28th july

28^TH JULY

GAL MET OBAMAS PATERNAL GRANDMAMA!!!!!

This morning began with me waking up in the early hours with a panic attack. Sleeping in a mosquito net in the dark, in a room that you have never slept in with the sound of insects in the night I think caused my subconscious to dream up some craziness that made me bolt up straight at 5am. After that I had numerous, torched trips to the loo, but the door couldn’t open so I ended up pissing in the middle of the nearby field, with my torch off, so as not to attract all the surrounding insects to my nether regions and or my baldness. Needless to say i pissed on my legs and hands and was just annoyed with the whole situation. However, I am getting better at squatting and yay im no longer constipated!!!

Today was my first day at the Dolphil clinic. I was taken on the back of a motorcycle and probably not for the last time in this jorney feared for my life. No helmet, rocky Kenyan roads, a driver whom im sure had no licence and me holding on for my dear life. I DO NOT THINK I WILL EVER DO THAT AGAIN.

I was welcomed at the clinic like an old friend, and quite unnervingly referred to as Dr. To which I replied ‘I am not a Dr I am nearly a Dr’ but as the day progressed i just allowed the staff to call me Dr. I was given my own consultation room and the first patient was ushered in asap. Una my roommate had pre warned me that most of the patients had malaria and HIV and most were treated empirically with cipro (an antibiotic) for 5 days regardless of their symptoms –lol. This became quite frustrating when I wanted to recommend other antibiotics for treatment and was told that ‘we lack the resources for such treatment’.

Two memorable patients that I saw was a young man who injured his testical in a road accident the night before. He was slightly apprehensive about me examining his genitalia, but I think when he realised my indifference to the matter he just dropped his pants. Lord above his scrotum was the size of two closed fists, very swollen and very painful. After a second opinion from the consultant Dr we decided that the patient had a fluid in his scrotum that needed prompt aspiration. The Consultant suggested that I should do the aspiration but as I have managed to avoid learning any male genital anatomy during my time at Kings , I thought that id better pass...lol. Anyhow blood was aspirated and the patients scrotum deflated.

The second memorable patient was an older man with chronic ulcerative colitis symptoms but quite openly and surprisingly declared within five minutes of me meeting him that he was ‘positive’ as in HIV positive. This nearly made cry as, people in Kenya do not openly talk about HIV or AIDs, the stigma is intense and even when I offered HIV testing often the answer was no, and when I asked why, they just replied –i do not know. This gentle man freely spoke about his status and was very educated and informed about the condition. Weirdly in Kenya people are only started on anti-viral therapy when there CD4 count is 250 which is incredibly low compared to Uk guidelines.

So, this afternoon I was taken to see obamas paternal grandmother. We were taken to an area of Western Kenya which seemed to have everything named after Obama and was in better aesthetic and structural condition from the rest of the rural country that I have seen so far. The other medical student that I went with was unsure if his presence would be welcomed because he is Muslim and from Iraq, but amazingly, Obamas grandma loved him (me than me –fume), turns out that she is muslim too! We sat and spoke to her for a few minutes, our English was translated. We gave her some food gifts and left. The whole affair took about half an hour. It is hard to believe that this sweet old lady had produced a son who had produced a son that is president of the USA and arguably president of the world. Unbelievable times, right?