Our time here in Chad is wrapping
up. Only 3 more days until we leave for
America. I’ve said this before, but it’s
really amazing how fast time flies! This
has been an incredible experience for both of us.
It’s Friday, and the local mosque
is blasting their Friday sermon over this part of town. I don’t mind their calls to prayer every day…
it’s just a mournful tune that’s sung early in the morning and I think 2 more
times in the day. The sermon is a little
more annoying, but it’s only once a week.
I think I have a head cold. I woke up with a runny nose and a sore throat,
and I now have a headache as well. I
took a malaria test just to be safe, and it came back negative. One of the other volunteers had the same
thing a few days ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I got it from her. I’ve been boning up on Vitamin C and plenty
of water and rest. I’m sure it will pass
in a couple days. Hers lasted 3
days. Other than that, I’m feeling
fine. No one start worrying about me, k?
Last night we had the biggest
thunder storm we’ve experienced since being here. It woke both of us up. It was a heavy downpour, and of course, being
under a metal roof, it sounded like a stampede of horses up there. The wind was howling and the thunder
clapped. I usually like thunder storms,
cuddling more under my covers and closer to Will and feeling so warm and
safe. But, I had trouble going back to
sleep because I just then remembered that I had left laundry on the clothesline
out there. I lay in bed, imagining all
our clothes scattered all over the compound, wet and muddy. I prayed a prayer that there were no
embarrassing undergarments that were on that line and tried going back to
sleep. In the morning, I checked on the
clothes, and they were all still on the line… and I didn’t have undergarments
on the clothesline. Phew! How they
stayed on there during those winds is beyond me.
It’s great befriending the
patients. There’s one man that came in
with a sore tooth that I tried pulling, but poor guy just couldn’t get numb
enough to let me extract it. After
talking with Dr. Scott, we decided to pull it while the guy is under ketamine. It’s planned for this Sunday. The gentleman is staying the hospital wards
for a while because he just had an operation, so every time I come into the
wards, he smiles at me and we exchange a few French greetings that I know. He is such a happy man! There was another guy who is in traction for 6
weeks and so he’s basically bed ridden.
We do physical therapy with him often and he’s a willing and
enthusiastic participant. His young
daughter the other day was sleeping next to him and I made some compliments
about her in English and he just beamed, even though he had no clue what I just
said. We laughed about our inability to
understand each other. Even though it’s
hard not being able to communicate, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t get in the way
of establishing relationships. And I’ve
done pretty well communicating to my dental patients. I know just a few words and lots of universal
hand signals that I get along pretty well, actually! And I know how to write antibiotic prescriptions
(scary!) and do it all the time. I
couldn’t do that in America. I’m
enjoying being little miss dentist for the time here.
Working as a physical therapy aide (doing ice massage)
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