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Jambo! Internet+electricity=bliss! :) I have both for the time being so I'm going to write this as quickly as possible. The internship is still going well but difficult, not in the physically strenuous way, but it is very difficult to see some of the cases, especially how they are handled. I am learning alot about the treatment of tropical diseases and they way medicine is done "African style", but also how not to practice medicine. Last week I saw a woman having repeated convulsions. She was in very rough shape and we went to do a spinal tap to check for meningitis but there was absolutely no rush or sense of emergency from anyone. It was as if they just accepted the fact that she was going to die, even if they got the spinal fluid and found out it was meningitis. The lack of sterility in techniques has also been difficult to get used to. Proper cleanliness is not followed in procedures so infections is high. It's an endless cycle that could easily be stopped but nobody takes the proper steps. A baby came into outpatient last week that had been admitted for malaria a week or two before and came back with a horrible infection and tissue death on his head where the IV for the antimalarial drugs had been administered. He had to be re-admitted to clean it up and be given IV antibiotics.
Last weekend I went to Meru....I felt like I was in the big city and compared to Nkubu it is. It even had a supermarket! I know, booming city! So I picked up some necessities from the supermarket there and met up with the other students from the Mt. Kenya area. It was really good to see them after being the only American in Nkubu for 2 weeks. It was nice to have some "mzungus" to talk with. This weekend the plan is to climb Mt. Kenya, so I will let you know how that goes, if it goes!
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