The first half of our trip has flown by! Emily and I ended our rotation in OB/Gyn this past week and will be moving on to separate areas of medicine on Monday. Emily will be in surgery and I will be in pediatrics for the remainder of our stay. Mark is starting to pack up to leave on Monday as well (unless Emily hides his passport from him). The cardiac team is leaving this weekend so it will be just Laura, Emily, and I pretty much for the next three weeks with another couple people just stopping in for a few days. I can’t believe how fast this trip is going!
Our last week in OB proved to be a very interesting one (defer reading here if you don’t like medical details). We have seen several things here we would probably not see in the US while on rotations such as a gangrene uterus and a female circumcision (formerly practiced by several tribes here in Kenya but now becoming less and less common). Our last day ended up being a mix of emotions between both of us excited to first assist on c-sections and close but also having to see some difficult births and outcomes. The c-section Emily assisted on was on a full-term mother who had had an ultrasound done that showed an enlarged head leading to the decision the baby could have hydrocephalus. In the US, mothers are put through various screenings looking for possible health risks for the baby (and mother) as the pregnancy progresses and they also receive ultrasounds at various stages throughout their pregnancy. This is not the case over here. There are no regular screenings for Down syndrome, neural tube defects, or other fetal abnormalities and women rarely receive ultrasounds unless they need to estimate gestational age or suspect some problem. I do not know the circumstances surrounding this particular mother’s prenatal care, but it is a very good thing she received that ultrasound. The c-section was difficult due to the size of the baby’s head and it took lots of hard work trying to maneuver him out of such a small incision. The baby also had what is called a meningocele, which is commonly associated with spina bifida. It is an area of the spinal column that did not fully fuse and so the spinal cord is left protruding through the opening in the bones. The hope is that the baby will be transferred to another, more equipped hospital to have surgery on both the meningocele and hydrocephalus. Please keep this family in your prayers. Here is just a glimpse at the baby - please do not scroll down if you do not wish to see. I adored him the minute I saw him!
The nasal cannula did not like to stay in the right place.
Look at that adorable nose and mouth!
The same day we also had two mothers give birth back-to-back where the babies were not breathing. Unfortunately one of them could not be resuscitated. The other was carried to the nursery and was doing okay when we left the hospital Thursday. It was a difficult reminder that there are not always happy endings and even though we might not understand why it happened, God has a plan for everything and that baby is resting happily in heaven. I am sure as I move forward into pediatrics here that I will see more heartbreaking things happen. People who know me know that I have voiced an interest in working in Pediatric Oncology so I think God is definitely going to use this experience here as a toughness-building exercise. If I am to work in that area of medicine, I know that I will constantly be surrounded by difficult situations and well, I'm kind of a crying fool. So I will have to build up a resistance to crying so to speak. That doesn't mean it won't still break my heart or that I'll become cold-hearted towards my patients, I'll just have to be a strong support for them and their families. For some reason God blessed me with a very strong desire to work with kids, specifically children with illnesses, and I look forward to seeing how He molds me for that future.
We are once again enjoying a nice, relaxing weekend around the Tenwek grounds-the weather is beautiful! We have weekend-ly movie nights which are actually starting to occur more frequently because they remind us of home. Tonight we are going to relax watching some comedy television from various TV shows that our OB preceptor, Dr. Carrie Huber, has on DVD. Tomorrow Mark and Emily will be venturing out to a community church with the PT that Mark worked with here, Solomon, and then enjoying lunch at his house. I will be hanging around here attending church and then finishing up studying for the women's health exam for when we return in December because I'll have to start studying Peds come Monday. Must.Contain.Excitement! Only 3 1/2 more weeks left in Kenya!
God Bless everyone!
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