The story of a cat named Duck

This story is a few weeks old, but i feel needs to be told.

It all started one morning when i was working in the therapy dept and Megan walked in and said "Look what i found". In her hand was a tiny ball of black fur which turned out to be an aprox 3 week old kitten. Apparently Megan and Jess were walking towards general ward and heard a noise. It was coming from a drain. Somehow they managed to rescue the tiny thing from the drain. It looked incedibly pathetic with its eyes all mucused closed. I went to the pharmacy to ask for a box to put it in and some gauze to wipe its eyes. The gauze request was turned down as there is not really enough, so his eyes got wiped with a scrap of fabric from our cupboard. by this time, almost the entire therapy team were gathered in the dept attending to our newest "patient" and trying not to get attached to it.

After the eyes were sorted, we managed to steal a syringe and find some milk. Soon, baby kitten was drinking and exploring the dept now that he could see. Next task was to find him a home. We set to work asking everyone we could find if they wanted a cat - focussing on his usefulness for keeping down rats and other pests. Several people came to look at him and decided they couldn't take him for whatever reason. Then a new home was found - and a new problem. The nurse who agreed to take him could only take him in a week's time, so he needed fostering until then. Best option seemed like Sam and Kayleigh. So we told Sam to come and see him, and fortunately she offered to look after him before we could even ask.

Unfortunately things did not go smoothly, as the little bundle of fluff did not eat at his foster home. After much coaxing and trying different foods, some sort of solution was found. Little furball enjoyed following Sam and Kayleigh around during the day, but at night they did not love him so much. Because, you see, little furball did not make normal kitten sounds, but rather something that could be best decribed as a quack. And, he quacked continously day and night, and poor Sam and Kayleigh didn't get much sleep.

They were very relieved to hand little Duck over to his new home. And that is the last we have heard about him. Kayleigh and Sam reckon his irritating noises might have brought an untimely end to his little life, but i prefer to think of him as alive and healthy :)

Ceileigh dancing with Kayleigh: a new Zithulele past-time

Picture this: The "frisbee court" after dark with the floods lights on and an extension lead from the nurses' res kitchen to Kaleigh's i-pod. Add a bunch of overenthusiatic unselfconsious girls, and tell them to hop and skip and spin. It's a special experience (in more ways than one).

Extreme HIV awareness

Question: How do you get 160 (mostly) men to test for HIV?


Answer: Hold a soccer tournament and bribe them with World Cup tickets.















Tom and Jabulani organised a soccer tournament for 8 local teams. About 1000 people came to spectate. At a certain point in the days procedings, the ARV cousellors did some HIV education. Throughout the day, several stations were available for testing. And Athini spend most of the day shouting "testa! testa!" through the microphone (which roughly translates as test). Every person who tested got to put their name into a lucky draw to win one of 3 prizes of 2 tickets to a World Cup game in P.E. plus transport and spending money - an opportunity of a lifetime!

















The Zithulele Hospital team (blue and white) did very well, winning the semi-final and coming 2nd overall in the tournament.

Half a weekend away with the wife and kids

Liz offered to take Jack (dog) to Mdumbi (awesome backpackers) to be with Kate. Kayleigh was up for an adventure, and Sam and i decided to tag along. We had a great half a weekend with loads of time on the beach and chilling with the entertaining (and frequently inappropriate) peeps from Madwaleni who were insanely jealous of our new Zithulele T-shirts.

On Sunday morning Kayleigh was lying on the beach and i couldn't resist trying a HANDLE exercise with her - "Angels in the snow". She now has much stronger interhemispheric integration. LOL.

Who can resist photo fun on the beach?! especially Karl's favourite: the jumping photo, which we really suck at.

Kate's birthday celebrations at Papazella's

Fun times!

The gang invade Papazella's again for the best pizza in the Transkei - or is it the world?!

Since Liz's car's CD player has broken, Kayleigh has rescued us from death by silence on numerous occasions with the help of her trusty i-pod. Unfortunately trusty i-pod was out of battery, so the pharmacy laptop had to fill-in.

An awesome surprise was the cake Nomonde made for Kate. As Kayleigh would say good times were had by all :)

Dodegy vehicle is in fact still dodgey

So, i spoke too soon. The newly returned mobile clinic's wheel fell off the other day. Thankfully not while any of us were driving it. This photo is actually from last year sometime - the problem of the mobile falling apart is not a new one.

We're on the road again!

Our prayers have been answered! One day, out of no-where a valid license appeared for the mobile clinic. So we have resumed our clinic, home visit and general community services. I never realised how much i missed driving the dodgey vehicle!

Happy Birthday Megzy-poo

A belated post for a very special friend. I love you and miss you so much Megz! So grateful to have you in my life :)

The Great Xhosa Challenge

This long-shelved idea finally translated into action after our Freedom Day road trip. The idea is that Liz and I learn one new word a day until she leaves…Easier said than done – not because we are lazy, but because its really hard to find words (in the dictionary) that I don’t already know that are actually worth knowing!

Happy Birthday boet!

My little brother turns 24 today! Congratulations Boet. You turned out pretty well in the end and i'm glad you're my brother. I'm proud of you x

The creativity continues

Happy days in the therapy department as Megan and JT decorate their APT chair with a Transkei theme - remember we haven't been going to clinics for a few months, so we do have a little extra time.

Shannon and I have been doing some dynamic splinting (first time since varsity). Shannon's splint above, mine below - but different patients with different conditions - not a competition!

Shannon and i used a pattern Liz had to make a KMC (Kangaroo mother care) wrap thing to force the moms to keep the prem babies on their chests. (Nomsa is a little large for this demonstration).

My first ceasar

Something i've been vowing i'd do ever since i arrived at Zithulele is to watch at least one natural birth and one ceasar. Working in a small hospital where you know all the doctors if the perfect opportunity. I have delayed as long as possible, because i'm scared i will be put off having children as a result. I have had many chats with the doctors about childbirth and they have convinced me that if i watch both natural and ceasar i will see that natural is the lesser of two evils. So i decided i would force myself to watch both before i leave.

Not having got as far as actually setting a date for the bloody entertainment, and forgetting i'd ever made the decision, i was thrown in the deep end the other day. The power was out, so we were running parts of the hospital on generator. The pharmacy, not being on the generator circuit and having no windows, turns into The Bat Cave when the power's out, so Kayleigh had come to work in the therapy department. Being next door to theatre sometimes has its advantages as we get to be on the generator circuit :) (There are also plenty of disadvantages such as hearing screaming patients and the irritating beeping of the blood fridge when its power goes off).

So Kayleigh and i were sitting at a desk working on our computers when, from over the wooden "wall" that separates us from theatre, we hear Liz's voice. So we climb onto the old wooden box (labled "disaster box") to see what Liz is up to. She is somewhat surprised to see us, but tells us she's about to do a ceasar. When i curiously ask - How long will it take? She invites me join her. Somehow Kayleigh manages to talk me into it - i guess being a non-doctor who has watched several, makes me trust her, and because Liz is doing it, i won't feel too embarrassed. Since the hospital and therapy department were quiet, i bravely decided to seize the day.

This might be a good time to mention that i tend to faint at the sight of blood. Also, that the only other time i've ever seen a theatre procedure was a desloughing (removing dead skin from a burn) which is pretty tame compared to cutting someone open.

20 minutes later, i got a message from Liz to say that the spinal is going in and i should come get dressed. So, already strarting to shake, i pulled on some scrubs and cap. I skipped the mask as there seemed to be a shortage and i wasn't planning on standing that close to the patient. I skipped the gloves too, not planning to touch anything.

When i walked into the theatre, the poor naked pregnant lady was still waiting for the spinal to kick in and to be positioned on the bed. Joff and Liz were doing the ceasar together, with a bunch of amusing lovely theatre nurses i hadn't met. I watched Liz and Joff carefully cover the woman with sheets and prep the incision area. And then, the moment i'd been dreading, the initial cut. It wasn't bad at all. When i saw Liz cutting through the layers of fat and fascia, it was comfortingly familiar, reminding me of my disection days. Except, of course, that cadavas don't have blood - big difference actually.

I had to take a slight break after 5 mins as the bright lights were entering my vision (- first sign of fainting). After a two min rest i was back on my feet and peering into a woman's abdomen. Then the action began, i'm not quite sure what was happening, but Liz told me to get Karl. So i ran out and phoned Karl, who ran in 2 seconds later. Next thing i knew, Liz was holding a baby and passing it to Karl who was saying something about an infection. So i missed the big moment of getting the baby out. Then Liz was removing the placenta that was so huge that for a sec i thought she was giving the woman a hysterectomoy. For the rest of the procedure i alternated between watching the mom, watching the baby and sitting down to avoid the faint reflex. It was very peculiar seeing a uterus sitting on top of a woman's abdomen being stitched up. Actually, very peculiar seeing a uterus, full stop.

I enjoyed watching the newborn baby who was a large girl. I couldn't believe how no-one was particularly interested in showing the mom her baby. But eventually they did, briefly, before they took the baby away. Liz did a great job of stitching up the (larger than i expected) incision. Her comment: "she'll never know she had a ceasar except for presence of a 4kg baby". The poor woman's comment on the whole procedure was: "I though i was going to die!". Hopefully, she is referring to the labour pains and not that the spinal didn't work - i guess she would have been screaming blue murder if that was the case.

The 3 things that stood out in my memory were:

• How unremarkable the whole procedure was. Probably because i missed most of it between leaving the room to call Karl and having to sit down frequently to avoid passing out.
• How rough and unprecise surgery looks: taking parts out, stuffing them back in again.
• Watching the baby's nostrils flaring as she breathes and wondering at how amazing it is that i am seeing her experience this new process, something she will continue to do for the rest of her life.

So, as an end result, i have decided i need to see another one - that was just a practice run, i should cope better next time. And, that it is not childbirth that is horrific and barbaric, but surgery in general. So i am going to try extra hard not to land up on the table. Thanks Kayleigh for talking me into it!

Sundowners at Lubanzi beach

Sam

Megan and Jess

Freedom Day's epic road trip

Liz, Kayleigh and i went on a mission to Madwaleni hospital to perform a secret drug exchange - aka fetching ARVs. In the car, Liz ate popcorn, Kayleigh took photos and I tried not to throw up all over Liz's car.

We are a little jealous of Madwaleni's tar.

Actually, we are also jealous of their large, well-stocked pharmacy and big flat screen TV in OPD. But the jealously ends there: they can keep their free-flowing sewage.

After a drug exchange, a mini tour of the hospital, and tea with 2 entertaining doctors, we were back on the road.

Gotta love TK roadsigns!

The perfect evening: frisbee and a braai

A beautiful evening of frisbee while the sun was setting. Kate, Jess and I enjoyed playing with Emma and Johan inbetween frisbee spectating. Since it wasn't a school night (Freedom Day the next day), we took the chance for a long overdue braai after the game was over.

Johan, getting excited about crawling down the stairs.

Liz, the braai-master! We almost overlooked the fact that since the braai was at our house, we had to make the fire, but Liz did a fantastic job.