The medical team hit the ground running this morning. They removed some king-sized goiters, did a sinus case, and... I don't know what all they did. By mid afternoon they made their way to the ENT clinic to screen patients for tomorrows surgeries.
My first assignment today was to visit the hospital head of pharmacy. He is associated with Purdue and has been here for a number of years. My assignment? Pick up a few doses of ARV's, Antiretrovirals. These are medicines that one would take after being exposed to HIV. Taken soon enough after exposure, they can prevent an HIV infection. This is a precautionary measure. The surgeons and nurses want these on hand "just in case" they accidentally get "stuck" with an instrument while operating on an HIV+ patient. We get these for every surgical trip and then return them to the pharmacy before we leave. Standard procedure. The same thing would happen back home but it makes you pause and think about the HIV risk when you go pick up such meds.
I had a Swahili lesson today and hope to have a one hour lesson each day while I'm here. The "mwalimu" (teacher) is very good and keeps it fun and interesting.
I was able to set up the flexible endoscope from Olympus in the ENT clinic today and see it used on a patient. I now know what the anatomy really looks like going through the nose, nasopharynx, oropharynx, and larynx, including the vocal cords. While watching on the monitor I listened as Susan asked her to say "ahh" and watched the vocal cords come together. It was really cool to see on the video monitor we just brought.
Final note: in this photo, Susan is examining a surgery patient for tomorrow and using it as a teaching moment for some medical students.
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