On Call

This was my first weekend on call at Karanda. My first call came at 1 am Fri. night/Sat. morning for an urgent C-section. I had to concentrate a
little harder simce I has been a few months, but everything turned out well. As I was walking out the door to go home a nurse said, "we'll take the next patient back now..." I finally walked out of the hospital at 5 am and the sky was already turning pink on the horizon.

Saturday evening brought another C-section double-header, making 4 in 24 hrs. Sunday morning as I was finishing rounds just before church I saw a scrub tech walk out of the maternity ward and asked what she was up to.
Her: "C-section"
Me: "When?"
Her: "Now"
I missed church but I could hear a little bit of the beautiful Shona singing as I waited for patient #5 to be ready.

Saturday afternoon brought a 9 yo girl after a "road traffic accident." Her left upper arm was broken, with much of the skin gone and bone exposed through torn muscle. I called Dr. Stephens who does the Ortho surgery here, and helped him put in a pin to hold the bone together and then close up the torn tissue.

Being on call here gives an experience like no other, as we are small town ER and major referral center combined into one. I'm thankful for the competent African nursing staff here who are extremely helpful and make things run smoothly despite the occasional chaos and limited resources.

I did have another interesting case while on call this weekend, but I'll write about that later. It's a story that needs it's own page.

Land Cruising

I've always thought driving a land cruiser through a river sounded fun. To leave the hospital to go to Harare this past weekend, we had to drive through a river that crosses the road just below the hospital. During the rainy season everyone drives around the river which is an extra 30 minutes longer, but why not save time by driving through a river when you can?



We packed up the land cruiser and headed off to Harare on the left side of the road with me behind the steering wheel on the right. For the first few miles I repeated "left side of the road" out loud to remind myself I wasn't crazy. Driving on the left in the city traffic brought more excitement, but thankfully all went well. I may have grown too comfortable, because on the way home I got a speeding ticket. Twenty dollars later though we were on the road again. We had just reached our last major turnoff on the way home when we recognized a nursing student among a small crowd of people waiting for rides by the roadside. Hitchhiking is a common way to travel here. We pulled over to see if she wanted a ride. She said "yes, but..." looking at the four other people with her and then at our vehicle already full with 3 adults (we had Corrie, a short-term teacher with us) a baby, and a month's worth of food piled in the back. Five minutes later we had crammed in three midwifery students and two nursing students, Lisa and Jude BOTH sitting in his car seat and Corrie laying on top of the food and bags in the back.

We were glad there were no more police checkpoints. If we had left the ladies, they likely would have been dropped off by someone else at the last major road 4 miles before the hospital unless they were lucky enough to get picked up someone else headed to the hospital, which is rare late on a Sunday afternoon, especially since the weekly Sunday afternoon Karanda soccer game was away that week. Needless to say, we were glad we could give them a lift. Everyone but Jude was also sore and "squished" by the time we finally reached the hospital, but thankful that God brought us safely back home.

Chiremba Rick

"Chiremba" (doctor) Rick Moberly finished the fellowship last year, and after volunteering again at Karanda the last month, just left for home last Friday.




We had great times at the hospital, and as you can see here, wandering around "Karanda Town." Rick learned quite a bit of Shona last year, and did a great job of making patients feel at ease.


Just before he went crazy with the balloon animals, he introduced us to the Dokwane Eating House, the (only) local restaurant where you can enjoy sadza, greens, and meat of some kind, usually beef. Sadza is the staple of the diet here- sort of like a mashed potato paste but made from ground corn. If the right person makes it, it can be really good.
Rick is about to start a new practice in New Hampton, Iowa with several other Via Christi graduates. We'll miss you Rick. Fambai Zvakanaka (go well).

Zoster

This patient is recovering from herpes zoster, commonly known as "Shingles" of his left hand, arm, and chest. He has HIV, making him more likely to manifest this disease and to have a more severe case. It is caused by the reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, and usually happens at mid-adulthood or later. These kinds of "opportunistic" illnesses are seen everyday in the clinic due to the large number of patients with poorly-controlled HIV who are more susceptible to diseases that cause problems either rarely or not at all in healthy individuals. Great strides have been made toward the prevention, treatment, and de-stigmatization of HIV in Zimbabwe, but there is still a long way to go.

We are enjoying the Shona people and culture of this part of Zimbabwe. Most people I meet each day are quick to give a smile and a greeting in Shona. My favorite word so far is "Zvakanaka," pronounced similar to "Shhh" but with a "Zhhh" sound, and a "Spanish" A (zzzhaw) and it means "Ok," "Alright," or "It's all good." To really say it correctly you need to whistle through your teeth as you say the first syllable. I hope this finds you all Zvakanaka today.