Thursday

I stopped by the pediatrics ward this morning, it seems calmer than past weeks. The 1 yo and 14yo with cerebral malaria went home. One of the girls with the massive splenomegaly is getting a splenectomy and the other one is still spiking high fevers despite every imaginable antibiotic, antimalarials, and tuberculosis treatment. I wonder what we’re doing for her other than racking up a bill at this point. What else can we do? I will be back on the wards starting on Monday and then on call for the next 7 days straight and then coverage without night call for my final week.

Rudolf and his mother and grandmother, three generations of toughness

Another one of the surgeons left this morning and Mollie leaves on Saturday. They gave me the option of moving to a small room close to the hospital if I was nervous about living in the big house by myself, but I think I will stay because it feels like a nice getaway from the hospital when things are crazy. Also, one of the surgeons lives next door, so that is nice. But it’s good to have options, in case I scare myself. There are no new residents coming until April, so I think it will be a little lonely here once Mollie leaves. There’s not much to do at night, it gets dark early and no one is out and about after the sun goes down. I guess I can catch up on my reading or continue to try to find a job. There’s a beautiful horse that hangs around the house at night—its two front legs are tied together so that it can’t go too far, but it is kinda nice to have horse as a house pet. Something other than all the spiders.

Last night we made a fire which attracted the bugs which attracted the bats and scared us back into the house. Tonight we are going to one of the hospital workers’ house for dinner “to see what a real African home is like”. I’m excited for that. Not much else to say today, as we are catching up on data entry so that most of it will be done before Mollie leaves. Hope all is well back home and overseas.

Walking home from school...