Live.Laugh.Love.

Hello everyone!! Today marks 2 more weeks until I get to see you all!! You better get ready for me! Haha I can not believe that this time has gone so fast but I will be sad to leave but ready to see you all! First of all, I am listening to Michael Jackson music here in the internet café that the radio station is playing in honor of him. I am in shock that he passed away and it’s such a shame. It’s just crazy.

This week has also been crazy. Tuesday we were able to observe the entire day in the main theatre with the general surgeon. In the morning we got to watch him repair all the tendons located in the wrist which was insane to watch. The patient was awake and just had the pain blocked from his armpit so he was like talking and moving until they had to put him to sleep because he was making it impossible to work. We also got to see a colonostomy bag be removed and the colon re-attached. We got to see in the afternoon someone who had broken his left ulna and radius get plated and repaired. It was extremely interesting to see other things being operated on other than what we are used to (the uterus). So we were done for the day and we went back to our host family’s office to get our ride home and Dolly, the girl that is my age, decided for us to ride with one of her friends home. He had this tiny VW bug that looked like it was the first one made but I was ok with it. There wasn’t really a back seat because the front seats collided with the seat in the back so I had to basically straddle Cate in the backseat to fit. We were just about a block away from the office and all of a sudden my ass started burning and I felt like a shock and spark in my pants. I bent up and was screaming ‘I’m burning! I’m burning!’ and I literally looked like a gun went off in my pants. There was smoke filling the car and I started to not be able to breathe. The driver was like oh everything is ok it was probably just a short in the wires, and I said it is not ok because I think I have a hole burnt through my pants! So we pulled over and I jumped over Cate to get out of the car and I didn’t have a hole (thank the lord) but it was like singed and smelled like I had been burnt. So Dolly got in the backseat and I rode in the front for the rest of the way. Cate could not control her laughter and was crying the entire way home because it was pretty hilarious. So when we got home we got ready to take our shower and I noticed that my underwear even had a burn mark on them!! I’m just so thankful that my cute little ass is ok! =)

So then Wednesday morning we attended the CME class at the hospital and we learned about the symptoms, diagnoses and treatment for shock which was pretty interesting and then we just went back to the maternity ward. What happened today I will never forget for the rest of my life. When we came in there was a woman who was in labor in the back and she was screaming pretty loud and seemed to be uncooperative so we went back to see what was going on. I knew immediately that the woman who was pushing was not at full term and was at least a few months early. The nurse then told us that this woman just came in about an hour ago in labor. She induced her own labor a week prior by going to a witch doctor that put herbs in her vagina to induce an abortion. She wanted to kill her baby. She was two months early. So she came into the hospital when she started getting the labor pains and then when she needed to push to get the baby out she refused because she knew the longer that baby stayed in that canal with no oxygen that it would eventually die if it was still alive. She literally would not push for anything or anyone. The nurses and students had to threaten her, they were hitting her. One student who had to come in to take over because he would be better than a small woman, smacked her across the face with his bloody glove. She still wouldn’t cooperate. So they had to then give her an episiotomy (cut her open) and had to basically pull the baby out of her. The baby was alive. I had tears in my eyes the entire time and I was praying that this child would be ok because I didn’t know if I could handle seeing that. So the baby boy was placed on her stomach and she wouldn’t even look at the child and she touched it like it was a disease. It was disgusting to see. So the baby was brought over to the table and was given the injections and everything and it was completely healthy! So the woman needed to be sutured to fix her tear and she refused to be stitched. Her reason was that she didn’t want to feel the pain when she would have local anesthesia and she wouldn’t even feel it! She was bleeding like crazy and she still refused to be repaired! She then got up and got dressed and came over to see the baby and she said to the midwife that she cheated her out of having an abortion and then no more than 10 seconds later said that she wants her baby and she loves him. WHAT!?!?!? I don’t think so. She went to go sit and rest and came back a few minutes later after Cate and I had been sitting there thinking that this woman can not take her baby home because she is just going to ditch the baby since she didn’t want it in the first place. So she came back and told us that she literally has nothing other than the clothes she had on, the blanket for the baby. No money. No family. Her mother ran away a few months ago and her father passed away. She lives in an IDP camp because of after the election violence she was dislocated. All the nurses that we spoke to confirmed our thinking that she is just going to dispose of the baby because she has no way possible to take care of herself none the less a new born baby. The nurses were asking her how she would possibly take care of this child and all she could do was to turn her head and not answer. She didn’t even have the 50 shillings needed to open up a file and she definitely did not have the money to pay for her hospital charges. So I was completely sick to my stomach over this entire situation and could not believe this is happening. We went to lunch and came back and nothing really had changed other than she was being forced to breastfeed the baby. So we came back the next day and the nurse that helped us the day before said that her priest is going to come that day and talk to her and explain to her that he would take her in and help take care of the child and that the hospital might waive her charges. I was a little skeptical and worried that this priest was actually who he said he was and that he would make sure that she did not do anything to harm this baby. We left yesterday before the priest came so we are hoping that she is still there today and we will get a chance to talk to the priest ourselves and make sure that she is monitored at all times. I almost though told her that I would take her baby and bring it home and take care of it and pay her hospital bill if she would just leave the child, but I didn’t think my mom would be happy with that. I am praying, and I ask that you all do the same with me, that this woman is able to keep her baby boy because it is never good to take a child from his mother, and that she keeps him safe and she is helped in everyway possible to be the mother she needs to be for this child. So this was quite an intense few days.

On a happier note, we went shopping yesterday in the market and got fabrics and scarves and baskets (which are the cutest things ever!!). So that was so much fun and we are going back today and Monday to get more things because we just can’t resist!! We also bought some fabric that we are getting a dress tailor made for us which we are so excited about!! They will be done Tuesday morning and we can’t wait to see them!!

Monday, Wednesday and Friday night there is this show on called ‘Storm Over Paradise’ and it is the best show in Kenya other than ‘Centre 4’ which is all about the hospitals. It is like the Grey’s Anatomy in Africa. But Storm Over Paradise is like this crazy soap opera that is so addicting and I might have to keep watching it even when I get back home. It is a Spanish show but is translated in English in Kenya, which is hard to understand why they did that. But it is so incredible and I can’t wait for tonight to see if Imar and Nicholas get back together!! Haha You all know me and my TV watching addiction!

We also came to work this morning in an ambulance. It was because Dolly had to get to town quick this morning because her aunt was waiting for her at the office and we couldn’t see a matatu coming for awhile so she waived down an ambulance that she saw one of her old classmates driving and they brought us to the office. It was so crazy coming to work at the hospital in an ambulance and we were hoping that no one was in need of one while we were inside.

Well I think that is all for now and I miss you all like crazy and I can not wait to see you!! We will be leaving for our safari a week from today and we are so crazy excited for that!! I will only be updating my blog once or twice more because we leave Kisii next week on Thursday and then will most likely not be able to get to the internet while in Nairobi because we have so much to do. I can’t wait to see you all and I am thinking of each and every one of you.

Nakupenda sana,

Ashley