Addendum to earlier post

So I thought I would add a little more about some of the "wildlife" that I've seen in the hotel. It is by any Ugandan standards, a beautiful, upper class hotel. However, I've seen at least one cockroach in my room, multiple scurrying bugs that are pretty large and one little mouse running into a room. There are a lot of crazy geckos here as well. It is also strange to adjust to the cows, goats and chickens that are kept here. The cows and goats are tied up in front of the huts by a leg and then they roam a little bit. The chickens run around freely. I find it hard to believe that nobody steals these animals....poor people do not have access to meat.

One of the hardest things to see, is the allocation of resources. The wealthy are the ones that get the most; that is why the poor are so poor. It is so hard to watch and not even know where to start.

I should also comment about our awesome chef, Joseph. He has made us delicious suppers every evening since Tuesday-tonight we even had steak. It was amazing. I would like to have him cook all of our meals for us.

I probably shouldn't add this too, but for those who care, I have been having a few bouts of diarrhea. I am hoping that it will subside with a regiment of Pepto and Immodium, because we will be here another 2 weeks, and I don't want to start on the antibiotic regiment too early. I think part of it is adjusting to the diet...hopefully I didn't get any bugs! I have more laundry on the line tonight...I really feel like I am living in the olden days-it takes hours to wash by a bucket, rinse in the shower and than hang to dry.

Another addition to my day is the un-sterile ness of everything here. The L&D ward, surgery (they call it the theater)...it is all cross contamination I am sure. I saw them rinsing a bucket of lochia (postpartum bleeding) down the sink with a bulb syringe (the only one on the L&D unit)...needless to say, I did not grab the bulb syringe out of the sink. Each woman brings her own garbage bag along for the delivery, which she lays on when she gets close to delivering, pushes the baby out, bleeds onto the garbage bag (and the cot, floor etc....it gets messy!) and then they roll it up and throw it away. Then the mom gets off the cot, and goes to the next room to lay either on a different cot or on the floor. Another waiting mother then gets on the delivery cot with her garbage bag (and so on and so forth). The surgery suite....well I won't horrify anyone else with the stories. Let's just say that it isn't so sterile....and it doesn't really get disinfected (unless you call rinsing the blood down a drain???). I would be curious to find out the infection rates from contaminated surgical tools. Well, maybe not.

Anyway, more tomorrow! We will be up very early with a long day of clinical work ahead in the hospital again. I will be doing Pediatrics, Postpartum care and then helping in the Outpatient Clinic. It should be a very interesting day-I am up for the learning experience to continue!

My love to all :)

PS Thank you all for praying for my safety. I should tell you that we have an armed guard who is 24 hours per day (armed with a large rifle) and we did have a wonderful chat about his training, using the rifle, the robbers that come at night...it was an interesting time.