Sorry for the REALLY delayed post! I wrote the first half of
this blog about 3 weeks ago so about half way through I will fast forward to
our current news…
So we’ve been back in Uganda for almost a month now after a
great trip back home to Charleston. We will always refer to Charleston as
“Home” no matter how long we live away from there; however, returning to Uganda
also felt like we were back home. Arriving back at the Entebbe airport, hearing
Luganda spoken, smelling familiar smells, and seeing all of the black faces
again made us feel happy and comforted.
It’s been a busy month back. Newman’s brother Stratton and
his fiancé Hunter arrived in Entebbe just 8 hours after we landed, so after a
short nap at the hotel, we went back to the airport to pick them up. We spent
their 1st full day in Uganda at our friend Rabih’s house in Kampala.
He is a friend we met through Michael and Amanda who lived here before us. He
is Lebanese American and he is one of the most generous people I know. He had
us over to his house for a traditional Lebanese brunch with some other friends.
It was a gorgeous warm day, so part of the day we spent out on the huge patio
with pool overlooking Lake Victoria. It was an indulgent way to begin Hunter
and Stratton’s trip to Uganda. We assured them that we don’t live like this
every day, but it was a fun start to our time back here.
The next week was spent up in Masindi, getting settled back
into life here and allowing everyone to recover from jet lag. Newman jumped
right back into work at the house and at the clinic. I began to dive into the
stack of material left for me to use by the December PMI team. They did a lot
of teaching with the staff about maternity care and OR procedures, so I am
trying to adapt their material into teaching tools for our staff. Another
project I am working on is helping a DNP student from the U.S. do research for
her final project. She is measuring the effectiveness of a medication on
preventing excessive maternal blood loss post-delivery. Those things as well as
hosting visitors and keeping up things at home is keeping me happy and busy.
Hunter and Stratton left us after one week for some
adventures and traveling in the east of Uganda and the south west. They hiked
Mount Elgon, went camping in the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, and camped at
the crater lakes outside Fort Portal. They have seen more of Uganda than we
have now. While they were away, we had a group of good friends from Charleston
pass through for just one night to see our clinic. They had already been in
Burundi for one week for a medical mission trip and they decided to make a
quick trip to Uganda a part of their trip. It was really good to see some
familiar faces in our home here. Many of them were people we have known all our
lives, so we loved having them here. Michael, Newman’s boss, was also with
them. He stayed in Masindi with us for the next week to work with Newman. It
worked out well that Hunter and Stratton were traveling during that time so
that we could host Michael. He and Newman worked really hard during their time
together, but I think they accomplished a lot, and I know Newman appreciated
some one on one time with him to discuss everything. After Michael left, we had
a few days in Kampala for Newman to do some work there and our friend Rabih
hosted us once again. He was kind enough to let us stay even when he was out of
the country. It was a real treat to have air conditioning and a nice house to
stay in for a couple of nights.
After our time at Rabih’s it was time to meet back up with
Hunter and Stratton. We picked them up and headed back to Masindi for about
another week, during which I started to not feel well. I felt like I had maybe
the flu or a little virus, but I decided to go up to the clinic and have a
malaria test just so that I could rule it out. Turns out it was malaria, so
they put me on a three day treatment of duo-cotecxin and Tylenol. After
starting the treatment, I felt much better so we kept our plans of going up to
Murchison Falls National Park for the weekend where we stayed at our favorite
lodge, Paraa. We stayed two nights and had a great time. We went on the river
safari, a game drive, spent time by the pool, Hunter and Stratton got massages,
and we took a picnic at the top of the falls on our way back to Masindi. I
think Hunter and Stratton had a great time, and I cannot wait to see their
pictures because Hunter is a professional photographer. When we arrived back in
Masindi, I had completed my 3 day malaria treatment, but I still did not feel
100%. In fact I started to feel worse when I woke up each morning. I thought
maybe I’d wait a couple of days to see if the drugs just needed more time to
clear it up. By Tuesday morning I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go up to the
clinic and get tested again. It turns out my malaria was not gone and they
decided to put me on a quinine drip. So as I write this, I am in the on call
room of the maternity ward, because the other private rooms were taken, getting
my first dose. I can now give my own personal testimony of our nursing care
here, and so far I am very pleased. Although, I do think they are all a little
amused at the fact that I am a patient. I am also happy to see our maternity
ward so busy. We just had a mother deliver and there are 2 more that are
getting close. Hunter is going to observe one of them as she has never
witnessed a delivery. I can’t wait to hear her reaction.
We went white water rafting in Jinja, which I was kinda
scared to do at first because it’s mainly all class 5 rapids, but I had only
heard good things about it so we decided to go. We had a blast! It was scary
but mainly really fun. We flipped over one time, which at the time was fun, but
I seemed to have inhaled some of the river. It didn’t bother me at first but
about 2 days later, I felt myself getting a fever and my respiratory rate was
increasing. I felt like I couldn’t get a deep breath, so I started to realize
something was wrong. Also, I had a very strange bite on my leg that I assumed
was probably a spider bite that I got in the night at the cabin. I thought
maybe I was having an allergic reaction to the bite, because I was having a lot
of the symptoms of a reaction. So needless to say, I was somewhat anxious as I
was only getting worse, and I wasn’t 100% sure what was causing it. That’s the
not so fun part about living here. There are a lot of things that can make you
sick, and it’s hard to get a definitive diagnosis with the limited amount of
tests that can be run in most clinics. So, just as we were about to take
Stratton and Hunter to dinner before their 11:30pm flight home, I finally told
Newman that I was seriously concerned and we needed to go to a clinic because
my breathing was so rapid. Luckily, no one was hungry, so we headed to a
private clinic in Entebbe. It is a small clinic that is a part of a really good
hospital in Kampala, so we felt good about going there. They drew blood and
pushed some IV hydrocortisone and gave me an atropine injection for the
potential allergic reaction. My blood test came back and my white blood cells
were very elevated, so there was definitely some sort of infection. They pushed
some IV antibiotics and then sent me back to the hotel for the night. We
dropped off Stratton and Hunter at the airport, and I apologized for making
their last moments in Uganda a little stressed. They of course were fine, and
really sweet and we said goodbye. I got a few hours of sleep, and then we
headed back to the clinic in the morning to see if they would let us travel back to Masindi
that day. The doctor gave me the OK to go back, but with instructions to follow
up at our clinic. We made it back and the next day our clinical officer Alex
made a house call to check on me. By this time we were all in agreement that it
was probably pneumonia from inhaling some of the river water. I had also been
in constant discussion with one of our PMI doctors, Dr. Ed O’Bryan and his NP
wife Claire. They were so awesome and helpful. He suggested that I change my
antibiotic to a stronger one that would cover me better for this situation, so
I did that and I think that made a big difference. I was in bed pretty much for
the next week, but I improved every day. Now I am back to myself thankfully. We
celebrated my 27th birthday this week, on the 28th. We
had cake and dinner with friends at a restaurant in town. It was a great day.
That evening, while dropping off our friends, they introduced us to the puppy
that had been left at their house that week. She already has 2 dogs and many
other animals, so she did not really want another dog. Of course after holding
it for just a few seconds, Newman and I began to fall in love and thought maybe
we could take it. We are still not 100% that he will remain ours, but I am
puppy sitting him today to see how it goes. But I am pretty sure he will be
ours.
We leave for Kampala tomorrow so that Newman can do some
work there on Monday. While we are there we will invest in some puppy paraphernalia.
Also, since Newman’s birthday is next Sunday on the 10th, we are
going to do a double birthday celebration by staying at the Serena on the Lake
hotel Sunday night. It’s a beautiful spot, so I am excited to relax there by
the pool for the day!
So to sum up our last few weeks here, there is never a dull
moment and the adventure continues. Thanks for following us and for your
prayers and support. Stay tuned for more adventures to come. Here are some
pictures of the new baby! We are still trying to think of a name. I am thinking maybe Ssebo (pronounced say-bo) and call him Bo for short. Its the luganda word for Mister. But we are open to suggestions!
Love,
Trish
What an adorable little guy! So happy for your growing family! Thank you both SO much for the warm hospitality and wonderful times. Glad you're feeling better, Trish! We miss you guys already! Love, Hunter
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