Election Day!!

All the campaigning and rallying has come to an end as of midnight on Sunday. There was much activity all over with the streets teeming of voters in support of their party.  So many people are looking forward to change and continued progress of this country-the 4th poorest in the world.  Liberia has been still recovering in almost every aspect of its existence after being fraught with civil war during the last 2 decades of the 20th century.  Under the past 12 years of leadership by the current President there has been so much growth and change for the better-Liberians are extremely passionate about continuing that trajectory.  Yesterday you could feel the quiet excitement everywhere-all the signs and campaign posters/billboards had been taken down at midnight Sunday.  To an outsider unaware you'd think it was just a routine quiet Sunday even though it was a regular working day.  And now today-election day!  It's a holiday and no one is working.  Again its very quiet around as people make their way to the respective polls to cast their vote.  Results should be announced within 2 weeks-hopefully the peace and serenity is maintained as the people come to know the outcomes and the candidates that will most likely enter the runoff (which is pretty much guaranteed).  I can't say I've ever been in another country during the time of their elections, but it's quite remarkable to see the fervor and pride the people here have in their democratic process! Everyone I've met or seen is deeply vested and understands that their vote really does count.  I can't say I've experienced the same back in the states. 

Yesterday at work was ok.  I attended morning rounds with the General Surgery Department to review all the patients that had been admitted over the weekend.  I observed as the residents presented to the attendings and were pimped for information during their presentations.  I was chuckling in my head the whole time.  Not at the residents, some of which seemed quite erudite, but the attendings who appeared to be doing much more pimping than normal in the face of their visiting guest...nonetheless it was a good didactic session for everyone.  Quite Socratic indeed!  Over the weekend there were some accidents with all of the campaigning, but unfortunately there wasn't anything for me to do as they all were bad traffic accidents with no survivors.

After I took in rounds it was time to head up to the OR to find that we were delayed.  Not because of nursing or lack of instrumentation and proper equipment.  We had no anesthesiologist.  All the surgeons were sitting around while they were complaining that this was the routine.  They were saying that now I've been here a week and things are starting to return to the modus operandi...
The anesthesiologist arrived and we were able to get moving.  During one of the cases I found myself in a bit of a precarious position as I didn't agree with the management of a patient that my colleague was working on.  As I mentioned earlier, I have to keep focused on the small victories and teaching as much as I can so that we all can learn together and do the best by the patient.  I think I was able to do that this time, but man was it hard!!!  Despite the tardy start, we were able to move pretty swiftly through cases until the elevator  that brings patients to the OR broke!!  Was a bit of a bummer because I was hoping to keep up the momentum and finish up the pending work.  This week is going to fly by-and I lose an operative day today with the holiday.  Hoping that the elevator is fixed by week's end.

I had a date tonite with Amie for dinner!  She was really excited to go to her favorite spot and was dressed beautifully!  We were able to catch up even more than before and she was showing me all the pictures of her family-man that girl loves selfies!!  She has 6 other siblings with 7 nieces and nephews.  It's great to see how they all are so supportive of her.  She was telling me how hard it is sometimes to stay happy and optimistic, but with her family and friends' support it sustains her.  She's grown into a remarkable young lady- I'm proud of her.                 

Today I plan to stay low key as the elections are going on.  Sounds like it's going to be a tight race.  May God bless Liberia on this day!!