I flew in safely to San Diego last night where I am going to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Thank you for all of your prayers. I am very tired, but feel so blessed for the experiences of the last month. My journey home was relatively uneventful except for the marriage proposal I got from the airport guard as we were leaving Togo and missing my connection from LA to San Diego. My flight from Paris was 2 hours late and less than one hour to get through customs and then recheck my bags and make my connecting flight is not really realistic though I gave it my best shot. Thankfully, they had another flight to San Diego that left a couple of hours later that I was able to take. After traveling for almost 3 days what is a few more hours?
As I was getting ready to leave Togo I started thinking about how this last month so sharply contrasts with my life back home. In the last month I haven't:
-Talked on a cell phone
-Worn pants
-Been cold
-Sent someone home from triage
-Carried a pager
-Slept without a fan going
-Spoken to a patient in my own language
-Operated on someone weighing over 200lbs
-Understood a single word spoken at church
-Driven a car
-Blow dried my hair
-Gone a single day without sweating
-Gotten called in the middle of the night to address heartburn or hemorrhoids
-Looked at a computer for electronic fetal monitoring
-Done a single med reconcilliation
-Had a post call day
-Watched TV
-Read the news
-Used a dishwasher
-Gone one day without a mosquito bite
-Worried about insurance coverage
-Regreted a single moment
What a blessing. The Lord has been so gracious! I have learned and grown so much over the last month and am so thankful for my time in Togo. It was bittersweet to leave, but I am so greatful for the week ahead to spend with family and friends before returning to work and adjusting to life as I used to know it. Life sure is different between these two worlds that I have been straddling. What an incredible journey. Praise be to my God!
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