Almost final thoughts and when not to take Ambien

After a couple days of little sleep in Nairobi and the overnight flight to London, I arrive Rome mid-afternoon fairly exhausted.  Rome, of course, is a very vibrant and exciting city and I feel compelled to spend at least sometime during the first day having a look around.  About 7:00pm I given in and head back to my room (which has a very nice view of the Pantheon) and collapse.  By 8:00pm I'm fast asleep.  I wake to some street noise and look at the watch and it appears to be 2:00am.  Sounds about right and I decide to take 1/2 an Ambien so I can sleep for another 6 hours and be ready for a full day.  A little while longer I notice there's light coming through the window.  It appears I was looking at the wrong time zone on my watch and it was really 6:00am.  Crap.  It appears that 10 cups of coffee and 2 pseudophed tabs will offset the effects of 5mg of Ambien - now, if that chest pain would just go away.  ;-)

Final Thoughts

My last post before leaving tonight for London and on to Rome.  It's been a very rewarding experience filled with daily frustrations and challenges but at the same time, a sense of satisfaction.  Even while being in difficult situations and uncomfortable environments I have tried to remember how fortunate I really am in comparison.

My plan for Rome is to spend the first 8 hours soaking in a hot bathtub to loosen some of the red African dirt from 6 weeks of accumulation. 

Thanks for reading.  I hope it has given some laughs and insights to a brief stay in Kenya.

Cheers

Misc photos

Ah, fresh choma.  1/2 kg please

Eles just leaving the road as I'm coming down the

Kenyan satellite technology or what to do with those old metal plates.

For those preparing for Harvard.

Kiara family - Dr. Kiara, my physician sponsor; Dad and Mom

What do your kids do during recess?  These kids go for KMs in search of water.

Final lunch with Ruth and Jane

So, I leave my home for the weekend with hopes of escaping the 3:30am chicken alarm only to find it has been replaced by a mooing morning cow at the lodge.

Eles and Road trips

I was lucky enough to have some transportation (Sunny) while I was at Ukuu this time and was able to explore some of the area around Mt. Kenya.

The infamous Sunny at Castle Mountain Lodge

To the right is my banda (hut) that I stayed in, to the left is the swimming pool that the eles have taken over as a watering hole in the evening.

Herd of about 25 with babies

They would come in late afternoon to use the salt lick and roll in the dust for 1-2 hours.

After the salt lick, they would move up the hill to drink from the pool.

Cold at night so they would start a fire for warmth.  Could hear the animals just outside the room during the night.  

Nice hot meal at night while watching the elephants play just below the lodge.

Cooking lessons

The food here is very fresh and quite good but some things are a bit lacking.  Last time I was here they pretty much boiled the meat until it was jerky-like.  Given the meat selections I can see why.  I offered to cook a bbq but knew the meat would be tough as hell.  In the morning before work, I took a number of pieces and added papayas and mangoes with a bit of salt and let it sit all day to soften the meat.  It turn out pretty good.  The problem is that Kenyans don't plan anything except funerals.  You eat at night when they get a chance to prepare what ever is available.

Dada has cancer and they have had consultation with a nutritional person for foods.  She has suggested adding fish for protein.  Good idea expect nobody has a clue on how to cook fish.  Two hours is a bit much for a filet.  They are fortunate to have a freezer here and the fish is frozen before cooking.  The first time I had fish, the girl took it from the freezer and cooked it for about 3 minutes on each side.  Yummy frozen and raw fish - I have enough worms, thank you very much.

Tonight I am showing Mama how to cook fish.  Thaw for one hour, make a batter with egg and spices, coat with flour and cook three minutes each side.  Not sure how the open fire cooking will go but I'm certain it'll be better than the sushi before.

Ok - language barrier time.  I fix this very nice piece of fish and tastes pretty darn good with the spices I've mixed in (there is a horseradish type root here) and Mama tells me that fish makes her vomit.

From cluckin to cookin in 30 minutes

Well, once again the traditionally gifting of the chicken was done with the expectation that I take it home to America and slaughter it for my family.  The chicken last year has been a real thorn in my side (if you've read previous posts) and wakes me frequently at 3:30 am.  I have no intention of having 2 chickens when I come back next time.  I tell Ruth we are eating the chicken for lunch.  For those of you a bit squeamish, consider not looking at the photos.

Ruth comes up the walk with something moving in the basket.

A chicken to take home to add to your collection.  Yeah, I don't think so!  Going through customs at London, Rome, Madrid, and Miami on the way home.  What's the chance of sneaking this through?

Beat this Foster Farms.  30 minutes to the frying pan.

Three very satisfied health care workers during lunch.   I'm the white/sunburned guy in the middle.

Side note:  The first time I came to Ukuu, Mama, who only has seen Muzungos on TV, was concerned last time that my skin color was changing.  I was very white when first arriving but had tanned during the stay.  She was concerned I was browning.  :-)

Life at home

Mama fixing dinner

Special dinner - BBQ

Reminds me of days at camp Cabrini.  I am grateful to have a room and it is better than most people have here.

From last year when I cooked BBQ for the family.

The shower can be an electrifying experience.  My bathroom at home is being remodeled while I am away and I can't wait to use it - hope it doesn't turn out like this!

The walk to work.

The once considered safe drinking water before the helmenthic experience

Clinic photos part 2

When the electricity is on we use the microscope or by sunlight if no power.  If no power or sunlight, come back tomorrow.

 I would have bet this kid was sick.  Mom came in to be treated and I saw this 2 month old and insisted she be evaluated.  No fever and no malaria but a little dehydration.

 Cuties

 It's not cheaper by the group but they come in with the whole family sick.

Now this kid didn't look sick when she came in but had a temp of 104.0 (I took it twice) and had malaria.  We give starting doses before they leave to help with compliance.

Often grandmothers are left with the responsibility to take care of the children.

Worse cases of scabies I've ever seen.  The whole body was involved and multiple blisters covering the hands and feet.

Mom and baby

Kids along the way on the walk home.  It's about 187 degrees out and they still wear those hats!

It's bring the kids to the clinic day.

Yeah, stickers don't work for everyone.  It is a good way to see the back of their throat.

So.......... you've had this pain for 60 years????  Ah, the magic ibuprofen - one a day for 3 days.

Clinic photos

Waiting room for test results

You don't need a MRI or thousands of dollars of tests to tell that this kid is sick.

Many kids but when they are less than 3 months I worry.

It's common to see 6-10 kids waiting to be seen.

I'm convinced that an axillary temp is higher than a rectal or oral.  They come wrapped in blankets and 3 layers of clothes.

Sometimes it gets noisy with all the kids.  When it does, I tell Ruth to have all the moms get out their boobs and quiet them down.

Hard at work.  Notice the top shelf, it has 5 L bottles of tylenol and decongestant that we fill with old bottles brought back from previous pts.  That old amox bottle is now a paracetamol bottle.  Nothing like sharing the germs around.  There was a recent outbreak of mumps (6 pts), chicken pox (4 pts), and one case of measles that I saw.  I don't remember these since I was a kid.

Beautiful setting for the clinic

My ass kicked by an 80 year old woman

So, I come home after a long day of sitting on my butt followed by some goat BBQ and jump in the shower.  I get out and hear the sound of chopping wood.  Mama is the only one here besides me so I know it is her getting wood for the evening meal.  I'm thinking "what the hell is an 80 year old woman chopping wood at 7:30 pm?" and go to help.  She's out there with a solid metal axe weighing about 30 pounds wacking away faster than I've seen any fireman on a roof do.  I decide to do the manly thing and offer to help.  After one piece of wood, sweating like a hog on the way to market and hoping I can find an albuterol inhaler, I give the axe back to Mama and she finishes up.  I can hear her chuckling in the background but she does give me a big asante sana (thanks very much) as I carry my few sticks back.

I should bring Mama back and enter her in those cage fighting events. 

Mama and me or didn't I already finish high school?

Mama had 6 or 8 kids (it's hard to keep track of who belongs to what family) and was the disciplinarian for the family.  Apparently she thinks I'm one of her kids and I get the third degree anytime I'm away from the house and not at the clinic.  It's even worse now that the girl has gone away and the father has gone to Nairobi for his treatment and I'm the only focus.  I'm using the old trick of "I don't understand" because of the language barrier when I go out but she's catching on.  If there wasn't bars on the windows I'd sneak out at night.  Mothers ..............

Sunny goes for a road trip ....... new girl quits ...... buy me a soda ........ what's the LD50 of tylenol for a chicken?

In exchange for the use of Sunny during my time here I purchase two new front tires and with great confidence set off on an adventure.  Now, Sunny is naive and never much been out of the hills and farm.  When I mention to the people here we are going past Embu town there is a look of disbelief as if I was sailing to the edge of the known world.  They were partly right.  The roads around Mt. Kenya are dangerously curvy on the downhills with long, steep inclines each followed by yet another set.  Sunny uses her transmission for 90% braking and forward motion to make the hills.  Each time half way up another hill I'd promise Sunny a rest should we just make this one as her transmission is now hotter than the mid-day African sun.  Of course it was all a lie and I'd coax yet another hill out of her before arriving at the lodge.

I get back home to find the new girl has quit.  I don't quite follow the reasons for this but do notice I am short two rolls of toilet paper, 1 new bar of soap, and 2" from the bottle of juice concentrate I flavor the rain/parasite water with.  Yep, she's gone as I hear the sound of chopping wood and find Mama, who is in her 80's, out getting wood for the evening cooking and heating.  Mama works 16 hours a day except Sunday when it is only 12 hours.  Kenyans don't use their knees when lifting but rather bend at the waist when lifting heavy objects and as a result, their gluts are harder than tempered steel.  You need a running start to give injections to these people.

There is a phrase in Kenya - "buy me a soda".  This fits a rather large and growing class of people who are expecting something for nothing.  The guy who installed my new tires (which were very expensive) wanted a soda, the 12 guys looking under the hood of my car all wanted a soda, there is a guy who stands next to a hole in the road and when a car passes he tosses in a handful of dirt (with wind erosion, the hole should be filled in 2025) and asks for a soda, yesterday I was relaxing and eating when a guy comes up and says he has seen me in Meru town and will I buy him a soda.  Enough of the &$(#(%$$ soda requests.  No problem with giving the guy who washes the car, serves food, keeps an eye on the car while I'm in the store, changes a flat tire, tips but these freeloaders wanting something for nothing are annoying.  It's a younger person attitude and I don't see it in the older generations.  Maybe foreign aid has a role in creating this mentality where people get something for nothing - I'm an advocate of more foreign aid but maybe more accountability is needed.

Two choices for the chicken:  1)  Give it Ambien.  2) Give it Tylenol.  The problem is I don't know the therapeutic dose of Ambien or the LD50 dose of tylenol for a 10kg chicken.

Haircut and an audience for 60 cents

The hair getting a bit wild I decide to walk to the market and see what options are available.  The "market" is the commercial center of Ukuu which consists of about 25 wooden shacks, a butchery, and a bar where you can seek blindness at 10 cents a cup.  I find the barber shack and make it clear I don't want the bald shave they do for everyone else.  There's not much to do in Ukuu so a few minutes after I sit down there are about 50 kids peering in the door.  Nicely done for 60 cents including tip.

Helmenthic horrors

I'm not usually grossed out but this one did it for me.  A couple items before the gory details.  I like to use a saline rinse to keep the old nasal passages clean and open.  Next, the drinking water source for where I'm living is rain water collected from the roof and stored in a 500 gal size tank.  I've been assured this is clean water is not to worry - in fact, I drank from it for two months last year without any problem.  I like to use bottled water for the nasal rinses just to be sure.  Last night I am showering when I look at the bottle I use for this purpose and I see something crawling.  A closer look and I see multiple parasitic swimmers inside the bottle.  It appears I may have switched drinking bottles with rinsing bottles and have been filling my sinuses with some flagellating organism.  Hmmm, will these creatures invade my brain and cause some delusional activity and will anyone notice the difference?  Or, will they just set up business in my GI system reeking havoc there?  Fortunately, I have access to deworming and amoeba medications at the clinic.  Guess who the first patient is going to be?