Thank you all so much for your emails. I will try to get back to you in more detail as soon as I can. It is quite expensive for me to use the Internet cafe and it is very busy here but I am hoping to download some pictures after the wedding this weekend.
Today I was in the Casualty Unit and I saw A LOT. A ton of Tuberculosis patients. After the lunch hour was more exciting though. We saw a woman who was DOA (dead on arrival)--she had seized in the waiting area and then showed no signs of life. Then we had a woman with lactic acidosis, which typically occurs in HIV patients on ARV (anti-retroviral therapy). The doctor tried to put in a central line several times but without success so they transferred her but it was definitely a site to see. Britney and I were with a 5th year medical student from Capetown, Matthew, who is 22 and will be a doctor next year!!!! They start medical school at 16 in South Africa. I got to see him do a lumbar puncture to get some CSF to see if the patient had meningitis. It was pretty amazing. We also saw a woman who had a stroke. We saw so many patients it was incredible. Thank goodness for my Palm.
I got to see the doctor I worked with during my first day in OBGYN and he said that what I saw at the clinic yesterday was an experience that will help me during the entirety of my medical career. Woo hoo. That made me feel better since the image I had of her was definitely haunting.
Tomorrow I will be at St.Mary's again and tonight and tomorrow night we are going out to eat. It is very difficult to eat the food the family feeds me so I am trying to eat out or not offend them by making my own food as much as possible. Good news is a typical meal is $5 at a nice restaurant!
I turn 24 on Sunday which is exciting, everyone says when I get back from the wedding we will celebrate.
In a few weeks we will be leaving for our rural rotation where we will be living in huts with no running water or electricity so I am getting mentally prepared for that.
I miss all of you dearly and think of you every day. I feel so blessed to be seeing these patients. I know it will make me an amazing practitioner some day.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Second Day
So wow. Maybe I thought I wasn't cut out for OBGYN but there I was again. Today three other students and myself went to Hlengisizwe Clinic which is about 40 minutes outside of Durban and is a local clinic where people get their ARV treatment and also go there to see if they need to be transferred to a primary hospital.
I decided to jump right in and go help out the OBGYN portion of the clinic. Thank goodness I had done this the previous day AND I had my Palm on me!! They wanted me to do the exam, diagnosis, plan, patient education (they translated Zulu for this portion). Anyway they taught me how to do a pelvic exam on a pregnant woman and how to put in a catheter and evaluate women to see if they needed to be transferred. One of these women who was 37 weeks pregnant had some minor bleeding but then on exam presented with hypertension (high blood pressure), 1+ protein in her urine and 2+ edema (sorry for all of these medical terms!). So the midwife taught me how to do a urine catheter and we did a dipstick and found protein 2+ which meant that we needed to transfer the patient to a hospital via ambulance. In the meantime I did another intake of a patient and learned how to hook up a fetal monitor and listen for the fetal heart rate. I went to check on the first patient because I heard some heavy breathing coming from her area. She started seizing and fell off her exam table to the ground. Thank goodness the midwife was right there and the other nurses jumped in. Then my ride back to St.Mary's was there.
The woman at the Clinic were so happy to have us there. It is amazing the response we get from the people here. They look at us as such beacons of hope. One Sister/Nurse told us we have to come back to South Africa when we are done with our degrees. I really hope that we can.
This weekend we are going to a real Zulu wedding!!!! This is quite the honor to be invited by our family. So Regina and I will depart on Saturday. Now all we have to figure out is what to wear ;-)
Love to all.
I decided to jump right in and go help out the OBGYN portion of the clinic. Thank goodness I had done this the previous day AND I had my Palm on me!! They wanted me to do the exam, diagnosis, plan, patient education (they translated Zulu for this portion). Anyway they taught me how to do a pelvic exam on a pregnant woman and how to put in a catheter and evaluate women to see if they needed to be transferred. One of these women who was 37 weeks pregnant had some minor bleeding but then on exam presented with hypertension (high blood pressure), 1+ protein in her urine and 2+ edema (sorry for all of these medical terms!). So the midwife taught me how to do a urine catheter and we did a dipstick and found protein 2+ which meant that we needed to transfer the patient to a hospital via ambulance. In the meantime I did another intake of a patient and learned how to hook up a fetal monitor and listen for the fetal heart rate. I went to check on the first patient because I heard some heavy breathing coming from her area. She started seizing and fell off her exam table to the ground. Thank goodness the midwife was right there and the other nurses jumped in. Then my ride back to St.Mary's was there.
The woman at the Clinic were so happy to have us there. It is amazing the response we get from the people here. They look at us as such beacons of hope. One Sister/Nurse told us we have to come back to South Africa when we are done with our degrees. I really hope that we can.
This weekend we are going to a real Zulu wedding!!!! This is quite the honor to be invited by our family. So Regina and I will depart on Saturday. Now all we have to figure out is what to wear ;-)
Love to all.
Monday, May 28, 2007
First Day of Rotations
Hi all, first of all let me say I am not getting enough emails from everyone or comments so send at will.
Today was my first day at my clinical rotations and I was working at St. Mary's hospital, assigned to the OB/GYN ward. I didn't sleep at all last night which made today especially difficult.
That said it was an amazing day. The doctor Raj (a fellow student and I) were assigned to was VERY informative and was constantly testing our knowledge. I saw women of all ages pregnant or post-delivery, many of whom were HIV positive and were already plagued with many opportunistic infections. It is eye-opening to work in this ward, which would normally be a place filled with such hope, but is somewhat depressing considering the high probability of the babies being born with HIV/AIDS. I got to see a baby immediately after it had been delivered and got to put an oxygen tube in its nose.
Tomorrow we will be returning to St.Mary's with a different rotation. I can't believe how much I got to see today. Probably more than I have ever scene during my entire time working in the medical field. It's incredible.
I am going to try to load pictures as soon as I can. Love to all.
Today was my first day at my clinical rotations and I was working at St. Mary's hospital, assigned to the OB/GYN ward. I didn't sleep at all last night which made today especially difficult.
That said it was an amazing day. The doctor Raj (a fellow student and I) were assigned to was VERY informative and was constantly testing our knowledge. I saw women of all ages pregnant or post-delivery, many of whom were HIV positive and were already plagued with many opportunistic infections. It is eye-opening to work in this ward, which would normally be a place filled with such hope, but is somewhat depressing considering the high probability of the babies being born with HIV/AIDS. I got to see a baby immediately after it had been delivered and got to put an oxygen tube in its nose.
Tomorrow we will be returning to St.Mary's with a different rotation. I can't believe how much I got to see today. Probably more than I have ever scene during my entire time working in the medical field. It's incredible.
I am going to try to load pictures as soon as I can. Love to all.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
First night with my new family
Hi all! So things are great here. Yesterday I met the other 8 people in my program who have already arrived (there are 10 more coming in the next few days!!) and also our program director and medical director. We got to see where Ghandi lived and walked all around the city of Durban. Our medical director is a very nice man who is a half private pay half insurance general practitioner. We had an extensive meeting with him about HIV/AIDS and what we should expect over the next few weeks. My first rotation is at St.Mary's (yep, just like San Francisco!) and there we will be assigned different rotations in different specialties and need to follow two patients to investigate the social and economic problems facing AIDS treatment in Durban. Our medical director told us that one of the main reasons why the disease is spreading here is because there are so many social stigmas with being seen at a hospital or taking ARVs (anti-retro viral therapy) and perhaps that is why there are so many people afflicted with this disease.
My next rotation will be at King Edward's Hospital and then for one week we will be going to a rural site where there is no running water, etc. I am very excited for this because one of the premiere research centers in the world is located in this area.
After our day of touring the city, Regina and I got to meet our host family. They are located about a 15 minute walk from the mall (where I can go on the Internet) in a province called "Woodlands". There is a mom, a sister who is 16, a brother in University who is 20 and two cousins, aged 14 and 16. They are all very nice. There is no father as is the case in many of our homestay families so the brother takes on the role of caretaker and is very nice and loves to hear about America. Ten minutes after we arrived he insisted on driving us around to meet some of his friends who wanted to meet Americans. They couldn't believe how many places Regina and I had seen in our lives. Many of them have never left South Africa.
Regina and I share a small room with two beds and there is a bath tub and sink that everyone uses. Having a shower here is a luxury. But they are very nice people who want to do all they can to make us feel welcome.
Last night I got a bit homesick but I think that is normal. We went out with the rest of the group to Florida Road which is a very white area and went to a wonderful Italian place. The bill was $80 for 11 of us to have dinner and drinks. Amazing. Then we went to a club. It gets dark here around 6:00 and you are not allowed to go outside after that unless there is a taxi picking you up so we were home from "clubbing" (more like sitting in a bar place talking) at 10:00pm. Everyone on the program is very nice. There is one group of five students who are first year medical students from University of Louisville and then a few other students some pre-med, some still in undergraduate.
This morning I went on a run in my neighborhood and got to meet many of my neighbors including the neighborhood dog who luckily is not rabid and very friendly. I think they all thought I was crazy for running.
Then we had breakfast: ground up fish with gravy and eggs with bread and butter. I kept telling myself it was oatmeal.
We are off to the beach in town. Write comments if you can!! I miss you all. Sending my love, Alexis.
My next rotation will be at King Edward's Hospital and then for one week we will be going to a rural site where there is no running water, etc. I am very excited for this because one of the premiere research centers in the world is located in this area.
After our day of touring the city, Regina and I got to meet our host family. They are located about a 15 minute walk from the mall (where I can go on the Internet) in a province called "Woodlands". There is a mom, a sister who is 16, a brother in University who is 20 and two cousins, aged 14 and 16. They are all very nice. There is no father as is the case in many of our homestay families so the brother takes on the role of caretaker and is very nice and loves to hear about America. Ten minutes after we arrived he insisted on driving us around to meet some of his friends who wanted to meet Americans. They couldn't believe how many places Regina and I had seen in our lives. Many of them have never left South Africa.
Regina and I share a small room with two beds and there is a bath tub and sink that everyone uses. Having a shower here is a luxury. But they are very nice people who want to do all they can to make us feel welcome.
Last night I got a bit homesick but I think that is normal. We went out with the rest of the group to Florida Road which is a very white area and went to a wonderful Italian place. The bill was $80 for 11 of us to have dinner and drinks. Amazing. Then we went to a club. It gets dark here around 6:00 and you are not allowed to go outside after that unless there is a taxi picking you up so we were home from "clubbing" (more like sitting in a bar place talking) at 10:00pm. Everyone on the program is very nice. There is one group of five students who are first year medical students from University of Louisville and then a few other students some pre-med, some still in undergraduate.
This morning I went on a run in my neighborhood and got to meet many of my neighbors including the neighborhood dog who luckily is not rabid and very friendly. I think they all thought I was crazy for running.
Then we had breakfast: ground up fish with gravy and eggs with bread and butter. I kept telling myself it was oatmeal.
We are off to the beach in town. Write comments if you can!! I miss you all. Sending my love, Alexis.
Friday, May 25, 2007
First pictures
I only had enough time on my internet card to upload this but there are many more to come
Reg and I at SFO
Arrvied
So....two days of traveling later Regina and I have arrived in Durban, South Africa. Unfortunately Regina got a bad case of food poisoning (we think from the food on the flight from the US to Frankfurt) and started to get sick on the plane from Frankfurt to Johannesburg. However, during our 6 hour stay in the Frankfurt Airport we definitely enjoyed ourselves. We stored our luggage and made a mini workout area in one of the empty gate areas including doing "bar method" moves off of chairs! We ran up several flights of stairs multiple times and did the loop of the gate area countless times. The Germans actually thought it was "super" we were "keeping fit" :-) Then we had some lunch and coffee with a nice German woman who is a travel agent and had lots of exciting stories to share. On all of the flights, Regina and I were able to convince the flight attendant I was scared of flying and that we needed to sit together which worked out great.
We have just arrived in our hotel, the Hotel Protean Edward Durban and it is right on the beach. We met a nice gentleman on the plane from Johannesburg to Durban who is actually staying at our hotel and had a lot of safety tips for us. Our driver from the airport to the hotel recommended we "check out the beach...get a room with a view of the beach." When we went to the bank a man from the hotel escorted us there even though it is only a few blocks away and 11:00am. I am not writing this to frighten anyone, I think the added security has much more to do with the liability of the hotel if something happened to either of us.
Regina is napping and I just went up to the rooftop pool (FYI this is not a luxury hotel by any means, just a comfortable, clean hotel with a pool on it's top floor which is the 7th floor--we are here to volunteer not vacation...). It is winter here but it is still almost 80 degrees outside with a nice breeze, but no one was at the pool. I felt the water and it seemed fairly cold so I ran around the perimeter of the pool for 15 minutes to warm myself up and jumped in. I thought I was going to die. I think that Lake Tahoe in the dead of winter couldn't hold a candle to this water. I jumped out and ran some more and had a nice conversation with the maintenance man and cleaning lady who I am sure think I am crazy for even trying to swim during the "winter." They should live in Boston in January!
The people here are so nice and so simple. Most admit that Durban is not very safe but that the people who are typically robbed are those who wear their camera on their neck or make it obvious that they have a lot of money. People here don't make very much money and the punishment for robbery and other crimes is very lenient so there isn't much in the way of stopping them.
Tomorrow morning Regina and I will be picked up by Shola, our local program coordinator, at 7:30am at our hotel and then we think we will be taken to our home stay family! We are so excited to meet them.
For those of you who heard or suggested I wear a wedding band, good tip. Already everyone is asking me where my husband is....so, feel free to leave some comments or suggestions below. I need a name, age, where he's from, his job, and any other juicy details.... :-)
I miss you all a lot but I am happier than words can express to be here in South Africa. I feel there is so much good I can do and I can't wait to get started.
We have just arrived in our hotel, the Hotel Protean Edward Durban and it is right on the beach. We met a nice gentleman on the plane from Johannesburg to Durban who is actually staying at our hotel and had a lot of safety tips for us. Our driver from the airport to the hotel recommended we "check out the beach...get a room with a view of the beach." When we went to the bank a man from the hotel escorted us there even though it is only a few blocks away and 11:00am. I am not writing this to frighten anyone, I think the added security has much more to do with the liability of the hotel if something happened to either of us.
Regina is napping and I just went up to the rooftop pool (FYI this is not a luxury hotel by any means, just a comfortable, clean hotel with a pool on it's top floor which is the 7th floor--we are here to volunteer not vacation...). It is winter here but it is still almost 80 degrees outside with a nice breeze, but no one was at the pool. I felt the water and it seemed fairly cold so I ran around the perimeter of the pool for 15 minutes to warm myself up and jumped in. I thought I was going to die. I think that Lake Tahoe in the dead of winter couldn't hold a candle to this water. I jumped out and ran some more and had a nice conversation with the maintenance man and cleaning lady who I am sure think I am crazy for even trying to swim during the "winter." They should live in Boston in January!
The people here are so nice and so simple. Most admit that Durban is not very safe but that the people who are typically robbed are those who wear their camera on their neck or make it obvious that they have a lot of money. People here don't make very much money and the punishment for robbery and other crimes is very lenient so there isn't much in the way of stopping them.
Tomorrow morning Regina and I will be picked up by Shola, our local program coordinator, at 7:30am at our hotel and then we think we will be taken to our home stay family! We are so excited to meet them.
For those of you who heard or suggested I wear a wedding band, good tip. Already everyone is asking me where my husband is....so, feel free to leave some comments or suggestions below. I need a name, age, where he's from, his job, and any other juicy details.... :-)
I miss you all a lot but I am happier than words can express to be here in South Africa. I feel there is so much good I can do and I can't wait to get started.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
About My Trip
For four weeks I will be living and working in Durban, South Africa, along with Regina Holan, with a non-profit organization, Child Family Health International (www.CFHi.org), focusing on healthcare challenges in the post-apartheid public healthcare system. 21.5% percent of the population in Durban is afflicted with HIV/AIDS and therefore my work at either a local hospital or hospice agencies in the Durban is of a constant and growing necessity.
I look forward to updating everyone on my trip, which I know will be the experience of a lifetime. Thanks to all of you for your incredible support. I couldn't do it without you.
I look forward to updating everyone on my trip, which I know will be the experience of a lifetime. Thanks to all of you for your incredible support. I couldn't do it without you.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Family/Friends in U.S.
A few select photos of some family and friends in the US. Thank you all so much for your support!
Regina and I at Debra and Pieter's
Mom, John and I
Dad, Laurel, Sterling, Marcus & I
Celebrating Mary Lou's birthday
Grandma and Leonard
Gigi and Pamala
Fellow spinners and supporters and our lovely host and hostess
Mindy, Chelsea and I at the Giants Game
Coley and I
Regina and I at Debra and Pieter's
Mom, John and I
Dad, Laurel, Sterling, Marcus & I
Celebrating Mary Lou's birthday
Grandma and Leonard
Gigi and Pamala
Fellow spinners and supporters and our lovely host and hostess
Mindy, Chelsea and I at the Giants Game
Coley and I
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