Tag: KCUMB

Kenya Diaries Part 1

July 1st. The day before we left:

We met on the KC campus at around 10:30am. This was so we could all meet each other again, but mostly to go over some last minute details about the trip & to pack the supplies suitcases. To be honest, not a lot of information has really been given to us up until this point. We know tidbits, things that were mentioned here & there by Dr. Desai (who is in charge of us students), but mostly details about the trip have been pretty bare minimum. I suspect either it is for security purposes or he doesn’t know yet himself.

We were there for almost 3-3.5 hours. We were given a rather long lunch (yay!), but for the most part we were pretty busy helping move things out of the storage closets that are kept for DO CARE trips/military students, condensing/packaging them for traveling, and packing them.

We ended up with 8 suitcases full of medical supplies and some donated clothes/toys/sunglasses. Honestly, majority of it was suitcase packing. We were each told to take one suitcase that we would be responsible for checking in and lugging around until we got to Kenya. I took a small suitcase, simply because I have absolutely zero, and I mean ZERO upper body strength. So my total baggage count is now 1 carry on (my backpack), and 2 checked bags.

We were also given a few small items that were on our packing list: a few Clorox wipes and some hand sanitizer. (We packed a shit ton of hand sanitizer). I had already packed a small container of it; but honestly, I gladly took more. We were also given paper charts to put in our carry on as this is what we will be using to chart with in Kenya!

I spent the rest of the day picking up some last minute things (again lol), making sure everything was packed, and I had copies/backups of everything I needed. I also purged my phone, tried to jimmy-rig adding a clip-on to my travel pillow so I didn’t have to shove it in my carry on, and hung out with my cat.

July 2nd. Leaving the U.S.

Dr. Desai asked that we meet at the airport at 9:45 am. He originally wanted us to all meet at 10am, but changed his mind before we left campus yesterday. And kinda just like you would normally check in at an airport, we all checked in together, got our tickets, and headed to the terminal.

First Stop: Minneapolis. This flight wasn’t too long honestly. I do get slightly anxious with flying, but I feel most of that is me feeding off everyone else’s energy. I mean, I’ve been flying almost every year since I was a wee tot; I know the ropes. But for some reason, every time I get on a plane without fail, my anxiety shoots through the roof. Once we arrived to Minneapolis, we hung out in the airport for about 4 hours until our next flight was ready to leave.

Second Stop: Amsterdam! This was my first every overseas plane trip. I’ve been to the Caribbean and Mexico, but honestly those flights weren’t that bad and were on the same hemisphere as where I live. This was a very long flight. We arrived around 8:00 in the morning the next day and oh lord Jesus I didn’t sleep a god damn wink. Ugh. But the plane leaving the US and heading to Amsterdam was nice and roomy, and this delta flight had free in-flight entertainment!

I may or may not have gotten teary-eyed in the middle of the night and started crying during my tear-jerking movie. I didn’t hear the end of it for most of the trip…

July 3rd.

We had a few more hours to kill in the Amsterdam airport (although honestly, I did nothing). We looked for some food and coffee. I had a killer headache from not sleeping, traveling, and dehydration. Everyone was freaking out looking for plugs for their phones. Our gate happened to be right next to an area of the airport that was under construction, so it wasn’t the most pleasant thing to be around either…

A few people had enough energy to go explore the airport. I hear they have a museum in there!

Then we finally left to head to Nairobi. This plane unfortunately was not as roomy. There was no inflight entertainment other than trying to see where our plane was located at on the map (which sometimes worked, sometimes didn’t). By the time we arrived to Nairobi, we got in really late.

Our options were as follows: try to stay up in a cafe at the airport after none of us really got any sleep, or attempt to go find a cheap hotel to sleep for a few hours…

We attempted the shady hotel thing. Arrived at some odd hour of the night and only got a possible 3 hours of sleep. We were advised not to shower at that hotel as our professor wasn’t sure of the water quality. Of course because I was in a strange new place with new sounds and I hadn’t adjusted to the time change yet, ya girl got zero fucking sleep.

You win some, you lose some I guess.

july 4th.

Woo! Happy Independence Day!

We got up bright and early to go back to the Kenya airport. We had to get on a very small plane that flew us to Kisumu. It was thankfully a very short flight, and we took off right before the sun rose. Watching the sun glitter over the clouds was beautiful on that flight!

Fresh off of our last plane ride.

Once we arrived in Kisumu we actually got off the plane and onto the jetway? But lord the views were breath-taking. The sun was still rising. The mountains off in the distance were beautiful. The mist was cooling. The air was fresh. You bet we took selfie after selfie and soaked in as much as possible!

When we finally arrived at the hotel that we will be staying at for most of our trip, we were all pretty exhausted. Due to the timing, we weren’t allowed to nap. Which royally sucked. So much sucked. All I wanted was some nice nap nap time.

We ran instead.

Yea, I felt that way too.

  • Hippo Point
  • 1st run! High on adrenaline and no sleep…

Then we finally got some noms courtesy of the hotel we were staying at, got to shower/unpack a bit or rearrange our stuff, and then went to go have a condensed session of learning physical exam skills, reviewing note taking, and osteopathic manipulative skills review.

Why you might ask?

Well, turns out we were going to clinic the very next day!

Eek! So we had to brush up on our skills. And let me tell you, I still suck at trying to find the optic nerve. IDK if I will ever learn that skill.

I hope ya’ll enjoyed this diary-style of post! I will try to remember everything that I felt and saw while on the trip in this format.

Cheers!

Like Father… Like Daughter (Almost)

Medicine has been a part of my life since the day I was born. I was born in the hospital my dad was working through the beginnings of residency in. His training was the reason we would move, the reason he was late to recitals (and yet somehow still there at just the right moment when it was my turn on stage) and the center of many memories. Growing up I would follow him around the hospital if he got paged on the way to dinner. I would listen to people’s hearts in their stomach (because I could reach there and thought it was there). I would break nurse diets with my killer girl scout cookie sales. I would sit beside him as he went through stacks of patient charts and dictate into a dictaphone, then later as he started pulling them up on the iPad. 

I remember when my grandpa needed heart surgery when I was young. He told his surgeon to send the films to his son for a consult. My brother and I got to go to the hospital to see grandpa’s heart on the hospital monitors, since the hospital was the only place that could run the program on the disc. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then my other grandpa needed heart surgery and told the surgeon to send the films to his son-in-law. Those films came via email and we could view from the iPad. The progression of technology in medicine alone has been astounding to watch. 

So needless to say, it has been around me since day 1. I mean, my mom has a picture of my brother and I in the doctor kits they sell for kids, but my dad brought us masks, hair nets and shoe covers from the OR. So we looked ridiculous if you can imagine. But I was not pushed to medicine. I always thought I would be just like dad, going into medicine. But any time I would have wanted to change career plans, I was told I would be supported. 

But I will say, I had to convince interviewers that this was my dream, not his. Sure, he keeps talking about how excited he is to hood me at graduation (I mean really excited) but this is my dream. I don’t want to be in his field anyway (at all). There have been some who think it is expected of me to be a doctor, but if that were the argument, my brother would also be in medical school. Spoiler alert, he is not. 

Along the interview trail, there were some concerned as I applied DO. Why is that significant? Well, my father is an MD. What would they think? (And yes, this was a real question at an interview I got) To me, that was an odd question. My father was supporting me as I applied, and was excited when I got into a DO school. To him, he thinks it fits my personality and is confident the school will help me toward my goals. Why was this a question though? Apparently, there are some out there that think if you are an MD and your child goes DO, it is something to be ashamed of. Maybe in some families, but not mine. And now that I am in a DO school, I came home for Christmas break and he wanted me to show what I learned and practice on the family. He was really interested to see how I could improve different somatic dysfunctions he might have acquired from his golf game, or my mom when she did too much in the yard again.

You know what is nice about having family in medicine? They get it. They get the long hours and hard work it takes. If I don’t respond for a few days, no one freaks out. My mom and dad were together throughout his medical training and my mom is the daughter of a doctor. So not only does my father get it, but my mom has seen it firsthand in more ways than one. I don’t have to worry about my mom calling and wondering why I cannot talk when I need to study for a block of exams or my dad asking why I cannot come home. Now, every once in a while, Dad has to remind Mom, but they are very understanding and that I appreciate. I see classmates who have to explain to their parents about these things over and over, so it is nice to know they get it. 

I do take advantage of the fact that my father is a doctor. I call home or text for answers constantly. Sometimes, he is faster than any professor email. Come the unit of his specialty, he knows I am calling daily. If I start sending too many, he just calls or FaceTimes because he is tired of typing. During the block that covered his field, he even offered to answer questions of other students via FaceTime. He was where we are once so he knew. I might not be doing as well as I want to be, but I know he gets it and will remind me “But did you pass? Because that is what matters the most.” Or his favorite line, “What do you call the person who finished last in medical school? A doctor.” Other family, they expect high grades and perfection. My father, passing, doing well, and learning everything I can. And Mom would add, be humble and kind at the same time. 

You know, I am still not sure who was more excited for my acceptance email, me or my father. I had been applying for so long, I almost gave up. But he kept encouraging me. He had been through it and he seemed to know I could handle it; I just had to get there first. He still encourages me. He understands the lingo, the occasional humor that comes up as I try to learn every possible detail. He understands the struggle and the hard work it takes to get where I am and where I need to be. My father was my first role model and he still is today.

I appreciate everything my father is and does for me. I would not trade him for the world.