One Week Gone

It was my intent to send this post on Saturday but the internet conspired against me and thus it is coming to you on Monday. I hope all is well in your corners. A brief update on today...Dr. O was busy today so I worked for part of the day with one of the Medical Assistants in the outpatient clinic...I saw my own patients, communicated with them as best I could and then wrote up their orders [for drugs or admissions] and sent them on their way, conferring with the MA when necessary so I've jumped right in with both feet. Tonight I'm heading back to the hospital to see some patients in the Maternity Ward with Dr. O...I guess there are some issues that need seen to but he wanted to go home for supper, thus I get to go home for supper. I'm enjoying things immensely. It rains almost every day but it is warm and when I'm in the clinic I get to enjoy the air conditioning which is BLISS. It is very humid as a result of the rain and it makes it a bit tough to get your clothes dry but can't complain too much.

Enjoy my post from Saturday ~ CL

I realize that I've been swamping my blog with new posts but time has permitted so I thought I'd make use of it whilst I could.

Today I'm enjoying a relatively relaxing Saturday. I arrived at the hospital at 8:30 this morning and we rounded on the woman's/kid's ward. Then we went and did a couple minor procedures - removed a peanut (called ground nuts here) from a child's nose and sutured a boys foot. The top of the foot had been lacerated some time ago and the parents waited too long before bringing him in. Because of this the laceration (about 4cm long, at least 1 cm deep at one point) couldn't be closed when they'd first brought the child in. It was starting to heal a bit but was too deep to heal on its own. Thus, today we debrided the wound - it had stretched into an oval shape with pointed ends and was probably 1.5cm between the skin edges - then loosened the skin up on either side and sutured it together. This means that instead of taking up a bed in the ward the child can go home. Then we came back to Doctor O's house (my preceptor) where we had some lunch - boiled plantain and a spicy tomato/onion mix with a bit of fish in it which his wife had prepared. He has let me use his computer and his internet so I'm taking this chance to do another post.

Donkorkrom is a small town although compared to the surrounding villages it is a booming metropolis. It is composed largely of mud brick buildings where the vast majority of the people live. The rest of the structures are primarily cinder block and some of the little stores are made of containers that have been . The town itself runs mainly along the main road running east-west between the two ferry ports. The Afram Plains are essentially an island - although they are not surrounded by water on all sides there is virtually no access to the west via road and then there is water to the north, east, and south. There is maybe 2km of 'town' on either side of the road with a central area with a market and a place where the trucks park. In Donkorkrom it is perfectly acceptable to drive your tractor to town although there aren't actually that many of them and they are mainly old. I live on a secondary road that runs south of the main road and the guesthouse where I am staying is at the edge of town, across from a church and the primary school. Judging by the number of churches and pastors that preach at the hospital certain days of the month the Ghanians are quite religious.

The guesthouse where I'm staying is quite nice - I have a double bed, a fan, TV (with 3 channels that work sometimes), an attached bathroom with cold water shower, flush toilet, and sink. All in all it is quite sufficient. Thus far my meals have been a bit helter skelter. The 'restaurants' in town - there are 3 but they are not particularly well marked and I've only just figured out where they all are. I've eaten at the street stalls - fried bread, buns, ground nut paste (raw peanut butter), fried chicken one night, etc. Yesterday I tried a grilled chicken gizzard - the flavour was quite good but the texture left quite a bit to be desired...there were significantly unchewable components. After we finished rounds and surgery yesterday Dr. O took me out for lunch at one of the restaurants. We had steamed fish with rice and a tomato paste/chili sauce, it was good and perhaps the first 'proper' meal I've had since I've arrived. I'm quite certain that I'm going to be eating a LOT of salad when I get home - I'm already craving fresh veggies and it is only the first week.

Last night I ran into 3 other white people...it was quite exciting to speak English with someone who I understood clearly. They were Peace Corps volunteers. A man and his wife have been teaching here at the high school for the last 2 years - they return to the Midwestern U.S. in 2 weeks. They are definitely having mixed feelings but one thing they are definitely looking forward too is the food. The third individual was a girl who has only done one of her 2 years of service. She is living at an even smaller village about an hour out of Donkorkrom doing an Agricultural program of some description. I suspect I'll be meeting up with them again as it is nice to hang out with people whose accents I understand without difficulty.

It is pounding down with rain again but nothing unexpected and it will stop within the hour, it rarely rains for long here and when it finishes I'm going to head home and do some laundry.