Volcano eruption in Iceland. Sounds kinda bizarre, but it has really impacted our little ship here in Togo. Even though we didn't get to see the ash cloud, or experience the beautiful changes in the sky, we get to feel the effects of it's existance. Several people who were supposed to be going home that week didn't get to leave until about five to six days later. Also, all the new staff coming in, which included several nurses, weren't able to get here. We were supposed to be starting the Plastics surgeries on Monday (19 Apr), but Dr Tertius wasn't able to arrive until last Thursday night, so the first Plastics didn't start until Friday.

We aren't allowed to take photos of the patients on the ward, so I don't have any pics of me with any of the cutie pie kids I have been taking care of, but here are a few that the communications dept has taken. Our little ortho patients are some of the cutest! They come in all smiles, ready to be everyone's friend! They have loads of fun playing with the toys and just being cute! As I look at their big, beautiful smiles I feel a little bit mean, 'cus I know that the next day they're not gonna be quite so happy with their little casted legs. But, not to worry, in about 2-3 days, they are right back to big ol' smiles! So.....we send 'em home.


This is what Narcs will do to you!






How to be a nurse in Africa:
~Have a balloon party at 4am because......well, because the patients woke up.
~Wrap IV sites up with trash bags so they don't get wet when the patient takes a shower.
~Give medical instructions to the patients using four people to translate through four different languages.
~Patient needs a stress test? Have them run up and down 4 flights of stairs.....twice, then do an ECG.
~Patient needs a tap water enema but don't have any enema bags? Rig up a foley catheter to an NG feed bag.
~Become very skilled at pantomiming all instructions to patient because noone speaks their language.
~Call the on-call Lab tech for blood to transfuse, only to find out he's gonna be the donor.