Not a ton to report today. We are minutes away from leaving for Mzuzu then headed to Lake Malawi at Nhkata Bay. Its safe to swim there with less of a chance of getting shisto. We'll seeeee. We are also excited to taste some of the endemic fish species from the Lake- there are over 600 to choose from. Maybe we'll be able to get our hands on some dairy too... yesss... cheeeese. Its the end of mango season, but we heard we can still find some good ones at the Lake, so we'll see. More stories on our cases of mistaken fruit identity later....
Half day at the hospital today. Julie and I rounded on the Female ward again. Everyone is on malaria treatment. This time we made sure the medical officer signed off on our plans- the nurses just went with our decisions yesterday! Can you believe that? Its scary... but then again, in just a few months, we will no longer be students (ok ok, fine, we will always be lifelong learners, but you know what I mean!)
One of my little patients in the peds ward who had severe respiratory distress from malaria yesterday, probably ARDS, started convulsing this morning, so the malaria has gone cerebral. But since then, he is actually looking much better. The young boy that Julie LP'd yesterday was up and playing today!!! He was smiling and talking with us! Just yesterday he was laying on the table seizing before us... kids are SO resilient.
Spent a lot of time this morning in the maternity ward and "neonatal ICU"- basically a small room with beds and a heater. We could not convinve this one young mother to kangaroo her baby. Skin on skin contact is great for temperature control of premature babies, but, even with a Tambuka-speaking nurse, we couldn't get our point across. She preferred to hold the baby in blankets on her lap or hold him up to the heater... it was very frustrating because the poor thing was cool to the touch- not a good sign. Another neonate there with meningitis, 2 with papular rashes, possibly syphilis.
Well now we're off to meet Carol, Rhianna, and Jenny and head to the "beach". Beautiful day here today- maybe we will get a chance to work on our tans. Aaand drink a beer ot two... and eat some cheese! Vacation within a vacation- lucky us!3 alF`ing our experiences at the hospital this week, I think we need it.
If you would like a postcard, please email us your address. Mzuzu does have a post office!
Our phone number is 02 097 212
(Not sure of the country code (256, we think?) or how exactly to dial from the US, but we can also get text messages!)
Have a good weekend everyone. Kewo!
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