Name: Becky
Occupation: Student/Occassional Auxiliary Nurse/ABA Therapist/Serial traveller/owner of itchy feet
Home Towm: Bangor, North Wales
Current Location: Bangor
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| Friday, April 04, 2008 |
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Mmmm... barbequed plantain
Just about the best thing about Ghanaian cuisine, that and fried plantain and fufu (mashed plantain)... everything else involves lots of meat and or fish and very few veg. Apart from that I'm having a pretty good time, tis very hot and very sticky but I have a fan in my room and a lot of the hospital has air con or fans. The family I'm staying with are lovely. They consist of Mama Joyce, 3 of her 4 daughters (ages 19, 20, 21 and 23) (although I think the 4th is joining us soon), 2 of her 3 sons(15, 27 and 29), her sister and currently her niece and nephew, and an American student (Miles) studying here at the moment but leaving soon. So it's a fairly busy household. The house is nice, plenty of fans, and palm trees in the garden! Work is going well so far, had a tour of the hospital on Monday but started properly the following day. So far I have done two days in Obstetrics and Gynecology, today in Accident and Emergency and yesterday off sick- traveller's sickness final got me! Obs and gyne had lots of cases similar to what I think you would get in any western hospital, but the treatment they got is where the differences lie. Some fairly mundane stuff like not giving analgesia when suturing a woman after a Caesarian section, to more serious things like only controlling symptoms of gynecological cancers rather than treating the cancer with surgery or chemo. I realise that the likes of ovarian cancer have a fairly poor prognosis generally, but to my knowledge they would still try to treat it if they could in the west. Part of the reason for the lack of surgery given is because they have one theatre (and one attached to the delivery suite) serving the whole hospital containing over 200 beds, including several surgical wards! Next week will be off to some different wards, probably surgical for the first two days then the dialysis, burns and ICU ward for the second part of the week. ICU (intensive care unit for none medical types) is one of the few places I haven't worked in before (obs and gyne was one of the others), so that should be very interesting. Got exciting plans for the weekend too, think the older kids, Miles and I are going out to a few local bars tonight then a Ghanaian club, then tomorrow were going to Kakum National Park, and the beach on Sunday to cool off, so should be good. Will try to put up some photos when I find a computer with the ability and speed to let me, hopefully will get some nice views from the treetops! 4:22 PM Comment (0) ... PermaLink |