Day 31

This morning I didn’t leave for the clinic until 8:30 and went straight to the dressing room. Chief came in moments after I did and started doing a lot of the dressings. There were pretty minor things in there but the coolest thing was the silver nitrate he uses. It’s a blue stone of silver nitrate that stops infection or something that he uses on a few of the patients. I see him use it especially on a lot of the patients that waited a long time to come into the clinic. One boy came in with a wound that he’s had for almost 6 months now. It’s a good 6x3 gash on his ankle. He dumped hydrogen peroxide on it and rubbed the silver nitrate on it leaving it a weird green color. I spent a couple of hours in there seeing a lot of different injuries from a baby with burns over most of her body and large wounds left untreated for weeks. After I finished in the dressing room I went into consultations with the Physician Assistant Isaac. It was so cool being in there with him. My job was to record patient name, number, hometown, sex, age, and diagnosis. Most of the cases are uncomplicated malaria but Isaac teaches me so much with each case. He taught me what you look for when doing superficial and deep palpitations. The stomach is divided into 9 regions so when you are palpating each section you have to remember which organs are in each to determine the diagnosis. Next he told me to look at the sclera and conjunctiva to diagnose malaria and jaundice. In between patients we had time to talk. Isaac is a huge movie fan and asked me to bring my movies so that he could watch some more American movies. He asked me what I knew about Chris Brown, Rihanna, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Celine Dion, the Marines, and a million other celebrities. He knew more than I did for most of the celebrities. He left around 1 and I was in his office with nothing to do so I got out my Hunger Games book and began reading. I love the books and don’t want to rush through them too quickly because they’re a nice read when I’m bored. It was around 2 when Isaac came back so I said my goodbyes and walked home. I ate my lunch while watching episodes of Friends. Then I began reading some coursework for my Women’s Health Course that was really fascinating. My mind was blown about how much fashion and celebrities have shaped who women are today. Teenagers were defined by marketing companies and many health issues are involved with fashion. The rest of the material is just as interesting and I can’t wait to read through all of it. When Cassie came home she told me that there was a missed call on the phone and it was from my family! I called them back and talked to my dad for a while. He had good news to share with me and wanted to call to tell me all about it. I was so happy to hear from him and talk with him for a little bit. About 10 minutes later I got a call back and it was Katie and Steven. They just called to say hi and ask me a million different questions. They asked me to speak a little Twi for them and we talked about everything going on back at home and new things with me in Ghana. I love talking to my family hearing their voices. I didn’t realize how blessed I am to be able to call them whenever I want back at home. I am even more blessed with the family I have and our relationships with each other. I can’t wait until we’re all reunited again. It doesn’t happen very often with Audrey and I away at school so even though its crazy most of the time I’m glad to be at home.

XOXO

Natlalie