Christmastime in Bangladesh

So it somehow became December already… I’m not quite sure how that happened.  Time is going by so quickly these days.  My sister and I had a wonderful visit together.  We traveled around Dhaka (Bangladesh) then on to Kathmandu, Pokhara, Astam, Chitwan and back to Kathmandu (all in Nepal…all in 6 days).  Then it was back to Bangladesh and we took a day train to my home away from home so she could see my life here.  It was really special to have someone I love and who has known me since birth to experience what I am experiencing here.  Unfortunately, she was only able to stay a day and a half, but it was great! 

When she left, I had to prepare for Thanksgiving.  As one of four Americans in my community, I took on the responsibility of hosting Thanksgiving (also because the house I am living in belongs to an American who always hosts, except she is on home assignment in America now).   Since was traveling through Dhaka, I thought it might be possible to buy a turkey (not normally available in Bangladesh).  I asked around and found out the “German butcher” had turkeys imported from America for sale.  Before leaving for Nepal I wanted to call to reserve one.  I looked for a phone number online and on Facebook.  I was able to find an email address on Facebook, so my story is that I ordered a Thanksgiving turkey through Facebook!  When I arrived to pick it up I realized this was the most expensive (due to importing taxes, probably) and the biggest turkey I’ve ever taken on for Thanksgiving.  Also, those of you who know me well know I only cook once in a blue moon so I’ve only done maybe 3 turkeys in my life.  Anyway, needless to say, I was awake at 0530 Thanksgiving morning STRESSING about the turkey: Would it be thawed? Would it cook in time? Would I figure out the oven? Would it fit in a cooking dish?  Would I overcook it? The pressure was on: we had 25 expats coming and it was an expensive item so it had to work out!  Long story short, it worked out.  Everyone loved it, and the Americans especially expressed gratitude saying they never have a turkey.  Charlotte even told me, “You’re the type of person who just gets things done!”  What a nice compliment. 

Since Thanksgiving, I’ve been back to work after my 2-weeks off and busy again.  I had 2 roommates and they both left (one the day before and the other right after the meal on Thanksgiving) so I was on my own in the house for 9 days.  Rebecca came back yesterday but is leaving for good (gasp!) very soon.  It’s a little different being all alone in the house, especially at Christmastime, and has potential to put me into a bit of a funk.  I baked Christmas cookies Friday and Rebecca and I decorated the apartment yesterday so it’s really looking good!  Christmas Eve we have a special get together with the other expats and Christmas day there is a service and meal all together on the field that everyone dresses up for.  So, my time will be spent with my brothers and sisters in Christ and I feel it will be a Christmas to remember. 

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your continued prayers.  Please pray that I will manage living alone and the holidays without feeling gloomy

Also please pray for my continued growing friendships with my Bangladeshi co-workers

Angela

THREE months?!!

Hindu temple

I can hardly believe it when I look at the calendar: I have been in Bangladesh almost THREE months!  It has flown by.  I think back to when I was praying about and planning my time here and everyone kept asking how long I would stay.  When I replied with “six months” most people felt that was a very long time.  “Why not three months?” they would ask.    I felt that three months would not be long enough and I was correct.  I can’t even imagine leaving or preparing to leave this week.  I feel I am finally in my groove and things are so good. 

Work is challenging as always.  Each day presents another interesting patient and I get to “flex my OB/GYN muscle” so to speak, helping to make tough decisions.  Eclampsia season is definitely in full swing now and I’m sad to report has just this week claimed the lives of two young mothers at our hospital.  Most of the cases recover without any long term sequelae but sometimes they come to us too far along in the process and the damage cannot be reversed.  This tragedy is, at least somewhat, offset by the many healthy new lives we help bring in to the world every day. 

Baby lambs

Spiritually, I am feeling amazing.  This community is like a long cool drink of water after a tough workout.  I feel so refreshed and encouraged here, which has a lot to do with why I am so happy.  It’s a little bit like the process of falling in love.  The last few days we had a conference with a guest speaker and he spoke about the first 2 and last 2 chapters of the Bible.  I love dreaming about and trying to picture the new heaven and the new earth.  It makes me so excited about the future!

I have been to the next town over to visit the “sights”.  Dinajpur has a Hindu temple (Kantanagar) that was built between 1704-1752.  It is covered in teracotta plaques depicting different scenes.  It was nice to travel by car about 1.5hrs each way

at my new house

house balcony view

to see more of the countryside and remember what it’s like to be in a car! I also moved from the guesthouse, which was more like a hotel, to one of the houses.  I am sharing the apartment (“flat”) with Rebecca and Sian.  Rebecca is the anesthetist from Wales and Sian is another short term OB/GYN from the UK.  They will both leave me soon: Sian later this month and Rebecca next month.  Then, I will be without roommates in this 3 bedroom apartment for the last 6 weeks of my time here, but it will be ok.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and for reading my notes. 

Please pray for my continued growth, both professionally and spiritually while I am here.  My sister is also coming to visit soon!  Please pray for safe travels.  We will be traveling in the country and visiting Nepal while she is here. 

Angela

Busy Doctor

Walk through rice field

The last few weeks have been very busy at work.  Since this is a referral hospital (most patients deliver at home or in safe delivery units), the cases we see are often complicated.  It seems an almost daily occurrence lately to have a patient show up bleeding to the point of shock (very low blood pressure, very pale, and barely conscious).  Usually this is a complication of delivering a baby or having a miscarriage.  It is so different from my practice in the US, where I hardly ever see a patient arriving with this scenario.  Eclampsia is also very common and almost a daily occurrence lately, although the other doctors tell me this is “eclampsia season”.  I am enjoying the fact that these cases are somewhat challenging so getting “bored” is not really a concern.  Also, we are doing well over 10 deliveries per day, which usually means at least 2 c-sections per shift.

another walk

funny road sign: "shops ahead

Recently I was feeling exhausted and realized I had just completed 3 on calls in 6 days.  My day off I went with some other foreigners to the next town over for an outing.  We spent the morning sightseeing and shopping, ate lunch at a restaurant, and then came back to the compound in the afternoon.  I had a very nice nap that afternoon.  Now I think I am finally caught up on sleep from that busy week, although each on call brings a new adventure and little sleep.  I attempt to spend the day after the on call catching up on sleep but often end up working part of the day since it is so busy. 

broken glass mosque

I also had a challenging surgical GYN case last week.  Thank God the general surgeon was still here to help me: an ovarian cyst was stuck to everything else in the pelvis.  The surgeon is leaving today for her home assignment in the Netherlands.  I’m praying that there will not be any major issues in upcoming surgical cases as she will not return until 3 days before I leave.

I have been living in the guesthouse for the 2 months I’ve been here and am preparing to move into one of the apartments (actually I’m going to stay in the room of the surgeon who is leaving).  That will be a nice new adventure and I’m looking forward to having more of a living area.  The anesthesiologist also lives in that apartment so it will be fun having a roommate, although she goes back to the UK in December.  The OB/GYN consultant that heads up the department here also left for Switzerland last week. Even though I’ve only been here a short time, I’ve built relationships with these people and it’s hard to see them go.  These home assignments are much needed for the long-term missionaries though, so I’m also happy for them.  Luckily, there are still many awesome people here for me to spend time with and get to know.  The last two weeks we have had movie night at someone’s house, so that’s been fun to get together, eat popcorn and bond with others. 

It’s finally starting to cool off here.  The last 2 days I did not use my air conditioning.  It gets to the mid-high 80’s daily but goes down to below 70 at night.  Humidity is still high, but it feels much better.  Maybe it will feel like fall soon.

from my boating adventure

Praise report: my visa got sorted out and my passport is back in my possession.  Thank you for those who were praying!  Also, my sister was able to get time off from work to come to Bangladesh to visit!  She is coming in November and I’m so excited.  We will travel to Nepal so I can get away for a short vacation. 

Prayer requests:

to find rest during my times not at work

for wisdom in how to handle complicated patients (especially without a surgical backup)

travel for me and my sister next month

continued health (I have a little sore throat the last few days)

Thank you all for taking time to read my updates J

Angela

Going back in time

Cloth gown in OT

Labour Room

In my downtime, I have been watching old episodes of MASH on my computer.  The show is about surgeons in the Korean War, so season one is set in 1951.  Often times I feel like I’m in a time machine and am back in the 1950’s when I’m here.  I see similarities to the procedures used in the OR on MASH and what we do here.  We wear cloth OT gowns and wash and re-sterilize everything.  Nothing gets thrown out.  Even the suction tubing gets a thorough washing and re-sterilization. The gowns and gloves can often be seen drying in the sun before getting re-sterilized.  Also, you know that fetoscope to listen to baby’s heartbeat?  It was used on the BBC series Call the Midwife.    You put it on mom’s belly and put your ear on it (very close to mom’s belly).  Yeah, they use that here…for real!  I should get a photo of me using it to show you.  It’s amazing that you can actually hear the fetal heart beating with this tool.  Of course, we also have the electronic Doppler, which is much easier to use.

OT (scrub sink in upper right)

This is a farming community and they use very few tools when farming.  Often they are just stooping over in the rice fields.  No wonder they all have back pain!  I also tried to get a photo of someone transporting a very large stack of hay (probably 10 feet tall) on the back of the vangari (3 wheeled bicycle with flatbed for transporting people or goods), but they were riding so fast I missed it!  The villages around the hospital all have animals.  Most households have at least one cow, and when you walk by, you will often see the cow dung shaped into small clumps (about the size of your palm) and left in the sun to dry.  Apparently they use this as fuel for their stove to cook!  How resourceful! 

countryside

busy road

Now I am settling in to my role here and staying busy.  Every day at work presents another challenging, interesting case (or two or three).  Even when I’m not doing an on call, I often get involved in the interesting/difficult case, which keeps it interesting and keeps me busy!

I took some photos of the inside of the hospital for this update: Labour Room and Operating Theatre (yes these are British terms), and some more photos of the countryside when we paid a visit to the safe delivery unit about 20 minutes away by car. 

Praise report: My visa got fixed! Thank you to all who were praying

Prayer requests: A colleague just lost her baby at about 5.5 months gestation.  Please pray for her and her family as they grieve this loss.

Pray for me as we approach the holiday here October 5-6 (Eid).  I will have to cover my day without a junior doctor (which can be challenging because I don’t speak much Bangla)

Pray for the skin rash on my face.  It doesn’t seem to be clearing up, so I am doing a trial off medication for a few weeks. 

Thank you all for reading!

Angela