Monday, January 3, 2011

New Years and Laughs

Life here is becoming more and more routine. I celebrated New Years here by playing games and there were even fireworks, very similar to home however as midnight approached we did not have a TV to turn on and therefore picked someones watch and counted down. The watch we picked was 15 seconds slower than the watch down the hill so we heard them shout and cheer a little before we did. We will never know who was really right. Regardless I did welcome the New Year 10 hours earlier than all my Albertan friends. Happy New year to all.
I mentioned in a previous blog how I moved a month ago and have a new roommate. Last week a piece of her luggage arrived (big complicated mess at the airport)  and it was like another Christmas (almost as exciting as the Quadruplets). The best part was the new curtains I am not a very stylish person and window coverings are not super high on priority list however one of the windows in my room had a hideous set of curtains, they were not even the same length so I was very excited to take them down. My friends and I had some fun with the curtains as you can see here.
I think someday I may regret that I posted this.
We find plenty to do to keep us entertained here. Yesterday I attempted to go for a run and realized how out of shape I am I think I need to train some more.

Life at the hospital continues on, we are getting some more visiting staff coming the next few weeks as well as new interns (first year residents) starting so I think my pager will be going off a little more than usual. Today I was asked to do some MDI teaching, this is something that I do back home as well, however this being Kenya it was slightly more complicated. Aerochambers are expensive so we stock very few and never give them away. We usually use a plastic coke bottle converted into a spacer. I realized that we were all out of spacers so I went home to make one - cutting off the neck of the bottle was easy (this made the mask part as it is for a baby) however have you ever tried to cut into the bottom of a plastic pop bottle - it is hard so here is what I ended up doing

I heated up the knife on the gas stove, I tried a candle but it was not hot enough
Then I cut/melted a hole onto the bottom of the soda bottle
So now that I had an aerochamber I found my patient and showed them how to use it, done. This worked so well I think I may just start a side business.

Anyway life continues to go on here and I am quite excited as tomorrow my parents fly in. It will be great to see them again, they will be here for  a few weeks so I am sure I will have more pictures to share with you as we go on safari and tour a tea farm together.

1 comment:

  1. Have a great time with your folks! I wish I could send you the extra aerochamber we have. Happy New Year to you -and I hope this year continues to bring you more surprises and joy as you have indicated. Maybe those curtains can be recycled into a new fashion?

    As for the running, the best way to start is a pattern of walking and running. Check online for beginner's 5K - or just do 1 min run, 1 min walk and repeat until you've done 3 or 5K. You'll be surprised at how much better you will feel instead of pushing yourself to run continuously - and your heart (and legs) will thank you. : )

    Keep posting. I love reading! spot

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