Easter Break with a Little bit of Work

Happy Belated Easter During the Easter I had the oportunity to take a little break and go to Zambia and Victoria Falls and briefly in to Botswana and the Chobe National Park. On the roadtrip to Victoria Falls we stopped over in Lusaka to visit the Beit CURE hospital which is the closest hospital to ours, outside Malawi, where they perform Neurosurgery. The Beit CURE hospital in Lusaka has been running since 2006 and as far as I know they have been performing Neurosurgery since then. As of now they are mainly operating Hydrocephalus patients and performing VP-shunts and Endovascular Third Ventriculoscopies, this after 10 years of practice. This is very hopeful for our Project and very New practice at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital where we also perform mainly ETVs and VP-shunts. This is after having a neurosurgical ward and dedicated theatre for only 1.5years. We are also operating craniotomies and have done some spinal surgieries. What we have to remember is that this practice is still in its' pionering stage so every Surgery apart from ETVs and VP-shunts are considered Major Surgery. Anyway, we had a lovely visit and were very well taken care of at Beit CURE, so thank you very much ladies for takng care of us. After Lusaka we drove to Livingstone, Zambia for a quick stopover before we took a pontoon Ferry over the mighty Zambezi River to Botswana. We stayed for 1 night in Botswana and squeezed in a brilliant dinner of Eland, Kudu and Impala meat and an Early morning Game Drive in the Chobe National Park. Mid day we took the Ferry back to Zambia and our lodge in Livingstone. Our Mission in Livingstone was Clear, to see 1 of the seven natural Wonders of the world: Victoria Falls... it was Absolutely Magnificent!

I ofcourse had to jump of that Bridge, twice, doing a a Bungee jump and a Bridge swing. We all did a zip line across the gorge from Zambia and in to Zimbabwe. If that is not the coolest way to travel in to a country I do not know what is.

Have fun and live a little!

Back to Malawi!

Dear friends After quite a long break (6 weeks) over the holidays I am back in Malawi since a few weeks. The trip back was a bit of a pain. The plane was delayed out of Oslo and I landed in Stockholm as my plane for Addis Abeba took off. Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) put me up in a hotel, fed me and I was quite comfortable for the 20 hours I was in Stockholm. 24 hours late I arrived in Blantyre on a Sunday istead of Saturday, atleast I came with both my suitcases (with all the Medical equipment). One thing is for sure, it's a heck of a lot warmer here than in Norway. The Monday before I left it was -27C. Here it is somewhere around 25-28C every day now at the end of rainy season. I did not only have vacation while in Norway, that was only about 2.5 weeks, the rest of the time I worked. I gave a presentation at my ward about the Project, I also gave a presentation for HR at Oslo University Hospital and wrote some reports. I also worked on the New Project application and round 1 of that application that we are about to hand over to FK Norway, crossing my fingers. Every 3 years we have to Write a New Overall Project Application, every year we Write a yearly Application, every year we also Write a Budget Application and a report for the past year's work and budget. Sometimes I think I am more coordinator/organizer and social director than nurse. I was the kind of student that hated writing papers with a passion, now I actually enjoy writing applications and reports. If I ever get my thumb out and get my masters it should be a breeze compared to this stuff... ;-D So, what's the plan forward? I honestly do not know. I may stay in Malawi until August to get the nurses in the New Project settled but after that, I do not know. What do I want to do? I want to continue working on Projects. I feel that it would be difficult going back to my ward in Norway, with all the resources we have after having been out and seen what is happening elsewhere. I am officially a mission junky now. Either way I would love to continue working in Malawi on this Project or maybe going somewhere else working on another Project. Maybe working in Norway on these kinds of Projects... We'll se what the future holds. Big hugs

Faux Pas - An Embarassing or Tactless Act or Remark in a Social Situation

Funny stories What can I say… I’ve been lazy. I have been back in Blantyre for about 1 month after my summer break. I spent 48 hours in Norway before I jumped on a plane for Nueva York and a 3 week round trip together with my bestest bud. The trip took us from NYC, to Virginia Beach, Savannah, GA, Miami, Key West, New Orleans, Jackson, MS and we flew home from Memphis, TN. It was a wonderful trip with too much fun, a lot of good music, mostly great weather, wonderful people and a lot of laughter. Coming back to Blantyre felt a little like coming home. This is where I live, have my own room, my house, my dogs and cat and a lot of friends. Back in Norway I do not have a home anymore but hopefully I’ll be able to buy a small apartment in Oslo when I move back next year. I want to share a couple of funny stories and one of them is a major fuck up on my part. Considering this was my first really big faux pas since coming here I do not feel too bad. We had a group meeting within the project and discussed staff/personnel matters and 1 girl just got married and we are not sure if she will stay here in Blantyre or move to Lilongwe to be with her husband. We discussed this back and forth and we would be very sad to lose her because she is 1 of 2 Theatre nurses that has been to Norway and the other one is going back to school to get his bachelor. One member suggested that although it would be sad to lose her she might have to go since it is said in the Bible that a woman should love and support her husband a stay where he is… For those who know me well know what is coming! I momentarily lost my brain to mouth filter and wasn’t even aware of my own thought until I heard it coming out of my mouth: “Well, the bible needs upgrading”! Needless to say the room got quiet, very quiet and a colleague sitting next to me theatre whispers in my ear: “some people might find that offensive”. I just said thank you and carried on like nothing happened… What was I supposed to do? I am just brought up with not bringing up religious References in a Professional setting and still get confused when People do. If they can express their thoughts on this matter referring to the Bible I should be able to express mine as well, I Guess that is my thought! The most important thing is that we respect eachothers beliefs, something I kind of missed on this one..... Another story a friend shared during lunch one day had me giggling for days. I might have shared my distinct hatred toward the Immigration office in Blantyre on a previous occasion and even though I have my Temporary Employment Permit (TEP) and VISA is secured until May 2017 my hatred has in no way diminished. A friend was in the office of one of the head honchos at Immigration to talk about her TEP that had just been given her. She sat with the papers in hand in an office with this Gentleman working with Immigration alone. He then got up from behind his desk and walk around it to the door. He opens the door, peeks outside and step back in, closes the door and locks it. He then walks back around his desk sits down and looks at my friend and says: “Let’s play”. My friend gets a little confused and ask: “Excuse me?”. He then proceeds to answer: “Let’s play”… bows his head and starts praying… The thing is, in Malawi the letters L and R tends to swap places or just being used as interchangeable. F.ex. If your name is Laura, the people here a most likely to call you Raula or Laula. It takes a little time to get used to this and these miss pronunciations makes for a very interesting life here in Malawi. Have a wonderful week

Long time...

Dear friends It has been a long time since my last post and it is mainly because we have been very busy and we've had visitors from 2 rounds of ressource personnel. In March we had 2 scrub nurses here for 3 weeks visiting and then we rescently had two Medical engineers visiting for 10 days. We also had a visit from the head of the Project and a colleague. We originally also have had 2 operating days for the neurosurgical patients but that has rescently changed to 4 operating days a week. This, ofocourse, means more work in the Neurosurgical High Dependency Unit as well as in theatre. With more patients and more complicated surgery we also get more Equipment that many are not familiar with so we have ongoing training. This week the participants that just arrived back to Malawi from a 6 months stay in Norway, came back to work. It is always a burst of energy when the participants return and they can share their experiences and newly acquired knowledge with their colleagues. I have also celebrated my Africaversary, my one year stay in Malawi, on May 16th. I arrived on May 16th 2014 in Malawi and was supposed to stay for a year but that plan changed within 3 months and was extended to 2 years. I do not regret it but I am definatley looking forward to a long summer holiday. This year I also celebrated Our constitution day in Lilongwe at the Norwegian Ambassador's residence. It was a wonderful evening with good wine, excellent food and brilliant music. We have also installed our own washing machine in the ward, something that led to a great deal of entertainment for some of the guardians. They placed themselves on the floor close to the washing machine and watched the whole cycle that ran for 2hours 20minutes. In a few weeks I am getting a visit form my parents and my sister and my sparetime goes to planning what to do while they are here... Good times! Take care

Back in Blantyre after Christmas Break!

So I am back in Blantyre since 2 weeks. It was really nice to come back to some warmer weather. Unfortunately the rains this season has been so bad that southern Malawi is declared a disaster area. Especially the lower shire valley has been badly affected by the rain. Almost 200 people have lost their lives due to floods and mudslides and thousand of people are homeless. Many schools haven't started after Christmas break because people who have lost their homes are living in the local schools and churches. In the hospital we have received many patients with trauma caused by falling houses, especially in the paediatric department. The heavy rain has caused a lot of sand, mud and debris to wash in to the water supply for Blantyre and therefore access to water around town is still scarce. When I make comments on my facebook page about being without water for 6 days I really don't feel it is a big deal. We wash ourselves in the water from the pool and if I have to wait 3-5 days without washing my hair, so what! (I just feel sorry for the people around me... ;-D ). Jokes put aside, the situation for many people are dire and my thoughts go out to all families affected by the floods in Malawi...

Looooong Christmas Vacation

Who am I to contradict my boss's orders? She told me to take a proper long (and well deserved) vacation in December and taking 1 week off in the beginning of the month, then go back and work for 2 weeks before taking a 2 week Christmas vacation wasn't good enough... "No, why don't you take all of December off and then go back in January with your new college on January 7th" I thought about it for about 10 seconds and said: "OK" So here I am at Frankfurt airport waiting for my connecting flight to Oslo. For the last 2 weeks I have had a really good friend visiting from home and we started my vacation last Friday with a trip around Lake Malawi for 5 days. We went to Cape Maclear where we stayed at Mgoza lodge (great huge double beds, would have slept fantastic if it hadn't been for all the dead banana flies on my face, pillow and in the bed). Then we drove north to Nkhata Bay where we for 3 nights stayed at a really cool place called Mayoka Village (for more than 1 night there, bring your own mattress, they're a hip killer, felt 65years old every morning). On the way south we stayed over at Senga Bay outside Salima where we stayed at Cool Runnings, a quiet relaxing spot where they have beautiful long sandy beaches. Great place, apart from all the ants... But hey, it's Malawi ;-D I left Blantyre at about 32-34C and going home to -1C... I want my winter coat!

Leaps of Progress!

Since I arrived in Blantyre on May 16th, and started working at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital I have waited for this day. Pretty much every week since I got here the answer to my question about finishing our High Dependency Unit has been: "Next week". FINALLY! Tomorrow morning (yes it is a Sunday) we are finalizing the HDU and we will during the day receive our first patients. The reason we choose to open on a Sunday is because we have developed preoperative checklists and guidelines. As of now, there are no uniform routines or stationary at the hospital so all units have their own set up. Also, there are no preoperative routines... kind of. The only routine the units have before sending patients to Theatre is to provide an IV line. No washing, preoperative fasting routines or pain medication. We want to make sure our patients are well prepared for surgery so that they have a stable blood sugar postoperatively, starting pain medication already before surgery and that they are clean and properly washed to prevent infection. The wards send all their patients going for surgery to the OR in the morning, no matter what time their surgery is planned to happen. So a 3 months old baby can fast all day for a surgery taking place at 3pm. While they are waiting for their turn they are sitting with their mothers in a corridor which in summer is very warm and in winter very cold. If we can improve at least a few of these conditions for these patients I will be a happy nurse... Wish us luck!