Update - July 17

It has been a few days. The last few days were similar to those I have already described. Instead of describing what I have been doing, I am going to describe what I have seen, observed.

My work in the clinic has not been what I had expected. I was expecting a place with people constantly coming and going. I had expected to see all kinds of different people with all kinds of different ailments. This has definitely not been the case. The clinic gets about 10 patients each day. I think its location may be part of the reason for this. The clinic serves about five villages. People have to walk quite a distance to get there, which when a person is sick can be very difficult. Two or three of the patients who come each day come every day either for medication, an injection, or to get their dressings changed. It has also surprised me how diagnoses are made. The nurse typically listens to the person or the parent describe the symptoms, makes a diagnosis strictly based on that, and prescribes medication. In some cases, the nurse will listen to the patient’s lungs or take their blood pressure, but not often. Lucy diagnosed a little baby with pneumonia the other day after hearing a wheeze that is associated with pneumonia. She let me listen, and while I heard the wheeze, I wondered how one can distinguish between a wheeze caused by a cold, an asthmatic wheeze, and a pneumonia wheeze. I guess if you do this often and if you don’t have access to an x-ray machine, you learn quickly how to diagnose strictly based on the sounds from the lungs.

I have, however, had the opportunity to see a skin infection that is only really seen in Africa. This one girl comes daily to get her dressings changed and to get an injection (in her butt). At first glance, it looks like nothing is wrong with her finger, but spreading her fingers apart, exposes a cavern on the inside of her index finger where skin should be. Yesterday, it was bleeding a bit, which means new blood vessels forming and is a sign that the healing process has begun.

Last night, I went to a presentation on water sanitation in a nearby village (40 minute walk) put on by the clinic nurses and McGill students. While I could not understand what was being said (they were speaking Ruturo), it was interesting to the see the interactions that were taking place. One very old man with a cane was riding by on his bicycle and decided to stop in. He was very opinionated and got the whole crowd (about 10 adults, 6 children) going. He kept going to leave, then would think of something else to say, and would turn around and come back. The presentation went on longer than expected partly because everyone showed up an hour late, so by the time it was over the sun was beginning to set. I didn’t really like having to walk back to the field station without a flash light, but at least I had company. The last stretch I did on my own in the pitch black. That wasn’t very much fun. Every sound seemed to be amplified. I did make it, however, and had a wonderful dinner, including banana bread. Everyone else was done eating, but the food was still out.

My mom arrives in Uganda in 11 days!!! This afternoon I am going over to the Kasiisi School. It will be a nice break after spending most of the day creating visuals and working on simplifying the information for my presentation. I better get back to work.