March 30, 2009
Last Mbingo blog entry! Have to say we’re pretty excited to head to S.A. for some R&R NOT in a cricket and ant infested 10 foot by 10 foot concrete room. We went to ‘devotion’ at Chapel (we have to, on the last day) to say farewell, but they held us over until tomorrow. Another visiting surgeon who’d been here for 6 months was leaving too and he and his wife had a long speech and song prepared to serenade the crowd, so we were out of time. We did clinic today and left Henry, the resident from Nigeria who’s been on ortho the whole time, do the cases. There was one excisional biopsy, and then a poor husband and wife couple (she’s pregnant to boot) who wiped out on a motorcycle Saturday and both had bad open tibia fractures. So we did clinic with Dr. Nana and mostly said our good-byes to the clinic staff, anesthesia team, OR nurses, etc. We handed out a few gifts and brought a bunch of clothes and stuff we’re leaving behind, for them to give out to needy patients (which ones aren’t?). Since the last clinic day had to be as crazy as the rest, we saw a 9-yr old boy with bone sticking out of his arm that had been there over a year (chronic infection), and an older guy with a 30-year old (seriously!) gunshot wound to the ankle, with it wrapped in sticks and cardboard. He was immediately booked for an amputation tomorrow, based on the stench of his leg which made almost all of us pass out. One guy had a dislocated jaw for 20 days, and Dr. Nana tried to put it back in (you have to stick your thumbs in the mouth and lower the jaw, push it back and it pops back up and in), but he had to stop because his teeth were so bad the molars were crumbling and cutting his thumbs. Yay for preventive care! After pictures with the clinic crew, we finished packing and had chicken and bean burritos for dinner. Donuts at the Sparks’ again tonight and our last night deciding between cricket-song insomnia and ear-plug headache. A bittersweet departure as everybody’s been super nice, but we are so ready to go!