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

Loving life!

The church

I am settling in well and really enjoying my time here in Bangladesh.  I’ve officially been here for 1 month and time is flying!  Being here and doing what I’m doing is giving me great pleasure so far.  I work very hard 6 days a week from 9-4 and about every 4 days work on call.  These times at work are always filled with something challenging or “dramatic”, especially if I’m covering the labor room.  I had one on call that was full of a variety of particularly challenging cases.  All together, I have experienced a full term breech vaginal delivery, several antepartum hemorrhage patients who went into shock and I needed to act quickly so they wouldn’t bleed to death, eclampsia, several intrauterine fetal deaths including one cord prolapse, several emergency deliveries due to fetal bradycardia, and countless others I cannot recall at the moment!

the hospital (from behind)

I am also enjoying the community and time spent with others who live here.  From my perspective, I am getting along with everyone I’ve met and really enjoy the company of several people.  My friend Karen (an FP physician from Canada working on our OB/GYN team) and I exercise on a regular basis (although on-calls prevent a daily routine).  Rebecca (Anesthesiologist from Wales) has joined us several times as well.  We are still searching for the perfect location to exercise since the rooms are small, but the A/C in my room makes it desirable even if it’s a little constricted. Rebecca lives in one of the apartments (called “flats”) so she has living room space, but no A/C.  It’s a trade off.  We are doing P90X so also are still searching for something that will work as weights or bands. 

the waiting room

The Christian community here is also excellent.  We have prayer meeting on Tuesday, bible study on Friday, and church on Sunday each week as opportunities to fellowship with believers.  Church is in Bangla, so I don’t understand the sermon, but it’s still a wonderful experience.  They printed a generic service order in English so I can follow along somewhat the other parts of the service.  We had communion last Sunday, which was beautiful. 

Overall, I feel very happy with my work and with my down time.  It feels much different from the last 8 years of my life, when I was always waiting to get to the next step.  It feels so wonderful to be doing something with my life that I truly love. 

Again, thank you for reading and please keep me in prayer as I work to resolve an issue with my visa.  I have a plan, just pray that it executes smoothly!  Also pray for my continued health and that I will not get overwhelmed when I start taking on more responsibility as my supervisor is leaving for 4 months in mid October. 

Angela

Sunset view from our compund