Phil McGlave - January 19, 2015

Ed. Note: Apologies to readers and authors.  We have had some difficulty getting into the blog - all fixed now! kpo


Hard to believe that we've already been in Ilula for 10 days.  Here's how the day went.

We didn't have running water yesterday, but someone fixed the pump overnight.  We awoke to the very pleasant surprise of water in the pipes!  It's Sunday, so we looked forward to church services. However we did have inpatient rounds to complete first. 

We were gratified to see that a young man with osteomyelitis of the leg and a frozen hip seemed to be responding to IV antibiotics.  Our concern is that he'll need months of physical therapy to get back the strength and mobility in those wasted legs.

We also saw a woman with an acute abdomen and probable molar pregnancy.  She's a little better on antibiotics, but hardly out of the woods.  We could fill pages and pages with tough cases we've seen.  We give a lot of credit to the doctors, nurses and health care workers who work with these patients throughout the year.

Church was wonderful.  This coming from someone who's not exactly a regular attendee,  We've been treated to music throughout the services, so we thought It was our turn.  We sang "This Little Light of Mine", then followed up with "The Hokey Pokey" with body parts sung in Swahili...we brought down the house when we put our "taco" in and "shook it all about".  you may want to look that one up!

Mark, Linda, Theo, Anne and I took a long hike through the fields which stretch to the north of the hospital grounds. Everyone we met was friendly and, I suspect a little curious about the white folks wandering around this rural area. Our language skills didn't hel p much with direct communication, but invariably provoked lots of laughs.  Sometimes I wonder what we're really saying!

 After our walk we were treated to a comprehensive review of Hiv treatment as practiced in Ilula.  This was prepared and presented by Astrid and Sarah with, I suspect, a little help from Jill.

The day was far from over.  We spent the next few hours meeting with Ilula Hospital leadership.  Randy Hurley provided a brief history of his 13 year interaction with Dr. Saga and his colleagues.  We left with the sense that this has been a meaningful and durable partnership.

Anna and her staff prepared a delicious chicken dinner.  Some of us were just a little sad because  only yesterday we had ridden back from Iringa with there of the chickens, but they sure tasted good!

Whew!!!

Phil McGlave