Day 8: Tanzania (Usa River, Nkaoranga)
Thank God, we just recovered from another blackout. I've been sitting here in the dark packing my bags (by the light of my phone) for safari tomorrow/getting them ready to go ASAP for our flight out of here on Monday night. Though, the darkness, I can handle. What I could not have handled for much longer was the damn heat. It gets SO. HOT. in these rooms if there's no circulation, BUT there's no way in heck I'm opening up my window or door and letting the bugs in, so I got to pack in the warm darkness.
But about today...veggie omelettes for breakfast with shopping through Mama's store for dessert :)
Mama has *a bunch* of stuff made by her mama and her friends that she sells over in the corner of the living room of the guest house. Stuff like jewelry, carved wooden animals, bags, headbands, etc. I bought 100,000 shillings worth of gifts for the family (aka, about $60 USD) :D
After shopping, we left the house around 9:00 and headed for the hospital, but not before stopping at a shop on the side of the road ran by a woman who sells baskets and other household items. We bought all her baskets, a bunch of her wooden spoons, and brooms and all for a grand total of about $11!! It was insane!
Once at the hospital, I scrubbed up, not to paint, but to join Mia, Nancy, and Dr's Rob and Rem in an operation to remove cysts from a woman's ovaries. It took a while for the docs to finish their rounds, but once they did, we were ready to go!
Now, this is one of the things I was *really* excited about getting to do on this trip, so, naturally, it went horribly wrong.
Right before the surgeons finally came in, my stomach began to feel really odd. I thought maybe it was just gas and then began to think it was food poisoning or something worse (Crohn's!), which is when it started getting hard to breathe: I figured it was just my mask. It was also starting to feel really hot in there and, although I was sitting on a stool, even that act was staring to feel exhausting.
At that point, Dr. Rob finally came in, came straight over to the stool and said, "Once the surgery starts you need to hmm hmm hmmmm the table". Although I was trying really hard to concentrate, it was getting difficult to hear him.
He continued, "And if you ever feel light headed at any point, just-"
"What if I feel light headed right now?", I interrupted.
"Sit on the floor" he said, "It'll help."
So I did just that. The first few minutes on the ground, my head was still spinning pretty badly, and I felt seconds away from vomiting; however, once they turned on the air conditioning, I began to feel a lot better. So much better, in fact, that I thought I could sit back down on my stool...I could not. It was kind of embarrassing, and I had no idea why it was happening since I'm not bothered by blood or intestines or anything; in fact, I find them quite interesting.
So I ended up spending about 97% of an ovarian cyst removal surgery on the floor of an operating room in Tanzania. Definitely something to check off the bucket list. And, hey. The 3% I did see was pretty darn cool...before I had to sit back down due to the room closing in on me.
Apparently what happened to me is not uncommon. It's called vasovagal syncope, where something triggers a nerve to shut off, decreasing the blood flow to your brain. Nancy said it happens every so often with nurses who want to go surgical; they'll get into an OR, and their bodies freak out. Doris says it happens to her when she gets blood drawn, so I'm assuming that's what happened to Meg when she tried to give blood that one time and threw up and passed out.
So that was my great, first operating room experience! :P I'm honestly just grateful it was that vasovagal thing and not something worse, as I was half convinced I was going to be admitted and die in an old, gross hospital in Africa of some terrible disease.
After finishing up in the O.R., I went back down to the Female Ward to help Doris, Michael, and our painter buddies finish up some dressers, windows, and doors. The difference between these rooms before we started and now is absolutely remarkable, and we're not even finished! (Well, five of the rooms are finished, the painters will finish the rest of them after we've gone) It's completely night and day looking at pictures of the disgusting, filthy walls, ceilings, and furniture that were in there before and how nice it all looks now! Praise God!
Since we were beginning to get in the painters' way again :P, Doris and I spent our last hour and a half at the hospital going around and taking pictures before we all left for the guest house at 4:00 to change and get ready for dinner at Sam's at 6:30.
I took a 30 minute nap as soon as we got back and then spent the rest of the time chatting with the Bells, Dr. Rob, Colette, and Rem (with whom I had a lovely conversation about the United Kingdom! :) ). Kleopa stopped by with the coffee that the Bells and I had ordered (more gifts for people!), which smelled absolutely extraordinary. It's sitting in my closet right now, and I can still smell it. Mmmm ^.^
But back to today...
We went to Sam's house which is right next to the hospital to have dinner with his lovely wife, Vela, sons Jesse and Jensen, and adopted daughter(/niece), whose name I couldn't quite understand after multiple repeats. His house was actually very nice and had an indoor kitchen! (One of only two that I've seen since being here) Vela made us French fries, grilled chicken, and shisk-a-bob'd steak (delicious!!), and we spent the rest of the evening chatting with Sam and each other until the blackout.
Now, we're back at the guest house, I'm done packing, and it is officially time to go to bed. Safari tomorrow! Woo hoo!! :D
mjl.
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