Back in the saddle again

Douda, the IT wizard here has resurrected my computer and I am eternally grateful! He told me it was very sticky inside, and he cleaned it and figured out that the pineapple juice shorted out the IC switch.  That can't be fixed really, but he figured out how I can use it if it is plugged into a power source and may be able to recharge the battery. It is at least very workable, and I owe him big time!

As I used to say to my kids, "You can also learn from other people's mistakes." So, let this be a lesson to you, do NOT have anything liquid in the vicinity of your computer. Really.

The Board of Directors for the hospital is meeting today, so there are many people here from around the region and the world for this. I was invited by the CEO, Dr. Daniel Salpou to join some of the medical staff and board members for dinner last night. Dr. Salpou's wife is also a chef and certified caterer and she prepared a feast that was fabulous; grilled fish and chicken, several fresh salads (the avocados here are to die for), fried plantains and potatoes, rice, couscous, sauteed spinach, and a caramel flan for dessert. It was fun to meet people, and socialize.  We walked back to our house, admiring the brilliant full moon, and picking out constellations. Star gazing here is stellar!

Update on Saliou: he looks better everyday, in large part to the care and attention he is getting now, and has he has even started physical therapy with Madam Danke, the new physiotherapist here. She is married to Dr. Danke, a surgeon from Cameroon who just returned here to practice after completing his surgical fellowship in Germany. (her pic is below). Per report, his wound is filling in. I hope he can stay for a while here, just to give him a better chance for a better recovery. My fear is that he will return home and his condition will deteriorate, just due to the conditions he lives in.

The patient we finally found yesterday. Very end stage cervical cancer. Very little support at home, being cared for primarily by her elderly, frail sister and her son. 

L: the guy who heads up the pharmacy (I think), the patient is someone Remi and William see at home who has a paraplegia from TB, and on the right is Nicole Danki, the physiotherapist. It is huge that she is here. There is a great need for her expertise.

Computer is (probably) dead : (

Well, bad news. My computer is on death row, or probably dead. It's my own damn fault, with a juice spill, not directly on it, but obviously enough splashed into some critical area to cause it to go black immediately, despite my dive to rescue it. I went through all the stages of grief in about 2 minutes: shock, denial, anger, tears.  Then I moved into my favorite life philosophy so many of you have heard from me: oh well. I have the IT guy here looking at it, but I'm not hopeful. Graciously and generously, Remi and William are letting me use their computers, so I may be able to keep posting a few blogs here and there. I have also retrieved that old fashioned method of documentation: paper and pen, so I am still writing down thoughts, ideas, stories.

I am at the 10 days to departure mark--can't believe it. I haven't felt homesick at all, but will be glad to get home. The longer I stay though, the more attached I feel. I expect I will need and want to come back in a year or two.

I had an opportunity yesterday to try millet wine--a traditional drink here. We were leaving a village where we had seen two patients and the woman who operates what could be described as a small business/bar, motioned us in to the hut. OK, this was sort of a stretch for me, but I did try it, and they all laughed. I wish I had snapped a picture.

I thought you all might enjoy my comparison of how men handle getting lost here in Cameroon, compared to men in America. They actually stop and ask for directions! We were seeing 2 patients in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town that Remi and William had not seen at home before. As I have written before, I am amazed that they know where and how to find people anyway as there are no street signs, house numbers, and lots of winding roads and paths. We stopped about 4 times to ask people on the side of the road if they knew where this woman lived, and on 2 of those stops, the guys got on the back of William's motorcycle to take us to where they thought the patient lived. We finally found it and as I disembarked from the bike, I explained that men in the US have a reputation for never stopping to ask for directions if they are lost.  William explained there is a saying here: "The only man who gets lost is the man without a mouth."

Just a few pictures and a (sad) lizard update

I have some bad news about Sali, the lizard (the winning entry coming from Lars). He made the wrong choice when he ventured out of my room and in to my housemate Karen's. It wasn't intentional, more of a case of manslaughter, but when she found him resting on top of her suitcase, she whacked him with a pair of slacks. Sadly, he didn't survive. I really did feel bad. I had kind of grown fond of him.

Not much more to say. Just a few pics:

Me and Saliou. Some very good news today: the hospital is soon to receive a large carton of donated supplies and will be replacing some worn equipment, making it possible to arrange for Saliou to be able to use one of the old hospital beds when he goes home. It will make a huge difference from his prior situation of a thin foam mattress on the floor, both in cleanliness and in his caregivers being able to turn him and change his dressings easier. I told him today that there were many people on the other side of the world who have heard of him and his situation and were wishing him well.

A lady we saw at her home on Tuesday.
She has beautiful eyes.  

These are the medical wards of the hospital. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

(This is a day late posting--spotty internet yesterday)

Hi and Happy Valentine's Day! (or as I tell my children, it is also the "10 More Shopping Days Until Mom's Birthday Day)

The day has flown by! It started with chapel at 7:30 and then I had been asked to give a short talk about my impressions of the palliative care service here. Just like any new service, there is a learning curve for staff about what palliative care is exactly, and who would be referred, etc. It was a chance for me, an outsider, to highlight what Remi and William do, and promote the ongoing development of the service. I think that perhaps my role here is to support connections and partnerships that can be established with the Palliative Care Service here and other programs and services on a national and international level.  Their service does have the potential to become a regional center of expertise. Afterwards, one of the biomedical techs came up to me to share that he had spent 2 weeks at Abbott a few years ago. Small world!

William on the left, Remi on the right with his Certificate of Attendance at a recent
2 week Palliative Care training in the city of Banso. 

I was in a good mood today: I was more open to the knocks on the door and so when a local artist by the name of Must, stopped by to sell his oil paintings and cards, I didn't immediately dismiss him with a "non, bon soir, merci." His work is really very beautiful and I bought several things from him. Although I would love it if there was just a nonnegotiable price on things here, I am kind of getting the hang of bartering and no one here expects that you would pay what they ask for initially. In fact, they feel badly if you don't negotiate, But also, when it's hand crafted and well done, I am very willing to pay a fair price. 

Paul, my train companion, stopped by.  Conversation with him is always lively and diverse. He is the person who got his degree in business administration at Augustana in Sioux Fall and he always has several ideas circulating for entrepreneurial opportunities, so I suggested to him that he get in to the recycling business here in Cameroon. Although plastic bottles are re-used, everything else is trash, burned, buried or piled in heaps along the road. He was actually interested. I also learned from Paul that getting malaria here is kind of like getting a cold. He casually mentioned his daughter had been feverish and that it was malaria again, and that when he wasn't feeling well on the train trip up here a few weeks ago, that was because he had another bout of it. I'm scared stiff of getting malaria! I count the number of mosquito bites I've gotten (3) and take my Lariam religiously. Before he left, Paul reminded me that I promised that I would download "Born in the USA" for him--he talked on the train about that being his favorite song when he was living in Sioux Falls, but he hasn't been able to get a copy. Paul does not forget a thing! Better get on iTunes.

Ended the day by making a huge pot of really good coconut curry chicken and squash stew, so I invited Hans and Martha over for dinner, along with Karen, my housemate. It's nice to end the day with others, sharing a meal. 

Some of you have emailed me asking for an update about the young man with the spinal cord injury and terrible wound on his backside.  His name is Saliou and I have a picture of him below from today. 

Saliou in his bed in the Intensive Care Unit. William at his side. 

Saliou did have surgery last Friday, mostly just to clean out his wound, not only on his butt, but both heels had huge ulcers too from the pressure. The typical treatment, if the resources were available, would be 6 weeks with a wound vac and meticulous wound care, give it time to allow it to heal in some and then see if a graft would be possible. No wound vacs available here though. The surgeons have no expectation that this will ever heal, before he succumbs to more complications, primarily infection. The best we can do right now is to try to get his home situation improved, which would include getting him a real bed off the floor, regular turning so he is not just laying on his back all the time, and regular dressing changes. Saliou is so sweet, so quiet,  and again, like so people I have met here, so gracious. My heart hurts for him and his untenable situation.