13th Sep

13th September

Wow the weekend has been purely cockroach city. We have a problem. Our house has its own longdrop, my neighbour has her own, and the village share two. All are enclosed within wooden sheds and are exactly next to each other. Problem is that, own longdrop and that of my neighbours is kept in clean (as in no human excrement is ever visible on or around the long drop. The two used by the rest of the village are just disgusting, the responsibility of cleaning them is taken by nobody. Many of the children miss the hole and the men piss on the wall etc. This behaviour attracts vermin, and for some reason the cockroaches enter the long drops belonging to the villagers but exit via ours. The critters then make a journey which in critter mileage i reckon is FAR but they end up in our kitchen, make their way across the living room floor and for some reason other than I must be in a fifthy state (which im not) they reside in my room.
Saturday night, we found about 20 in the living room in the space of one hour. The worse scenario of the night (seems as though every nightmare I have regarding these things, comes true) a massive daddy cockroach (or mummy) fell from the ceiling and fell at my feet. I actually felt the wind created by its decent against my face. Pure dramas, we didnt end up sleeping unitl about three and we had to get up as I said that I would take the new med student to church to meet the orphans.

So the next day (Sunday), I had to endure church on two hours sleep. Church is lovely, African church is so animated but, the preaching is like pre historic. And so we left two hours in, after donating some cash to the collection, i couldn’t be dealing with another 6 hours of being told how much of a sinner i was.

Today, patient wise, I saw an albino women with the biggest facial melanoma that I have ever seen. It was at least the span of my hand!
The patient whose ascities I tapped, abdomen burst open and her intestines were exposed to the open air –reported from Dr Adongo.
Another womens c section scar had got infected and the wound had broken down revealing a seeping pusy wound. Which when we arrives was just open to the air.
The neonate i resused was alive and well –yay.
Most of the day was spent in a general outpatients clinic, which was interesting too, patients presented with umbilical hernias (lots of children, must be the way the umbilical cord is cut at birth?), diabetes, prostate cancers, a head injury caused by the wife of a mans brother beating him across the head, a nasty venous leg ulcer and a man with urine incontinence.
All in all a good day.

Tomo, a five hour ward round and hopefully some surgery.

Some more Kenya observations, all the tv adverts have black actors, even those for quite commercial worldwide products like cola and nivea skin cream.

Er I was in an internet cafe again today, and all the stations were taken up by boys on facebook, which i just find so odd.

Lots of the female children and adolescents here have toned arms from all the heavy lifting that they do. It just seems really odd to see these really skinny youngsters with ripped arms.

Oh I remember what I was going to say, i know I come across as a pure man hater but today another English medical student, myself and a Kenyan medical student were shadowing Dr Adongo. The Kenyan medical, male, decided that for the half an hour that we were waiting for Dr Adongo that he would just talk exclusively to the other female Uk medical student and completely ignore myself. Fine. Not really bothered as to be honest he was just talking pure shit, a pre amble to the killer question ‘can I have you number for a contact in England’, or ‘do you have facebook, lets be friends’.
He is being friendly you say. NO HE AINT. All the males here talk to the white skinned people to see what they can get out of them, usually money. Ive seen it far too many times and it GRATES ME.
DR ADongo comes along and leads us to the outpatients area, still, Mr moron medical student hasn’t introduced himself to me or even acknowledged my presence. Lol
We start seeing patients and it turns out that the apathy and pure i can think outside the box, that a lot of the junior Dr have here must begin at medical school. By getting to medical school these boys have achieved a lot and are told that they are very special and are usually wealthy and so with this comes (not always) but usually an attitude of I know everything and an air of importance. This boy ticked all boxes. Throughout the clinic he got on my nerves, not talking to me, interrupting my flow with nonsensical additions of crap. I think what epitomised everything was when I was writing out an ultrasound request for a mans enlarged prostate. The man was called Simon and the investigation was for a part of the body unique to the male species. But mr I am a dick head medical student looked over my request letter and said ‘dont you think that you should put M’ I replied without looking up (yeah I can be a fucking bitch when need be) ‘why, er what do you mean what for’. He replied , ‘M means male, ya know you missed out that he was a male’. Okay me seeing an opportunity to show mr wise guy moron dickhead medical student up, replied ‘so how many women named simons do you know that need ultrasounds for a prostate gland’. He was like yeah but just in case. Ergh, i get that he means that writing male or female is kinda protocol but it was the idiotic , unnecessary way that he had to interrupt everything that I did.
He got his comeuppance anyway as half way during the clinic he got bored and started read a newspaper, and got bollocked. Moron.

A lot of the male staff are like that here, apthetic and really really unable to take advice, criticism or even participate in a patient debate. I love Dr Adongo because he goes completely against the trend.
Seriously though people, many of the men here are like this, does this behaviour trend run through all of Kenyan society? If so this country is fucked. Im left annoyed and disappointed every time I have to deal with any of the male staff here. They openingly flirt with the nurses, stand about in crowds doing nothing, chat shit to white people as if its sport and have no respect for patient dignity. I have no time for any of them. I am so glad that things are different in England, i would probably be one angry women if I were a Kenyan female DR here. Actually i prob wouldn’t be a Kenyan female Dr here. I would have Prob been a nurse or even before then stoned to death for being different.
Man i am so lucky to live in London. So lucky and this realisation gets stronger every bloody day.