Saturday 7 May 2011

WHAT?! No Interweb?!?!?!

I'm so sorry guys, it turns out that there is no internet at the hospital, well, at least for elective students there isn't. I'm pretty bummer, was looking forward to doing this blog!!

I'm writing this from Flatdogs camp which is in the South Luangwa National Park, done one game drive this morning and am heading out in 20 minutes for a second. The animals and the scenery are just extraordinary.

Have been working 11 hour days on the male medical ward at the hospital and the out patient's department. So many people here and some of them travel for hours and hours just to be seen, as you'd expect people are desperately ill and most are very poor. Death is so common here that one of the biggest things to get used to is the different attitude towards it that the medical staff, the patients and their families have. For them, illness and death are part of day to day life but for me and other people who come in from outside it's very frustrating to see people die of illness which are so easily treatable back home.

On the lighter side, the first names here are amazing. Her are a selection: Limited, Size, Socket, Loveness, Fatness, Grandson, Bornface and the best...Fertiliser. It also turns out there are more Patricks here than back in England!

So, three more weeks to go, missing my wife and daughter desperately but learning so much about medicine here. More than that though, the perspective you gain from seeing these patients is striking. Listening to the average (fat) English patient bitch and moan about how the NHS isn't fixing their Diabetes and Obesity while expecting to put the minimal ammount of effort in themselves will be a bitter pill to swallow when I start in Taunton. You just cannot believe what people get on with here, for example, I saw a guy in out patients who had been assaulted one month, ONE MONTH, ago and had come in because his arm and foot hurt. I ordered a set of X-rRays and it turns out he had practured his arm and ankle. I'm not really sure how he managed without any pain relief or support for 4 weeks!!

Looking at the news it seems I've not missed much...right????

4 comments:

  1. Amazing names! Can you imagine calling your daughter (or son?!) Fatness?

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  2. I like Bornface, sounds like an 80's cartoon villain.

    Glad you are ok big boy, can't wait to hear all about it properly when you get back.

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  3. Yes - perspective is the big deal isn't it? Glad you are enjoying and learning. it will be interesting to see how/if this eventually informs the area of medicine in which you specialise. my favourite name is bornface too! shelagh

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  4. Bornface ftw! Looking forward to reading more about what you get up to x

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