Stunning like my Daddy.

Oh goodness. The Daladala we passed walking to the clinic this morning had the title of this post painted on the back along with many pictures of American rappers. They seemed to really like Ludacris. The buses are hilarious and have such random things painted on them. Another favorite is "Cash Money." They like to try to corner you and force you to get onto the bus, which can be funny and also a little alarming. Especially if you become trapped and have to turn around just to avoid them.

Currently I'm blogging because the power is out, and there are no hot showers available. The power is randomly fine for many days and then goes out without warning. You never know if its going to be 20 minutes or 6 hours.

This week at the clinic we have been working in the lab. While the lack of proper protective gear (I literally was ridiculed for almost an hour for wearing gloves while doing blood draws for malaria and HIV. I know. Yikes. I wore them anyways) and sterilization (slides are washed off in soapy water and reused) is very different from home and in many ways not safe, its actually a fairly high tech place. They have two microscopes, one of which is partially broken so its only used for looking at big things like urine and stool samples. The other is very fancy like one you would see in any office in the US and its used for malaria blood smears and TB acid fast stained sputum samples. I should probably mention that when preparing these TB samples no masks are worn because no masks are around. They recommended we keep it away from our faces... yeah. At home we have specialized masks to prevent droplet spread, but hey, this is Africa. Hopefully I won't be contracting TB.

 

The photo above is of Roxy staining some of the blood smears so we can look at them under the microscope. It similar to a Gram stain, but there are fewer steps and its much less messy. Works just as well too, so I'm not 100% why we don't use this technique at home. Probably because we're drowning in protocol.

This is me recording the findings in these massive government registry books. It sounds easy, but people's names are very unfamiliar and the handwriting usually leaves something to be desired. I guess as best I can and I and make up the others. I think that's the normal system so I don't feel super bad about it. Often we have patients whose name is spelled differently on every form they have. Its a fluid system.

This next one is of me actually pricking someone's finger to make a blood slide. The variety of reactions is very entertaining. Most adults are aware that it doesn't really hurt so they are usually ok, although some are quite dramatic about a finger stick. Little kids' reactions depend mostly on if they've had the test before. Ones that are unsuspecting are really easy and don't fight you, although they tend to have this really horrified look of betrayal on their faces after you have made them bleed a little. Kids who have had the test done before know whats coming, and most freak out before you even touch them. This wouldn't be so bad if A) I could communicate with them or their parents and B) they were actually in the room with me instead of outside the window. Unfortunately those things don't happen so the process can be a bit difficult.

The weather has been really spectacular this week, the sun has been out and we've even seen Kili a few times. Its a bit hazy, so pictures aren't coming out so well. In a little more than a week we'll be climbing! This is both exciting and terrifying. Not sure what the plan is for the clinic next week, but we are going to a coffee plantation on Sunday! Until then kwa heri! M