done volleyball...we met up with Patrick and Eric ( 2 other guys from my class), Dingueman (young dr from holland married to Femke) and Shelley (volunteer nursing student from Texas) and we all walked over to Free Bar restaurant. Not much of a restaurant, you walk in and there are women sitting on the floor making the food and some chairs and tables around. The famous thing to eat here that everyone pretty much eats everyday is called Fufu...don't really know what it is, its a vegetable/potato thats mashed up into this paste. They served it to us in a bowl with some chicken and sauce/broth. I have seen a couple of people in the hospital eating this at their bedside with their fingers....well we had to do the same. So, for once I really enjoyed eating with my hand! You use your right hand, to keep the other one clean...well I enjoyed it so much that I used both my hands to eat...no napkins but they pour water on ur hands and you wash them in a bowl. This was actually really good food! It was authentic...a little spicy but the fact you eat with your hands and see how they make this, kinda makes you rethink your choice of wanting to eat this...oh well...you try not to and enjoy it :)
Saturday - Market day!!! Now this is really cool....every 3 days...it's market day here. This is so much fun and can't wait till the next market day. Basically everyone sets up their booth selling anything you can imagine - vegetables, fish, nuts, shoes, door hinges, shavers, clothes, cloth for funky African shirts and more! The town square is flooded with sooo many people! It was so vibrant - so many beautiful colors everywhere, people smiling....trying to sell you everything! We were the only white people there...I was taking pictures of everything....some love it, some run away and some get mad. Once you show them their picture, they actually love it! I bought some fabric and will bring it to the taylor to make me a nice shirt...I am really excited...almost fitting in soon! On our way back to the house, we decided to go visit this river/running water place. On our way there, we bumped into two boys. Here, there are so many kids and I think are used to the white medical workers that they sometimes stand outside our porch and greet us and expecting us to remember their names the next time we see them. Well...Luke and Ghaniyu met us and asked us where we were going....they decided to follow us and show us around. These boys are like 10 or 11 and are fearless! They really entertained us....their english is so good. Basically they said if they don't speak english in class or if they speak mamprussi...they are punished or have to carry buckets of water on their heads. Once we reached to the water, there were a few people drinking, washing their clothes and just hanging out. This one girl started screaming at us and saying how she finds that boy handsome and wants to marry him. Eric, my asian friend...she wanted to marry him! This was so funny, we took lots of pics...but he denied her...she was only 15 lol We kept walking passed the water and asked the boys to bring us to the mountain we saw in the background. They were happy to and showed us all the shortcuts. On the way, I asked them if they knew the Shakira song....right away they started singing....Africa, africa, africa....lol so cute! Along the way, we saw this pile of dried corn with this white chalk circle all around the pile. Dingueman approached it and the boys started yelling...NOooooo don't go close! there is poison medicine and you will become paralyzed if you touch it!!! They were terrified and begged us not to touch it. I am guessing their parents told them this to not steal the food? Who knows...we were too scared to touch it! So they brought us to the mountain and it was beautiful...very open area, trees, quiet...just beautiful! Eventually, we needed to head back because we didn't have our flashlights and SNAKES!!!!! At the end of this day, I was so tired! Poooped!
Sunday - quiet day. Rounded in the morning and enjoyed the rest of the day. Hung out with people, watched tv shows, took a nap, ate good food! Life is good in Ghana :)
Today - very hard day today....tough, emotionally. We seemed to have gotten a few difficult cases in clinic today.
Mercy walked into the examining room. In her chart it said she was 16, she said she was 20 but she looked more like 14. Short stature, looks like she hasn't gone through puberty but had a smile on her face. She sat down and said she was coming because she hasn't gotten her period yet and her younger sister has and already has a child. It was clear to me and the other doctor that there was something going on here, much more complicated than this girl expects and would ever understand. Basically, we discovered that she has never developed proper secondary female characteristics. She had the external part of her genitalia but on ultrasound we quickly saw that she had no uterus. This was shocking...you never see this, especially in Africa. What is a simple diagnosis for us is a life gone wrong for Mercy. Basically in Ghana, the culture is that a woman is of value if she can get married and have lots of children....that is how they gain respect in their culture. Now we needed to tell Mercy that she will never be able to have kids, ever. The hard part was that we needed to translate this to her, so we wanted to make sure we did it right. Back at home, before completely diagnosing someone with this...we would send them for more tests and try to figure out what went wrong and some would even get some plastic surgery to help ease the physical symptoms of looking and feeling like a woman. In Mercy's case, there is nothing to do...she has no money to send her for more tests, no support from family right now and knowing the exact diagnosis won't help her cause there's nothing to do for her. Our translator Perpetua, explained to her what was going on....all of a sudden Mercy became quiet and started crying. I had to hold back my tears because this may have been the saddest thing I have experienced here. This girl probably can't understand why this is happening and how but she knows that she will never have children. No man will ever want to marry her...and she was crying, wiping her tears. This is the first time I have seen someone cry here...translator, Femke and I were all so quiet with glossy eyes. It hurt me so much to see that she was hurting. Other problem was that Mercy had no insurance, no money to pay her visit and get back home. Our translator, a Ghanaian woman slipper her some money to pay. I also gave her few dollars, enough to get home and Femke gave her some as well...she then whispered to us God bless you...in english. We asked her to return on friday to see us with a relative and we would explain this again, to make sure they understand and counsel her through the hospital chaplaincy. I wasn't the same for the rest of the day...this was unfair, but part of nature, this was how she was made...if she was back at home, she wouldn't have to suffer with the stigma of not being able to have kids as the culture is over here. This is difficult and hope she finds her way....she told me she was good in school...so she may have to use that to get somewhere and be respected in this culture of hers.
This evening - tonight is fire festival. People light fires and walk around the streets chanting and being all happy...I guess. Most people we asked at the hospital today said they weren't going....they could have warned us though! Around 9:30pm, after finishing up a case in the OR, I went with Femke, Shelley and Patrick to visit the town square to see the fire festival. On our way there, we saw a bunch of kids...50 maybe in the streets, playing with fire and screaming, running around....looked kinda rebellious but we approached them. I was so interested with this fire stuff...I took a picture...bad IDEA! As soon as they saw my flash....all 50 kids ran up to me grabbing my arms, shaking my hands, asking me to take more pics, jumping in front of me with fire....i was swarmed. Guess I know what it feels like to be Justin Bieber now...scary! I was able to get away but they all followed us now...everywhere, trying to be our friend, some were fighting over who would hold my hand. This was an interesting experience...I was kinda scared but they are harmless...thats what I tell myself LOL Next time...no fire festival!
I think this is a lot of talking....I don't want to tire you all out with these stories all at once! So I will save some other ones for next time :) I am loving every minute out here and so happy I decided to come here. I have another 10 days to go here...time does fly!
Evie...I miss you so much! You have heard me say this so many times....but it never gets too old to say it with you :) I am sorry for our skype conversations....internet is so slow, all we ever say is Hello? Hello? Hi? Oh hello? 50 million times. I am doing well my love...I can't wait to see you and miss you so much. Je t'aime mon amour :) (sorry for all that gushy stuff everyone) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABES...what is it now 5 years and 3 months :)
Gnight!!!!
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