Day 244 – Tuesday 28th September 2010

Some might call this a bit of a medical day!

Amy headed off to see the regional hospital this morning and had her eyes truly opened. The most horrific story was that of a doctor’s ward round, which he conducted through a window as he didn’t want to be too close to the ‘infected’ patients.

Armorel was busy at the clinic with a large influx of patients to the ward, and a number of ECG’s to take. The nurses need training on the new machine and the doctors are so excited that many are being ordered.

Ally was surrounded by anti-virus software today which was his attempt at being medical.

I taught for the morning and headed over to the clinic for what I thought would be some admin fun. However, I was soon tasked with removing a boy’s cast, with a blunt pair of scissors. Luckily I found some old garden shears and so Armorel and I managed to cut, twist, pull and tear the cast off.

Then it got very interesting.

A patient on the ward suddenly went downhill, and signs and symptoms looked like meningitis. A lumbar puncture was needed (government requirement for all suspected cases), and I soon found myself assisting with the procedure.

It was very similar to the ones I have seen on ER, but not something I was expecting to be involved in.

It has been a long day. We have had a fun evening playing bird scrabble, and other silly games and are now heading to bed.

It is a village clinic day tomorrow!

The builders working hard!

Day 243 – Monday 27th September 2010

Amazingly it was a little chilly this morning, and I even contemplated a light jumper.

I was busy teaching this morning and had all the students take on different characters for some dramatic reading. They struggled to get into it but we are making some slow progress.

I then headed over to the clinic just before lunch. The girls were very busy and had a really sick girl on the ward. Her prognosis is not very good.

The clinic is not as calm and relaxed as it has been. We hope it starts to settle soon. It needs to.

I headed for a short walk around the farm to assess the building work. All is going well out there, and the foundations will be set by the end of the week.

It is bedtime again and with the inside temp at 27, we are bracing ourselves for another sticky night.

Day 242 – Sunday 26th September 2010

The new experiences continue with a visit to church this morning.

Nothing too unusual happened though we did learn a new song, ‘Touch me Lord’, which is surprisingly catchy.

After a quick cup of coffee we headed over to Ruth’s for some lunch and ate far too much, especially with the weather. It is so hot!

It was 37 degrees at 5pm.

And so the rest of the day we did very little, but some sleeping, reading and some more sleeping.

With the mercury still reading 28 at 8pm we were in for a hot sticky night.

Day 241 – Saturday 25th September 2010

No alarms!

We decided we would have a leisurely morning with only football at 11am as a definite must do.

It was hot!

We did manage a good game, though player numbers dropped rapidly in the heat. Rumour has it that it finished 6-6 but I think that is generous to my team. I played particularly badly.

Following a quick shower we headed off for a tour of the market and some shopping for some new outfits for Ally and Amy. I am sure they will be revealed soon!

Ally and I then headed off for some lunch with the football on in the background, while the girls chatted, read and sunbathed. Everyone else then had an afternoon nap, while I read the paper and did the crossword. I am such an old man.

An evening trip to the Orion has been had and provided Ally and Amy with great entertainment and laughs. It is now time for bed!

Day 240 – Friday 24th September 2010

It was a restless uncomfortable night, though the neck pain is less than last night. I could at least brush my teeth in comfort.

We headed into work ready for whatever fun and games came our way.

The first task was the induction and unveiling of the clinics ECG machine, amazingly donated by one of our supporters. Thank you so much!

God is so good!

Armorel teaching the nurses about the new ECG.

We spent pretty much the rest of the day in the office doing filing, sorting, computer maintenance and destruction and listening in to a very long meeting. With Armorel still in this meeting and the clock ticking on, the rest of us left and she joined us later at home.

Tonight we had Salome and her two children over for dinner. They are our good friends from church, but sadly they are moving, so this was our goodbye meal. We had great fun, even though we lost power as they arrived and had to finish the meal off on the kerosene stove. A particular highlight was introducing the kids to Chinese whispers. 

Day 239 – Thursday 23rd September 2010

Thursday is always a long day.

I started the day creating my new reading ladder for school and levelling all of my reading books. Ally came to help me but spent most of the day fixing my laptop which was playing silly games.

We headed over the clinic to find Amy and Armorel busy sterilising hundreds of things, and I am sure they were seeing some patients too.

It was then time for netball and football in the dust and afternoon sun. It was hot hard work, and so I let Ally’s team win so he didn’t feel too lost on the strange pitch.

We arrived home via an unsuccessful trip to town. We have been trying to fill up our soda crate for two weeks now and no luck whatsoever. They are always sold out or closed.

This evening we had a nice relaxed dinner though I have tweaked my neck and am struggling to move. They are all finding it very funny!

Day 238 – Wednesday 22nd September 2010

It is going to be another hot day and it is the return of Dr Ruth and Dr Jim.

The clinic is getting prepared, and it is far to say stress levels are increasing.

Ally and Amy were spending the day at HAPO, which is the children’s centre who I play football with. They seemed to have a good day and enjoyed reading with the kids and generally playing around. Though some kids did run off from Ally when he went to join them in a game of football!

Armorel spent the morning tying up loose ends and doing a spot of cleaning, and I was thrown in with the broom when I arrived after a quiet morning at school.

The convoy then headed off to the airport.

The welcome didn’t end there, as we returned to the clinic for a sing song and a soda.

This evening we had dinner with Ruth to welcome her back and are now heading to bed. That is if we can drag Armorel and Amy away from their nursing chatter!