It’s hard to believe we have come to the end of 4 weeks at Maua. Time really does go so fast. You spend so long anticipating something , and then, in a flash it’s over. My last two clinic days were interesting. I still saw lots of elderly with their diagnosis of Rheumatism getting their weekly benzylpenicillin IM!! I also saw hyperthyroidism, diagnosed diabetes, possible lupus, lady with antiphospholipid syndrome (multiple miscarriages and DVT). Things that at home would be managed by specialists – here the family doc manages. With no radiologist I was grateful to be able to send a chest xray image and history to my niece who is a respirologist in Wales for some advice.
Thursday evening we went to a local hotel for a meal with Eric, the electrician Ric had been working with He was trying to persuade me to leave Ric behind in Kenya. He said every time he turned around, Ric had made a new friend.
Friday morning the UTMB students left – the Phd students in lab. We had enjoyed their company. Then it was my last clinic. This was a busy clinic full of interesting cases including a couple of kids. In the middle of clinic Stella called to ask if the doctors could have a potluck later at our house to say good bye.
Ric was really well loved at the hospital as he helped out the team get the pipework for the new electrical system sorted. He enjoyed going around the hospital helping fix broken things – making new friends as he went.
The final evening a few of the local doctors came around for a pot luck. There were 12 of us who enjoyed a lovely meal of samosas and chapatis. We enjoyed playing Pictionary and charades. Was a really nice way to end our time here.
