I try to find some small funny tale each week, but really, life here is pretty much like home – a lot of weeks that are just like all the rest. Just fewer diversions, and fewer real friends than at home. Which is why emails mean so much.
We have one of our favourite visiting general surgeons here for 6 weeks, so the week in OR was nice – pleasant, and some good cases. There have been a few quite dramatic emergency C-sections, and for my students, this is great – they need that sort of experience now, and when one gets to do the case, he or she can share the story with the others. They are all gaining confidence quickly now. It is a delight for me to see, and it is fun now to talk to them more as colleagues than as strictly students.
Rains are getting a little more frequent (most days) and heavier. It is not unusual to get an inch in a day – usually in a couple of hours of heavy downpour. Everything is wonderfully green. There are more visible waterfalls now, although not like in August or September when the rains are really heavy. There are also quite a few mosquitoes – I have never noticed so many before, and just hope my antimalarial works really well. The little garden is not good – I guess Canadian seeds just don’t appreciate Cameroon. Carrots and swiss chard and lettuce just sit there and don’t grow – and the beans have a fungus. The only thing that is really good is parsley that got started in dry season. Perhaps there just is not enough sunshine.
On the local farms though, the corn is now anywhere from 6 to 8 feet tall, with tassles formed. So soon there should be fresh corn. It is not the sweet variety (which requires a minimum of 14 hours daylight – and of course we only get a bit over 12 here near the equator) – but I’m told it is still quite nice, and a pleasant change. Irish potatoes are now in the market too, in abundance – they are grown up at higher altitude in the hills, and taste just like ours at home. And this week I bought some delicious mandarin oranges in market – grown down in Baitchem which is 1500 feet lower than we are here (so about 3000 feet elevation – markedly warmer and more moist). Speaking of moisture though, the humidity in my house is now reading 80% (compared to 50% in dry season) – laundry never really feels like it has dried.
Some photos of the week –
The first news of the week is that Thom textmessaged this morning that they were flying back to Cameroon today – so should be up here tomorrow. I have heard only scattered reports but it seems there was nothing abnormal found in Ellen’s heart, including on an angiogram. They had quite the exciting trip to South Africa. They arrived in Yaounde on the small plane about 5:30pm Sunday, to find the medivac jet had not yet left Johannesburg because it had not been given permission to land in Yaounde. So there were many calls to embassies, and to air traffic control, and an anxious night for Ellen and Thom and our GP from here, as Ellen continued to have chest pain. But the oxygen tank lasted until morning, and by 8am, the medivac jet had been able to come and land in Yaounde. Our doctor said it had more stuff on board than we have in all the rest of Cameroon put together. The little lab on the plane had her enzyme results – normal – before they even left for Johannesburg. All good news. I am waiting to hear the story of the whole week – am sure they will be very happy to get safely back here, even if they are going to fly again the end of the week, this time home to the USA.
On Monday, a cute little baby was in OR to have a difficult IV started. Only when he was taken out to his mother, did I realize it was Pa Gideon’s little son. He had pneumonia, and has been in the ward all week, on IV antibiotics, but went home today. The bill was more than Gideon earns in a month. Oh my goodness, life is just too hard out here. The usual reply to “how are you?” is “I am trying” and that is about it.
Wednesday was the elementary school graduation, so I skipped work and
went. It was a very long, very African program, with many speeches, and then many prizes and awards presented. Graduation was specifically for the nursery2 children, and those in class 6. The little people gave recitations, and were hilarious. Nobody here is shy it seems, not like our kids – they all speak out in loud, strong voices, and with the microphone, some of the tiniest ones just about take out one’s eardrums. My little friend Godlove did his poem with very dramatic gestures, and his usual big voice. I know a lot of the kids, and it was fun to see them get their awards. The class 6 children will write the secondary school entrance exams (government set) next week, but everyone else is done til September. So my house may be quieter, as there will not be the daily parade of school kids past after school.
One of our favourite surgeons, from South Carolina, has come, although only for 6 weeks. Mark and his wife built the other end of this duplex, so it is nice to have a neighbour for a little while. Mark took early retirement to spend a lot of each year in Africa, has been to a great many hospitals, and has learned a huge amount about African surgery. He is an excellent surgeon, and a delight to work with. His subspecialty is thoracic, so on his first day here, he had already booked removal of an esophagus destroyed by lye (in an 18 year old who swallowed it for suicide) – and excision of a sarcoma involving several ribs. We studied a bit about thoracic surgery, just in case, so this will be great experience for the anaesthetists – and will increase their confidence about what they are capable of doing!
Rains come most days now. Canadian garden seeds do not really want to grow in this climate, I’ve decided. I’ve had a few things (some beans and a very few peas), but lettuce which ought to just thrive, barely came up. We do have some tomato plants coming along so I hope they bear. Right now, the veges in market leave a lot to be desired. Everything around though is a beautiful green – it really is a lovely time of year. It is quite cool and pleasant too – I usually have a fleece on in the evening. Tonight I was sitting out on the veranda watching the sunset – and then the full moon appeared through the broken clouds; truly, it is hard to imagine a more beautiful place to live.
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