Overwhelmed

So I made it to Kenya.  It was a long journey and I have never been more thankful for a bed than after over 30 hours of travelling!  I woke up at one point on my flight and looked out the window and saw a large river in the middle of a blinding desert of sand.  Could that be?... No!  Surely that's not the Nile.  But it was.  I know I sound like such a nerd, but that was the coolest thing to see this river that I have heard about my entire life and only imagined, that has been such a huge part of history and geography - to see it!  It was cool.


And that was just a foreshadowing of what it would be like to step foot on the grounds of Tenwek Hospital - a place I have heard incredible stories about from people as well as in the book Miracle and Tenwek - to be here and be apart of that.  Sheesh.  Just blows my mind.


Anyways, so I met up with Dr. Keith Forwith and his daughter Allegra Monday morning at the guest house in Nairobi.  Dr. Forwith was on a mission trip to Nicaragua with me in 2012 and it was through him that I found out about Tenwek in the first place.  I had contacted him the week before my trip to let him know I was going and he replied that he was leaving for Tenwek the same day I was!  So awesome to know someone who has been here before. 


We then made our way to Tenwek.  We got here in the afternoon, had lunch with one of the career missionaries, Barbara - she's been here 33 years and teaches in the nursing school.  I met some of the other visiting staff and got settled in.  We had a brief tour of the hospital and then a group of us hiked down to a waterfall that is on the river below Tenwek.  It is also next to the hydroelectric power plant that supplies electricity to the hospital and was instrumental in the growth of the hospital.  While at the waterfall we had one of many "TIA" moments (where you shrug your shoulders and think "This is Africa").  A Kenyan couple was taking pictures by the waterfall as well.  They saw us coming and for 10 minutes I knew what it was like to be a Hollywood superstar - they wanted pictures with all of us and were so excited to see white people.  It was funny.


It's so beautiful here!  It's chilly at night - around 50 but usually warms up during the day and there have been occasional brief showers.  The Kenyans are all freezing - they wear puffy down jackets and beanies!  haha.


Today was my first day of clinic.  And wow, that was overwhelming.  I started with rounds with the ortho docs and some inpatient PT.  The ortho here is primarily traumatic fractures.  A lot of open fractures of the femur and tibia, which is kind of crazy!  The rest of the day was in outpatient.  It's kind of chaotic and I'm still learning how the system really works.  In the inpatient ward today, I had a chance to help a man walk who had been in a bed for 6 weeks on traction due to an acetabular fracture.  He was so excited to walk and go home soon.  He got a little dizzy but did great!


I'm learning so much, not only PT wise but about the people here - and it's only day 1.  It's interesting.  I hope to post some more reflective stuff, but for now, it's bed time!