Pulling on the white man...

I think my eye is getting keener for these photos...

I thought the first day back after a holiday is usually a quiet one...not in L.I.B.!!  Clinic was out of control today.  So many people came in-it was a mad house!  Sounds like there was a good turnout for voter registration yesteday-campaigning starts next week so I'll get to check it out as things start to unfold here.  Nothing really too interesting in the ER or on rounds this morning; clinic definitely stole the show today.  Majority of the patients were new which meant each visit took a little longer than usual.  I did have a few follow-up patients including Ma-Nowah!!  My little girl with the hip infection.  It was my first time seeing her in the office since she was discharged from the hospital.  And boy was there a difference compared to the first time we met in that same room just a few weeks ago!  She came strutting into the room gleaming and gave me a big hug!  At that moment it was like she was the only patient there;  It really made my day!  As you can probably tell from my writings, all of my patients are special, but there have definitely been a few that have struck a chord with me-she is one of them...

I got pulled out of the clinic by the radiologist here to run over "real quick" and see a friend of his-it was actually an interesting case.  When I walked into his office there was this young girl sitting with her father who had been waiting to see me.  She has suffered with an untreated hip dislocation since she was a child and has been limping around in pain for years because she felt she was too young for a hip replacement.  I took the time to explain to her what options she had and that I've even done a hip replacement in a nineteen year old patient before (she was 27).  They spent alot of time asking questions about her condition and the surgical procedure, and at the end of the conversation they were ready to head back to the states with me to do the surgery!  I'm sure she'll be fine-the family goes back and forth to the states all the time.  She has just never had anyone explain everything to her like that.  Her father had some kind and inspirational words for me that I'll probably end up putting down in my personal journal. 

View of Congotown from Monie's terrace.

By far the most interesting-or somewhat awkward-patient interaction I had today was with this little 6 year old girl and her mother.  She had been complaining of leg pain and fever for quite some time and her xrays were consistent with very extensive osteomyelitis.  She had previously not responded to antibiotic treatment and I told her mom that at this point she would need surgery to debride and remove much of the infected bone.  At that point this little girl went absolutely ballistic!!!  She started screaming and crying as she pulled on my arm yelling out "NO, NO, NO!!! PLEASE MR. WHITE MAN, I BEG YOU, I BEG YOU!!  I BEG YOU WHITE MAN!!!"  I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt a little awkward at that moment as she was putting on a scene in front of the entire clinic waiting area.  They had to remove her from the office while I spoke to her mom because she was causing so much commotion!  Everyone was looking at me as she was pulling on my arm-that little girl was strong too!!!  I still was processing the whole thing when I finally finished seeing patients late this afternoon.  Why was this little girl referring to me in that manner?  Why the huge spectacle?  The crazy thing was that her mom was albino!!  Not sure it's even all that significant, but it did provoke some healthy thought for the remainder of the evening...

Team hand rolling gauze preparing for tomorrow's cases.

I think it may be a busy final 2 weeks in the operating room as many people are popping up now-word is out that I will be leaving soon...on that note, maybe I should get some rest.  Nite.

"Perserverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."

-Walter Elliot