I made it to Friday! Exhaustion has begun to set in, as usual, but I should be able to get a full night’s sleep tonight.
It was a busy day at Kibagabaga. We continued to see new patients with fistula, as well as post-operative patients, patients who had surgery in prior years, and everything in between. I don’t think my step counter is working (it said I walked 6,000 steps) because I feel like I walked about 26,000 steps. All the floors here are concrete, which is rough on the joints. It was a good day for me as I was able to finish all the tasks on my list, I helped to give out soap, toothbrushes and lotion to our patients, and I watched a beautiful little baby’s birth by c-section.
One of the follow up patients we saw was a young woman named Christine. She had a very long (8 hour) surgery two years ago to treat a birth defect called Mayer Rokitansky syndrome. You can click on the link if you want to learn more. She continues to have trouble with monthly pain, but I am hopeful after seeing her today that she understands more about her condition and can work on her own to get better before we see her next year. It’s really nice to have continuity with patients who live many thousands of miles away. I think it also speaks to the lack of specialized gynecologic care in developing countries like Rwanda.
Tomorrow is Saturday, which means I am taking the day off from working at the hospital. I plan to visit a women-owned coffee collective and learn about how my favorite morning beverage is made.
Leah's Rwanda 