Day 9: Swimming Lessons!

Today was the first day our whole group was split up into different places – some went to the orphanage, some went to the hospital in the morning, and some went to the hospital in the afternoon. I of course was lucky enough to fall into the early hospital group! Since minor theatre was shut down yesterday, I knew it was going to be another busy day.

Today was actually a really great hands-on day for me! I changed a catheter, redressed a lot of wounds, and most importantly I drained my first abscess! The doctor showed me how to inject Lidacaine, and then also gave me instructions on how to cut and drain it. The affected area on the man’s back was probably a 2” by 4” area. It was rock hard. As grotesque as this may sound, I was really excited to drain the puss! I know, something is clearly wrong with me. J After the abscess was drained, cleaned, and bandaged, we prescribed him an antibiotic and told him to come back in 3 days for a dressing change.

Later that morning, two other patients also came in with abscesses – another on the back and one on the breast. One of the residents lanced the abscess on the breast, and I can’t even imagine how painful it was! Apparently abscesses are very common here…not really sure why! I’ll have to do some research on that.

The last patients we saw came in for a dressing change and stitches removal. The dressing change was on a woman who just had a baby and a Tubal. She had the baby with her and I elected to hold the baby rather than doing the dressing change – when you see the baby, you’ll understand why! I told the mother I was going to take him home with me and she gave me a leery smile…I don’t think she understood my joke! The stitches that needed to be removed were on the tip of a man’s index and middle finger. Apparently he nearly severed both tips off in an accident at work. The wounds were slightly infected so the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, but the man was still able to feel his fingers and move them which is obviously a great sign!

After the hospital, we came back to the compound and had ten, 10-12 year old boys and girls waiting for us. The children were from the orphanage/school we visited on the first day, and they were at the compound for some swimming lessons! I was expecting a younger group of kids so it was a surprise when they already knew the swimming basics. There were several of us that were previously lifeguards, but I was the only certified one that was interested in teaching them. We went through the basic strokes, floating, bobbing, and a couple of the more adventurous tried diving! It was a GREAT afternoon and the kids were all so eager to learn which was awesome.

I was pretty exhausted after swimming for a couple hours, but I got talked into playing basketball anyway. There are two outdoor courts about 15 minutes from our compound. Our assistant program coordinator, Isaac, often plays here with his friends. It is basically an African city league and various teams get together to play every Saturday. Isaac told us it’s the Rucker Park of Africa! We played three games and if I wasn’t tired enough after swimming, I definitely was after playing basketball! I may be a tad out of shape, but my team managed to go 3-0. Whoop, whoop!

The very busy day ended with a trip to the movie theater at Nyali center. We went to see “The Dark Knight Rises” and it was just like I was back at home. They serve candy and popcorn before you go into the theater and the theater itself was nicer than any I’ve been to in the states. The movie is great by the way, a must see!

Tomorrow: Another day at the orphanage!