Jenny Walsh's magic flashlight

I took my last night of call on tuesday and worked with a new intern named Edna.  I think it is sort of weird how they all have English/American names yet live such different lives.  Just before i left for Kenya, my dear friend Jenny stopped by to drop off a few things and to see me off.  She has been to Kijabe,  a similiar hospital a bit nearer to Nairobi so she had some helpful advice.  She brought me some medical books which i have used quite a bit, but the most amazing gift (i can't remember is she told me i have to give this back so it might have been an amazing loaner) was a unique small flashlight.  Initially i thought it was totally unneccesary and that i would just put it in my backpack. Of course i acted like it was really cool and that i would use it alot.  Little did i know it would be one of the most important things i carried with me to Kenya.  First, Katie and i are living in some housing called the Guesthouse. It has small studio apartments and a few single rooms for medical students rotating here.  It is at the far corner of the hospital complex. When we came to Tenwek as a family in 2006, we were given a nice home that was right in the middle of everything on a well lit path as there was a family who works here permanantly on furlough.  I also didn't take nearly the night call in 2006 as i did this trip.  So my first use was as a normal flashlight to find my way to the hospital at 3 am as the path to the Guesthouse to the main walkway is not well lit.  Secondly,  in contrast to the US where every exam room has a oto-ophthalmoscope on the wall that functions as a light, there is nothing like that here. Also, there are no drug reps to give you free penlights here and none of the Kenyan doctors seem to have invested in a light to look at the mouth or pupils or to better illuminate any body part for that matter. So, the magical flashlight stayed in my white coat pocket during the day.  Thirdly, it is a really cool device that the lighted end screws off and then you can turn it upside down and reattach it to the base and use it then like a candle as it sends off more of a diffuse light signal. This was so helpful in the late evenings if Katie wanted to go to bed earlier, or i was needing to look something up in a book in the middle of the night so i didn't need to turn on any of the lights in the room as we have a single studio.  Lastly and most surprising on several occasions on call while in the hospital it served as the ONLY light available during what seemed to be frequent power outages. Often the power would go out for just a few seconds but occasionally it was minutes and on one memorable occasion it was probably 10 minutes. On that fateful night, i was in ICU and one of the interns had just began to put in a central line (a larger IV line that goes into the neck or under the clavicle.) For those of you who know medicine, it is something that once you start you do not want to get interrupted as you have to use guidewires etc.  So just as the blood flash comes through the needle (first step after "prep and drape in the usual fashion") the lights go out.  So Jenny Walsh's flashlight to the rescue!  I quickly pulled it out of my pocket and the intern continued the procedure with me holding the light just where it needed to go.  The Kenyans thought i had magical powers!  They didn't have much time to gawk as with a 10 min power outage several of them had to manually ventilate the 3 patients that were on the ventilators we have as they don't work without electricity.  It all was surreal.  And they don't get upset or frustrated as that is just how life is for them here.
So Jenny, i am so glad you had such wisdom in your gift- little did i know how much use it would get.
Katie is off on a great adventure today with home hospice team (can you believe they have that here?) They can only visit 5 to 6 homes a day as they are so far apart- also i understand that the hospice job involves some hiking as the vehicles can only make it so far. I know she will have some amazing stories to tell when she returns.
Tomorrow is our last day of work so more news soon-  it is hard to imagine we have been here 2 weeks- we have friday, sat. safari and then sunday one day to explore nairobi ( Liz- if Emily has any suggestions let us know as she spent all summer working in and exploring nairobi)  Monday we return but since it takes 24 hour travel we don't get home until tuesday. Thanks to all who have been taking care of Frank and Andrew- i understand they are not going hungry and Andrew has not been lonely living some at the Magradey and Dunnigans. Thanks so much, i know i could never have left my boys without all of your help.
Lots of love
Tracy