Ebenezer: Wards and Football

This week was intense on the wards. I switched to the female adult medicine side on Monday and was immediately impressed by the acuity of the sickness and disease among these women. With only six intensive care unit (ICU) beds at Moi, not all patients needing the ICU get to be transferred there. What results is a very difficult decision about who to admit to the ICU. When a potential ICU patient presents to the ward, the ICU team comes to evaluate the patient and must make a difficult (impossible) decision whether or not to admit to the ICU based on whether the patient is sick enough and will have a good outcome. I have a respect for these individuals who deal with these decisions on a daily basis and certainly do not envy them.

Five new medical students from IU arrived this week, making the atmosphere even more fun at the IU House and Hostel. We enjoyed sitting around the dinner table tonight talking about our experiences thus far, our residency rank lists, and future plans in medicine. Patrick and Megan will be moving back to the hostel this week which will make for a bit less lonely pad. This past week being the only muzungu in the hostel has actually been very enjoyable, hanging out in people's rooms and gaining some rapport with some of the students on my medicine team.

After an intense week on the wards, a restful weekend in Eldoret was in order. Two of the new IU students, Rosy and Molly, stayed here as well. I enjoyed showing them around Eldoret and making homemade meals at the IU House with them. Rosy has some mean skills in Indian cuisine. We ate delicious chicken curry on Saturday afternoon thanks to her.

Later Saturday I played some "football" (or soccer) with some of my Kenyan buddies. Several of them work at the hospital and others live at or near the IU House. Our team had a power lead of 4-0 in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Unfortunately, the other team came back and tied the score before the game was finished. We suspected some foul play as the referee was from the other team and the second half seemed to drag on for at least 45 minutes. I thought that maybe it was just the altitude and my lack of fitness that made the second half long, but my teammates also noticed. The good news was that we had a great time and were all smiles at the end of the match. Today, however, I can hardly walk.

Tomorrow I will return to the wards. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of my dad here in less than two weeks! I am excited for him to see Eldoret and visit some of the animal parks of Kenya. We are also looking forward to visiting with some missionaries in Nairobi that Traders Point (our home church) is hoping to partner with in the coming months, adopting a slum. I am sure the 19th will be here before I know it. Enjoy your week! Many greetings from Eldoret.

Here are some photos from the football match:

Preparing for a header or stunned by the "ups" of Masaai opponent?