Bonjour!

I made it safely to the hospital.  It is so nice to be settling in.  The 2.5 hour drive from Lome to the hospital where I am working was uneventful, however, I am beginning to think that abiding by traffic laws is entirely optional.  The only rule that seems to apply is whoever avoids the pothole first wins. 

When I arrived I was shown my new room which will be home for the next month.  It is probably one of the nicest places I have stayed in Africa.  This just might be my first trip to this continent that will be bed bug free!  I am pretty excited about that.  I am, however, sharing my room with a resident gecko who greeted me on the wall above my bed when I first walked in.  Some things just have to make you smile.  I have my own bathroom and shower along with a king sized bed that has way more room than I know what to do with. I tried to attach some pictures, but for some reason it won't let me do that.  I will keep working on it to figure out a way to post pictures on this blog with this computer system.

After getting settled in all of us staying at the guest house had dinner together in the dining room.  Someone along the way trained some Togolese women to make American food.  Dinner last night consisted of ham and cheese sandwiches as well as mac-n-cheese.  I guess you could say we were going for comfort food J

Yesterday was my first full day at the hospital.  This morning I helped with two hysterectomies and then spent the rest of my time getting to know my way around and figuring out how things work at the hospital.  I have never seen an ultrasound machine that was so…..um, antique? It is going to take a little getting used to in order to figure out all the buttons, especially when half of them have their labels worn off.  I just can’t help but laugh a little. 

So far I have been very impressed with the organization and capabilities that this facility has.  They are able to do some pretty big OR cases for their limited amount of resources.  Today they are going to operate on a 3 month old girl with Wilm’s tumor.  This is a tumor that grows often in children out of one of their kidneys.  This tumor has gotten so big that this poor little girl is having trouble breathing.  I am praying that they will be successful in getting the tumor out without much bleeding.

Tonight and tomorrow will be my first call shifts.  I have been a little nervous about this.  I could definitely use some prayer.  The way obstetrics is done here is very different than how I have been trained.  I know I will learn a lot.  I am just praying for wisdom and insight whenever a new patient crosses my path.  I hope to write more soon.  The internet here is what one would expect for third world country dial up J