A Day in the Life

So of course, I have been here for 3 weeks now and have fallen behind on telling you all about my life here. I have an established routine now, which works like clockwork (+/- international standard time). Pictures have been somewhat difficult to post on the blog, so I will direct you to my facebook page to see pictures (facebook uploader is really quick here).

4:30 am: roosters crow, animals of unknown origin living in the walls/above my room start waking up. I wake up, realize it is dark, and sleep once more.

6:15 am: I wake up to an alarm, and hit snooze.

6:30: finally wake up, it is still dark out. Sometimes I receive a call from home, it is the best way to start the day :)

7:00: make lipton tea on our countertop burner, have breakfast. Breakfast these days might be a baguette w peanut butter and banana, an apple, imitation nutella, or the latest purchase, frosted flakes from dubai.

7:30: arrive at pediatrics. Copy lab values that haven't been written yet in the records. Look over to see if there were any events overnight, and to orient myself to the patients (i haven't found an easy way to keep pts straight, there are a lot of transient pts). Dr. Kokou arives, and along with the head nurse and other nurses, we see the patients. We see the premature babies in incubators first (attempt to avoid the spread of infections to the incubators), then the "private room," then to the general inpatient ward rooms. There are 10 rooms, each w 3 beds. These days, not all the beds are filled, and since patients are required to have a "guardian" who takes care of them in the hospital, the empty beds in the rooms are usually occupied by a parent/sibling.

Rounds can take between 1-3 hours. My attending is the only pediatrician, so sometimes he has to take a break from rounds (yesterday he went to a c section during rounds).

~ 11:00 am: After rounds, I go to the maternity ward and examine newborn babies. Sometimes there are none, and once there were 10 babies, all from the weekend.

~11:30: I join Dr Kokou for consults. These are "controlle" appointments for patients who were hospitalized and for chronic problems (anemia, HIV, sickle cell) as well as urgent care visits. The number of patients vary, there isn't a process in which the number of patients are controlled. We don't turn anyone away, especially since some patients come from very far away.

~1:30 lunch! I walk to "le refectoire," our dining hall. It is about a 5 minute walk from the hospital. It is a nice set up. There is a wonderful team of women who cook for us, and without fail, there is a salad (usually one type of vegetable, for example, shredded carrots), a meal with meat, and fruit or yogurt for desert. There is always tea or coffee available.

~2 pm back to Pediatrie for consults. These can last until 4 pm. After, I get lab results and copy them into the charts.

~4 pm I go home. Usually, I do some cleaning (of the house, laundry, etc). I then shower (hot water! very relaxing). Then I usually try to read (shocking). Right now I am reading a book about Pakistan. I hope this habit will continue when I return. Sometimes I go to the computer lab, where there is internet.

~ 6:30 take a lazy walk to dinner

7:00 pm dinner. Again, same format.

9:30 pm: get into bed, read/ watch a dvd/ listen to music. I am getting more acclimated here. You will be proud to know that I now sleep without the lights on, and I can fall asleep to the sounds of nature here. I should take an audio recording, it is wild (hehe).

so there you have it!