WHOA MAN!

JULY 24th, 2004

Hey everyone!! thanks so much again to all who wrote via email. Oh, by the way, Simon, bro, i love you so much! write me you guys at: schano@alumni.sfu.ca  cos trying to keep track of 3 different email accounts in angola is crazy...esp when i don't have that much time to check!

ok! are you ready for this? First off, we went back into the 'bush' to do 'circumcision camp'..yup, that's right, we did 10 cicumcisions back to back in a mock surgical unit in an abandoned house..kinda...i think i can do one in my sleep now. ;0)

I am now officially traumatized by surgery.  I assisted on one of my sadder cases yesterday.  This poor lady with a prolapsed eye sticking out of her right orbit.  So we literally cut the eyeball out but then found a tumour deep inside and she just bled like crazy.  I didn't even have scrubs on and blood was pouring down...i've got blood on my shoes to prove it.  I dont' know if she'll make it.  i wanted to cry but i managed to compose myself in time between walking out of the OR and into the clinical consult room....no time to waste....oh dear

Then today, we took out a really gross, cauliflower-looking tumour from this poor guy who had transitional cell CA of the bladder.  We did a 'partial cystectomy'.  And i had my fingers and hand into his belly...yah, i don't mind it, like i like looking at surgery and stuff, but i now totally know i will not be a surgeon!  Nope, not for me, thank you very much! ;0)  this is particularly funny cos i had aspirations (faint ones, i might add) before med school to be a trauma surgeon! hahahah!

On tues, i went with Dr. Steven Collins (by the way, my preceptor, Dr. Foster; Dr. Collins and Dr. Karen ___ are all Mac Grads!!! GO MAC!!!  they all practice here now! amazing, isn't it? inspiring!) to the caves! oh my goodness, it was an awesome day...caving, then lunch with the nuns, then took a nap on the awesome breath-taking hills somewhere in angola, more exploring...wow!

You can please be praying and thinking of this coming week.  We leave 5:30am on tues for our 6 hour trip (really bad roads) into Kalakembe (it's not how you spell it, but how i think you pronouce it).  Supposedly, we will see patients who have been more affected by the war.  Usually, we fly in with a MAF light plane, but this time we'll be driving.  And we'll be doing surgery from morning till night from tues till sat.  Pray for stamina and please pray cos I'm really not very confident of my surgical assisting skills...i mean i even have trouble putting the scapel blade onto the handle.  I simply suck at it.  So i'm kinda nervous.  I'm looking forward to meeting the patients and smiling at them and holding them though.  I think i'll be sleeping in the hospital during the nights.

anyway, i trust that you guys can read between the lines to know what to pray for.
Other than that, i'm really enjoying angola and getting to know more people.  I can't wait to see you guys soon and show you all my pictures!
love,
s

WHOA...the floodgates have opened!

ok, i don't have long to write,
 
but bascially, yesterday was one of the most amazing yet difficult days to date.
 
I was ectastic over putting my first and second ever IVs in, my first spinal, my first male catheter and first DRE.  But I also left the OR at 9:30pm in tears.
 
The injustice of it all.
i couldn't take it anymore,
i just cried and sobbed over our last case.
Why such pain and suffering?
the contrast between doing an elective in BC and in Angola in an OR.....
 
i don't think i'm gonna be a surgeon. i suck at it.
love,
s

In the BUSH!!

WOW!!! JULY 19
 
first off, i wanted to say 'thanks so much!!' to all who wrote me, You guys are AWESOME! it's so encouraging!  Jason, it's a palm, and i will hurry home, i love and miss all of you guys back home! And kels, have fun neighbour! and Bree, i love you so!
 
ok!  Well, we spent all of friday doing surgical consults so that we have a wack load of cases to do surgery on today!  THen after doing clinic, we went into the bush (yes, 4 hours of driving into bush country, it was BEAUTIFUL and STUNNING!) to visit with the 'other ' Fosters.  I had a fantastic time there, I love the bush, it's so calming and i had an awesome time getting to know both Foster families...I LOVE THE FOSTERS! (hi ROb and heather, I love your family!)
 
We went hunting on foot for birds and such...and it was really interesting trying to dodge the stupid thornbushes (i got cut several times) while trying to hunt...good thing no lions came and snuck up on us, but we had guns, yes, even little jeffrey (10 yrs old) had a shot gun...i declined to carry one.
 
I'm having a blast here.  I feel like i have so much to say, but i think i'm just processing alot.  So i'll save my philsophical and emotional thoughts till later, when I can write coherently about it.  THe people here have so little, but yet live so much. aiyah.
i love you all!
s

Safely in Angola!!!

Hey Everyone!!

i am absolutely exhausted and will have to crash soon.
I managed to get into Angola in one piece and no problem with the 'stuff', and then went with Dr. Foster to clinic for the next few hours seeing patients. it was great!!

tommorrow, i leave with the Fosters for the weekend to a farm...nice.

Angola is very much like Kano, NIgeria...

but is much poorer and run down.

I think I'm abit too 'over-sensitized' to really 'take things in' right now. I'm jsut glad that I'm finally here cos I"m pretty much exhausted on all fronts!

PTL that all the medication and supplies came without a hitch!
i love youa ll!
thanks for those who commented!
shermeen

I'm now in Namibia

July 14th, I think it's 11:30am here in Winhoek, Namibia!

WOW!! this is really funny! Getting to Namibia was really quite something..it was sure a LONG trip! I brushed my teeth and washed my face in many airports along the way, and I'm convinced that THAT made the difference!!

Well, what can I say? Africa continues to surprise and intrigue me! FIrst off, it's stinking cold here (it's cold/dry season now), and i have more layers on in AFRICA than I did at home! ;0) Secondly, Namibia is so beautiful and nice! i'm now living in a 'guest house' that has a complete kitchen, bathroom, cable tv (i watched 'smallville' yesterday!!) and super nice beds. OH my! WHat a stark, totally different contrast to my first night in Africa in Kano, Nigeria three yrs ago!

I guess it really makes a difference where you go in Africa, hey?

SO tommorrow morning, I fly with Angola Airlines to Lubango, Angola. WHat an experience that will be...hmm...I have so much to say, but i'm so tired right now and stuff that i can barely think.

ALl i can say is that I"m having an awesome time, i can't wait to finally be in ANgola tommorrow, and that I can't wait to start surgery! I"ve become quite the med student keener over the past few weeks!

p/s if i hear any more british accents, i think i'm going to go crazy! (I flew BA ;0)
love so much!
shermeen
p/s please do read and comment on my blog...

I'm leaving!

yo dudes and dudettes!!

so it's 4:11pm and I'm leaving for the Vancouver airport to get there in time for my BA flight.
Vancouver to London to South Africa to Namibia to Angola. Ha! I will get to Angola on thurs. Yup, that's a full 4 days!

I had a delightful time at church this morning, playing with the worship band and seeing so many people that i've missed. I slept last night at 4am and woke up at 7am. I"m kinda tired right now.

I had the best week last week. I worked and studied so hard to understand anesthesia, and i totally enjoyed it. I had such an awesome 'family' in the OR. THey were wonderful. The nurses were so nice, and the docs were so great. I am sad to leave them. Plus, they sent me to Angola with boxes full of surgical supplies. I am so touched. Now I have over one suitcase of meds and surgical supplies to take to Angola...i really hope that this will go a long way.

Last time i went to africa (nigeria), i went with two other people. This time, I'm going alone, and I'm going as a medical student. HOw things change.

i have so much to say but i'm kinda toast...
i love you all!
s

REBOUNDED!!!!

WOOHOO!!

i've just had a FAN-TAB-BU-LOUS day!

I'm too tired to explain, cos i just spent 15 hours in the hospital (and loved it!), but it was great. God is so good!

love,
nites
s

Tough Day

July 7th, 2004

Wow, today was quite the day. I'm quite emotionally exhuasted. I have just completed day 3 of my anesthesia elective, and wow, i've learned so much. It has really been great. My preceptors have been incredible. They're one of the funnest bunch of docs so far. The OR staff have been incredible...and periodically, my Dad who works in the same hospital comes and 'checks on his baby'... oh dear.

I have been so intrigued by medicine..by anesthesia...eventhough I can't see myself going into anesthesia, but the mechanisms are fascinating. So i'm behaving like a nerd...reading up in my little spare time and spending way too much time in the hospital...my preceptor made me go home at 9pm today. ha!

But it was a tough day today. One of my preceptors tried to teach me how to start an IV, and well, the first one was pretty disasterous...with blood gushing all over my preceptor's un-gloved hand...and the other, well, that didn't work either. Add the fact that my small hands seem to have trouble with holding a patient's jaw and pressing an oxygen mask onto their face...and that makes for a pretty tough day. I felt like a failure, I honestly wanted to cry. Plus i'm reading alot and studying, but it's all mumbo-jumbo right now.

So i took a 'breather' for a few hours to go to the dentist (not my idea, it was pre-booked), and worked out with some blaring worship music and the bike/elitical, and then went back to it. But as i said, i got sent home at 9pm. Apparently, he thinks 'I"m crazy' to want to hang out there like that.

OK, gotta do more studying...i leave for Angola on Sunday...things are happening too quickly. If you read this, reply, will ya? i'm feeling kinda lonely.
love,
s