The blog has been somewhat sparse, but I'm hoping to post some retrospective stuff once I get back!
So this is my final night in Africa, ahead of an early flight back to Blighty tomorrow. I left the hospital on Wednesday morning, travelled to the nearest town where I stayed with missionaries from Africa Inland Mission. Not only was this exciting because they're a great family but OH MY GOODNESS A WARM SHOWER. And pancakes. Basically they spoilt me rotten.
Today I spent a fun 2 hours sitting on a concrete thing waiting for a bus, then an even more fun 5 hours on said bus. But I sat next to a very friendly nun called Agnes, so that was nice. I've now arrived in Kampala and I'm staying at the AIM mission inn for the night. Again, spoilt rotten. It sounds like an absolute cliche, and I'm sorry to write it, but spending 2 months in south-western nowhere makes you appreciate the minor luxuries which I'd always taken for granted. The other people here were greatly amused that I was more excited about Oreo Cheesecake than the children. (Weird thing is, I don't really like Oreos or cheesecake, but the thought of pudding was just too exciting). I've got a great amount more respect for missionaries now. I always thought they did an impressive job, but what they do is really incredible, and often under some difficult conditions.
I'm a little sleep-deprived, so this may turn into a word-vomit (verbatemesis?) but I wanted to write a few things that I'll really remember from this trip.
The lowlights:
-Seeing patients die, especially young ones who died for want of simple interventions, like FFP.
-Illness. Fortunately nothing serious.
-The sheer workload some days. I absolutely loved the work, but there was just too much of it for even a qualified doc to do, let alone a bumbling student.
The highlights:
-Seeing patients get better and knowing that it was due to God's grace, not us. There were very limited resources, and often not much we could do. But still many of them recovered. There are various cases I'll never forget, but two intersecting ones stick in my mind at the moment: on the paeds ward we had one boy with nephrotic syndrome (there's a whole other blog post about him, probably my fave patient), and one kid with cerebral malaria. Both had essentially nosedived, and gone into respiratory distress. Other than oxygen and Furosemide, we couldn't really do anything. Most of the team were pretty certain these two young lads would die. But somehow, they didn't! A couple of days later I spotted them running around one wing of the ward playing football.
-Getting thrown straight into Ugandan culture. Despite every terrible, terrible faux pas I made, people forgave quickly! And the food was pretty great, but if I ever have to eat another omelette I might kick off.
-God fulfilling promises and prophecies left, right and centre. Again, there's another post to be made about all this.
-I've come back (prepare for cliche-town) with a lot more enthusiasm for medicine. Like, honestly. I got to work with some absolute legends, who would give their all for patients, and it was pretty inspirational. I hope I can take some of that attitude into final year with me.
-I've also come back with more enthusiasm about just how important my faith should be. If ever I wasn't convinced about miracles, I can now say that I've seen them, and they happen. God does amazing things, often when we are completely powerless.
This is now threatening to turn into a ramble, so I'll sign off.
Please humour me when I get back with stories of Uganda, but gently shut me up if I ever turn into one of those Gap Yah types. Also I apologise in advance for the horrendous tan lines (yet somehow I'm still really pale).
Put the kettle on, I'll be back in 21 hours.
