Today started much like yesterday, however, it involved a lot more work. As a general outline of the day, we started work at 7:45, had a half hour lunch break at 1, and then went back to work until 3:30. At 5, we had an hour long Swahili lesson and at 6, we had an hour long global health lecture... another very tiring day.
One of the most interesting cases in OPD (outpatient department) was a woman who had been in a road traffic accident and had several holes in her foot. The largest was near her toes and about 6cm in diameter and 2cm deep. This was filled with gauze, but was becoming septic because it was not changed regularly. Luckily he wound was not as bad as anticipated and the flesh had not started to rot so as long as it is regularly redressed, the foot will be fine and not need amputation.
After lunch we went to the wards, where a young woman in her 20's with hypertension and an enlarged heart had developed a blood clot which traveled to her brain, and caused a stroke... this also caused paralysis on her right side. Dr. Lyapa casually told us that she would end up dying (as will patients in similar conditions) because there is very little they can do for her. Another woman in the ward was hypertensive, which had caused her liver to start failing. Her distended abdomen was a sign that blood was filling her abdominal cavity and she was throwing it up (blood) as well. Overall, the cases were much more interesting than the work we were doing in OPD.
The two lectures were also really helpful, especially the Swahili. We learned common words, greetings, etc. which are key to the culture of the hospital because it is important that you try your best to communicate with the doctors and patients in there language. The global health lecture was given by one of the doctors from Iringa Regional Hospital (I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but this is where I will be working my entire stay) on malaria, covering everything from definitions, to treatment, to classifications of the disease, to complications and symptoms of each type of malaria. After, I was planning on working the night shift at the hospital in the obstetrics and gynecology department (otherwise called "obs and gyney"), but after such a long day I will go tomorrow night.
P.S. I apologize for the lack of photos... they are much harder to upload on Tanzanian internet, and I know much more interesting than my long posts, but some will definitely be posted by the end of the week.
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