Wednesday, March 18, 2020

I hope socks are in this box and why is the money orange?

So I started this blog post two months ago, forgive me that it has taken so long for me to finish, life got busy.

I am enjoying life back in Kenya. I left Alberta in a bit of a snowstorm and am glad Dad's truck has snow tires - and that he is more experienced driving on snow and ice than I am. Although, I did get some practice this past year. I also left before the arctic chill moved in. I am happy to have left Alberta before it got below -25C.

My flights went well. I was able to catch up on some movies and even got some sleep. Despite landing in Nairobi many times I always am a little nervous. Will the passport line be long? - will my luggage come? Will my large bag come out at the normal carousel or at the oversize section. This time I got lucky the bags, all three, came out quite quickly. Then the next hurdle: Customs. Will they open every bag? Will they x-ray every bag? Will I have to unload my carefully balanced cart? Will they charge me fees? With a prayer and a push of the cart, I went through Customs with only one bag going through x-ray. I was thankful to be out of the plane and in the taxi after only 40 min.

Kenya is a large cash society. So a quick stop at the ATM, had me in my sleep-deprived, jet-lagged state surprised. While I was away Kenya changed their currency so instead of the normal 100oshilling notes I was used to, I got orangey/pink ones. It took a bit for me to recognize what it was and then take my money and go.

After a few days in Nairobi getting a new cell phone sim card, buying groceries for the next few weeks and renewing my physiotherapy license. From there it was the 4 hour trip to Tenwek and settling back into my place. I moved back into the same house as before. While I was away some short term visitors stayed in my house. Some things were packed away and so the unpacking began.

Every time I move (or pack into or out of storage) I am amazed about how much space everything takes up. I had left myself a list of some of what I had in storage. I had left a note - telling myself to not bring back socks from Canada. 95% of the time I wear sandals anyway. However, while I was unpacking, I was a little worried, as I did not find my socks until the very end. A few were in the slow cooker, wrapped around kitchen stuff - boy, am I glad I looked inside before I put it on the shelf. It took only a week to get settled and after being back at work for two months, it feels like I never left. I have settled back into the routine of work being patient care and education, answering e-mails for visitors who want to come and everything else that is part of life here. Below are some pictures to give you a taste of the last two months.
When it rains here it pours, we have gotten a few days of rain every week since I got back even though it is supposed to be dry season. 
A shift change lecture to the nurses on Arterial line management


So driving home from Nairobi last month I was following this truck down the escarpment, part of this road has steep drop-offs and I am nervous in my SUV, glad I was not driving this wide load. 

Last week we did a 2 day ICU crash course for nurses who are new to ICU. Was busy but fun. 
We receive many short term visitors, these medical students and residents asked for teaching on ventilators. I never say no to the option of teaching. Especially as the residents take overnight call, and if they learn how to do it, they don't page me at 2am. 



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