Tues Sept 4th

Good Morning!!!

Well I woke up this am with about 11 mosquito bites all down the right arm and some on my back.  Hmmm must have been bitten on the way to dinner last night or in bed, not sure but man they are some big welts.  The are bad and now of course I am worried about malaria, but apparently the malaria mosquitos are the small ones that you can't even see and you don't get welts like this, so fingers crossed that in 2 weeks I am feeling good still =/

We are off today for our second and last home visit day.  We are off to a bit of a later start because of the bus being late, again it is on African time, he he he...

Arriving in the village it always a site, everyone waving and smiling at us so excited that we are back, I just love this welcoming!!!  The children are always there at the bus door to greet us and hold our hands, most of us have some little ones that are always back to each of us, I have too little girls that are by my side.  so hard to see their little eyes so full of sorrow but then full of laughter too.  That is such a struggle for me.

We meet up with Dan, Friday and Alisha again, so then Kim and i are all set and we are off to the village.  it is a hotter day today, no wind like the other day, so walking around is tough.  Today was a nice day we are invited into more homes today, doing whole family assessments.  one family one man haas pneumonia pretty bad with a fever of 103...he most likely has PCP-pneumonia related to HIV...his wife looks good as do the children, so we asked him to come to the clinic tomorrow to be seen.  i played a bit with their baby, she was adorable, bit dehydrated but nothing else bad, a very happy little girl.  We sat in their kitchen area outside, it was so nice to be welcomed in...the kida just stared at us, Kim and i are the two blondes of this group, we got stared at alot, LOL!!!  We say other girl with an eye infection, and then went on to see another family outside their home.  One lady about her abdominal pain and not feeling hungry, so we asked about everything first before asking about if she was pregnant, and of course she was pregnant and that was the issue, nothing else, so that was quite funny...always ask that question first, note to self...it was to be here 5th I think...that is usual down there.  Out last patient was a young man around 29, he was VERY ill, he temp was 104, he had the shakes, he was lethargic and not appetite, we knew right away he was dying of PCP-AIDS.  It was so hard to see, he was so frail and skin and bones, blood pressure was extremely low, all we could do for him in the field was give him tylenol and tell him to be seen in the clinic right away tomorrow.  Kim did such a good job with him...me on the other hand was feeling quite ill...I am the type of person that needs to drink plenty of water and have snacks every 2 hours, virtualy impossible to do with all these starving people around you, you feel so guity eating, so unfortunely it took its toll of me, I almost fainted.  So while Kim assessed the pt I had to sit down and eat a granola bar while kids were all around me watching me, I cannot describe that feeling, the guilt!!!  I was feeling better after the snack and we were then done for the day.  Headed back to the bus and before heading home we ate some lunch, a quick sandwich and then we were off.  Tomorrow is clinic day so should be interesting.

We ate dinner after getting more bags and supplies ready and then had a quick talk about what to expect in the clinic the next day.  i was feeling so crummy that night, after talking about my class and what to teach, everyone was worried about me and honestly I cried in front of Kim and Mesha, cause I was feeling horrible.  So I headed to bed around 8 pm while the others worked late, feeling so guily, but I knew I had to get better, I was the only one that could teach the prenatal class.  So I took 800 of Motrin and fell asleep right away...I woke up once drenched in sweat so I must have had a fever...man rought night

Talk soon
Mindi