bugs and stuff

Our home away from home in Choma.

This week, our team has continued staying in Choma, traveling to Macha’s Hospital Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  This week has not disappointed us in what we have been able to see and be a part of.  Monday I was on the Maternity ward, and my goal was to either deliver two babies, or twins! Haha!  When we (Sarahlyn, Liz, and I) arrived on the ward, three mothers were in labor, two with live babies, and another who they thought would deliver a stillborn baby.  The mother came in a couple days prior, saying she had not felt her baby move for a while.  The nurses were unable to find a fetal heart rate, and concluded that the baby had most likely died.  However, the nurses do not tell the mother when they suspect a stillborn baby.  Death is hardly talked about.  Also, the midwife never says, “It’s a boy!”  Instead the midwife holds the baby up for the mom to see, and the mother announces the sex of the baby.  This is one of the ways they check the neurological state of the mother after giving birth! Anyway, I was excited about there being three women in active labor, but I was informed we had to go to a special lecture being given on malaria.  I was so disappointed I had to attend when I knew what I might miss out on.  The other girls had never even seen a birth, so I let them stay so they might have that opportunity.  After just 1 ½ hours, I came back and ALL three of the mothers had delivered!  I was shocked and frustrated I missed it all.  Liz was able to help with the delivery of one baby boy, just until they realized his cord was wrapped around his neck; at that point, the midwife took over!  Sarahlyn was able to deliver the other two babies, one being the stillborn, and the other a very healthy little girl.  They loved their experiences, although the stillborn baby put a damper on the day.  That mother saw her baby, and looked away pretty quickly.  No bonding is supposed to be allowed in these kinds of events.  They quickly hid the baby in a closet.  The girls said the mother started shaking with emotion.  Poor girl!

After lunch on Monday, I came back to the labour suite to find a 16 year old who was 4 cm dilated.  I was able to help her labor for a while and I loved it!  She hardly understood English at all, so communicating was a bit of a challenge.  We demonstrated how to breathe through her pain, and after several times, she caught on.  She even started doing it on her own, and seemed to understand what we were helping her with. When contractions would begin, she would reach her hand out for us to hold. She did not have anyone else there with her, and we were her support- much different than in the states!! I was also was able to check her a few times (sorry if that’s too much!) to see her progress.  She did not progress much while I was with, but it is also her first child.  The poor girl was also sick.  One of my instructors seemed to think that she had malaria, and she was so hot and sick to her stomach.  But, she was not hooked up to a single machine!  We used a fetoscope to listen to the baby’s heart rate, and even listened with a Doppler, but that was the only “technology” used.  I had to leave before my patient was able to deliver, and I hated that, but it was still a good day.  She probably delivered that evening, and may have even gone home that same day.  Most women are discharged 4 hours after delivery, as long as mom and baby are both stable.  They often walk home for miles with their baby on their back, and then resume chores.  It is amazing!

Wednesday I went to the A.R.T. (Anti-Retroviral Treatment) clinic with Laura.  I wasn’t all that excited about this part of my clinicals, but I ended up really enjoying it.  I started off with Agatha, a nurse, who counts the number of pills each HIV + patient gets.  By counting the pills, they are able to tell the patient’s adherence to their medication.  If they are not adherent, they cannot receive more pills until they go to counseling.  It is a great program, and so many people benefit from it.  I also sat in with a clinician who assesses each patient who comes in.  The patients are asked if they have any pain or other complaints.  Quite a few shared at least one thing either as a side effect of their medication or a symptom of the disease process.  I was very impressed with how healthy the people looked who came in.  The clinic was extremely busy with patients, and none of them “looked” like they had HIV from the outside.  However, many did describe pains associated with the disease.  In the male ward, there were plenty of men who had wasting syndrome who were quite literally skin and bones.  They are men who have lived with the disease for a long time, and it is finally taking its toll on their body.  Often times, they don’t have the energy or immune system to fight off much of anything at this point and pass away.  So, I was able to see a clear picture of how this disease can look like on both sides of the spectrum. 

I was thinking yesterday, that there are so many little things I haven’t talked about in Zambia yet, like food, creatures, and other things.  So, I thought I would give you a picture of some of the normal, everyday things we see or run into.  First of all there are so many spiders, lizards, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, flies, and cockroaches.  There are also so many more cats and dogs here than I expected, which has been great being the pet lover I am.  But seriously, the cockroaches are everywhere, including the kitchen.  We all try to avoid the kitchen at night, because they all come out.  Judy, one of the leaders of our trip, and I spent about 45 minutes a couple nights ago rewashing all the silverware we eat on every day.  We doused it in boiling water, and then put it away in Tupperware containers that are cockroach proof!  Before, you would open the drawer and cockroaches would literally run across the fork you were about to pick up.  SO disgusting!  This is one part of Africa I don’t think I could ever get used to.  Thankfully our cook, Mrs. Bota, loves the new Tupperware and is all for it.  Mrs. Bota is a wonderful lady and a great cook!!  Everything we eat is made from scratch and most of our meat is extremely fresh.  A couple days ago one of the helpers at the house was carrying in 2 chickens.  That night we ate fried chicken and it was soo good!  Mrs. Bota cooks more American meals for us 6 of the 7 days each week.  We have a macaroni-type meal, chicken salad, fried chicken, beef stew, fish, and chicken stir-fry are the main meals.  Cabbage is the main vegetable eaten here, besides corn, and there is always rice or nshima.  Our team also goes through Peanut butter like nobody’s business.  It’s pretty unreal how fast we go through a supersized container of it!  Mrs. Bota also enjoys making treats for us once in a while like peanut-butter cookies or banana bread.  It all tastes a little bit differently, but we all really enjoy the food.  I don’t think anyone has lost weight!

We have also pass monkeys each time we are coming to or from clinical.  I have yet to get one on camera yet.  I’ll have to try again tomorrow!  Also, the transportation here is a hoot.  Each time we leave in our land cruisers, we pass several trucks that are full to the brim.  People sit outside of windows and stand up in the back of the truck.  There are sometimes probably 30 people in one truck (they have longer beds here).  Several we have seen recently have goats and pigs in the stuffed in the bottom of the truck, and then they have built a second level to the truck bed that holds people and luggage.  It is the weirdest thing.  The trucks are always dragging and never move very fast.  I shared on Facebook last week that we saw a man on a bike that had a goat strapped on the back of the bike.  I’m sure he was going to sell it.  It was a pretty funny sight!  One more I have to share-- one of the male patients had a cat and three kittens under his hospital bed.  I have no idea why, but it seemed a little out of place to me.  I am still surprised when I see these things, even 5 weeks later!

Life here in Zambia has continued to be eye-opening and I feel like I have really settled in here.  Everyone remains healthy, and our team continues to become closer.  I have made some great friends who will remain friends long after we leave!  I have started to become homesick, but I am confident this is where I am supposed to be.  I am excited about the next few Sundays.  We volunteered to sing a couple songs at church, and before we knew it, they gave us 45 minutes in the middle of the service to not only sing, but preach!  One of the girls is preparing a short sermon, and we had choir practice today in preparation for Sunday.  We are going to sing “Oh Happy Day” from Sister Act II, “Down to the River to Pray,” and a hymn we haven’t decided on yet.  We plan on acting “Oh Happy Day” out just as much as it is in the movie.  I think it will be pretty fun and it will definitely be a hit!  Thank you for your continued support and prayers.  They are still being felt and answered this far away! 

P.S. I will try posting more pics later- the internet is not cooperating!

This past week I also went to the orphanage to paint nails! It was a big hit! This is Colo painting my nails!