Things that are in short supply at the moment.

1. Staff. Lots of staff away or on courses, which means the ones left are stretched pretty thin. 2. Crepe bandages. We have a young boy with about 22% burns which need regular dressing. We are running out of bandages. 3. Humour. But, to be fair, I didn't bring much with me. 4. Electricity. The generator has been having issues... That is, the back-up generator. The main one isn't working. So power is being rationed carefully. 5. Emergencies! We haven't had one in 2 days! But I shouldn't speak too soon...

Safe arrival

It's always surprising how familiar and how unfamiliar PNG is when I arrive. Someone was speaking Pidgin to me at the airport in Cairns and I was struggling, but once I landed and was driving towards Rumginae, it clicked into place again.  There are power issues with the generator here, so I am typing this to upload when there is power for the Internet. There are power issues here with current elections, which have been peaceful in this general vicinity so far.  On the way up on the plane I complied a list of things that will be good about having limited Internet access: 1. I will have to lose Words with Friends games more slowly.  2. I have had to cull my twitter list and will therefore save enormous amounts of time. In theory.  3. Diminished temptation to google spoilers for movies or tv shows I am currently watching.  That's all I can think of for now. 

Return to Rumginae

The new technology to hit this part of PNG is the mobile phone. It's just like nostalgia: I carry around a mobile phone that doesn't send emails or have a web browser. It doesn't even have predictive text. It does have a pretty bright torch, which is good for finding your way to the hospital when generator power goes out at 10pm. The people who used to call by radio now call by mobile. And they still often say 'over' when they have finished speaking, or 'roger' when they agree, but the nice thing is that with a mobile phone, I can interrupt a long-winded story to steer someone back on track.

Probably not always a good thing.

And yet, the circle of life, death and resurrection continues. We have seen preventable deaths and difficult births. I see staff finding out new things about medicine, but also about life and about compassion. We laugh together when someone tells a good story, we get angry together when children come in who have been injured deliberately by their parents. We pray together and we celebrated Christmas together and we stitched up people who got injured in drunken New Year's Eve celebrating together.

Yep. Good to be back.

Things I have learned so far in 2010

1. If I walk in uncut grass while wearing a long skirt, I will only have to spend time later picking out the grass seeds from my skirt.
2. Allowing my water tank to run dry is not a good thing.
3. "She'll be right" is not a medical diagnosis. Or prognosis, apparently.
4. Friends and neighbours and wonderful assets.
5. Cockroaches and geckos: not good housemates.

Free upper-body workout...

I did a manual removal of a stuck placenta.
Just like going to the gym, only MUCH messier.

Enough said.

Change is constant

Here's what I have noticed is different since I was last here:
I have become a lot more patient in listening to people.
My feet are not as tough as they used to be - even with shoes on, it is difficult to walk over the stony path that I used to walk barefoot.
I don't cope with the heat as well as I used to.
I need more sleep than I used to.

I guess none of those things is about the hospital per se... so here's what's changed at the hospital:
The office has had a new coat of paint.
There is no reagent to do Widal testing.
The ultrasound machine has moved from one small, hot room to... another small, hot room.
The protocols for treating snakebite are changing due to either the death adders mutating or a large number of snakes identified as death adders being actually something else.

Having a lovely time so far - busy enough to stay out of trouble, but not so busy that I am likely to go (more) insane.

For the chefs - I have tuna, tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, carrots, bananas, eggs, powdered mlk, rice and peanut butter. Any suggestions?

PNG again... and an Iron Stomach Chef Challenge

I am starting to feel a bit like Rumginae is my second home, but I have realised (again!) that I shouldn't try to second-guess what returning here will be like.
I had forgotten it was so HOT! In spite of 6 years medical training, I had no personal experience of the number of sweat glands in the human body. I can now confidently say, as we used to as kids, that it is infinity plus one.

So, for the culinary-minded, I have in my house the following ingredients: tinned tuna, rice, broccoli, spring onions, zucchini, a small amount of cheese, tomato, peanut butter, milk (UHT) and some frozen lamb chops. Any ideas?

Taking stock

Important happenings in the last 3 weeks:
1. The celebration of two Christmases (possibly more; depends on how you add them up)... including waking up the patient's at 5.30am on Christmas Day by singing carols at them. (Well, carols by candelight is a Christmas tradition...)
2. Explaining the meaning of the word 'bogan' to an American couple.
3. Being introduced to 'The IT Crowd'.
4. Learning Christmas carols in Pidgin.
5. Seeing an 8-year old girl who had severe weight loss and malnutrition (among other things) from tuberculosis - she's now running around, smiling, talking to people (including doctors!) and has a beautifully round face.
6. Laughing with the staff about nothing in particular. And occasionally about my marital status (or lack thereof).
7. Watching the faces on the staff as they heard themselves in a copy of the radio program about Rumginae that was earlier broadcast on ABC Radio National.
8. Trying to convince someone on the other end of the radio that a 3 week-long illness did not require a medevac on a Saturday.
9. Getting used to Rumginae having internet access! I can now google all the conditions I come across that I have forgotten about since medical school...
10. Trying to write a blog post about what I've been doing in a hospital without either breaking confidentiality or making my reader(s) nauseated.

Love to all - am leaving here tomorrow, overnighting in Port Moresby and getting back to Australia (all being well) on Sunday.

Shar

Appropriate culturally-senstive holiday season greetings!

The Iron Stomach Chef competition commences - although there should be a prize of chocolate if someone can make something edible out of this. I have rice, tinned tuna, peanut butter, frozen bread, broccoli, onions, beans and milk. I can probably steal/borrow/beg spices etc from other families. Anyone up to the challenge?

Otherwise I am well. Rumginae has been - dare I say it? - quiet for the last few days. We did have a baby yesterday, though, which is always fun. And adrenaline-inducing.

Love and regards to all,
Shar

Unfortunate delay in the inaugural Iron Stomach Chef competition

... due to the fact that there is nothing in the cupboard and only milk and water in the fridge and a pineapple on the bench.

Will let you know once we have ingredients to work with!

Safe arrival at Rumginae; it is incredibly familiar already and I am looking forward to sleeping well tonight and starting work tomorrow.

Love Shar

If you don't believe in miracles...

... then you should know that I managed to catch one Qantas flight and two Air Niugini flights on Saturday, and all of them were ON TIME!

Not only that, but my luggage made it to the same place as me - which was where I wanted to be going.

But, wait - there's more. Even the fragile items in my luggage made it safely. Oh yeah - and so did I.

 

And if you still don't believe in miracles, clearly you haven't travelled on either of those two airlines recently.

 

Love to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have nothing better to do...

Check out ABC Radio National's Religion Report next week (17th December). 8.30 am or 8pm. Or online.
It's their last one ever. (Sad face.)
Also, a lolly for the first three people who can work out what TV show I was thinking of at the time...

It's official.

There will definitely not be any room in my suitcase for chocolate. I am breaking out into a cold sweat at the very thought.
However, the up-side is that it is due to the generosity of many people who have helped fill my suitcases with hospital equipment that I am obliged to save the chocolate for my return.
I am particularly excited about having bought the materials to (in theory!) set up a phototherapy unit for jaundiced babies. By buying bits and cobbling them together, I paid $300 instead of $6000 for the fancy hospital version, so as a shopper who loves a bargain, I feel like I have done well.
In theory, I will be less isolated due to Rumginae now having satellite internet! I love theories. So hopefully I'll update this charming piece of literature soon after arrival.
Lukim yu behain.

Off again...

...it's on again!

I'm heading back to Rumginae Hospital for three weeks, leaving on the 13th of December and arriving back on the 4th of January. I am hoping to be able to give some of the doctors there a well-earned break, especially over Christmas.
I have been overwhelmed byt he generosity of people as I prepare to go away - I have so much in the way of dift and donations that I am wondering whether there will be room in my suitacse for chocolate (one of life's necessities)!

They have satellite internet at Rumginae now (phones have been down since I was last there in June) so hopefully I will be able to keep this semi-up-to-date.

The inaugural 'Iron Stomach Chef' competition begins when I get to Rumginae, find out what I have in the pantry and post it here on the blog. The person who emails me with the best recipe wins!

Shar

Saying goodbye...

Another wonderful time at Rumginae has come to an end. Apologies for not having been in contact much; phones and therefore email have been down since about 3 days after I arrived. It has been a challenging, enjoyable, frustrating and rewarding time. There are men, women and children who are alive and well only because they were able to come to Rumginae; however, there are also some that we were unable to help in spite of our best efforts. It is a beautiful, fascinating, rugged and difficult part of the world in which to work and live.

Whether or not it is a good thing, I have suddenly remembered that I do occasionally enjoy the practice of medicine... I'll let you know when I'm done practising and ready to move on to the real thing!

I'm in Goroka at the moment to catch my breath and catch up with some friends before heading home - I've also noticed that the on-call and the hours have taken their toll and I am exhausted... but in a good way.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped and supported and prayed for me - look forward to catching up.

Sharmini

Safe arrival

Arrived safely in PNG and at Rumginae Hospital - which is more or less the same as I remember it, which is nice!

First day of work today, though, so I hope I still remember how to practice medicine...

Love to all,

Sharmini

Skipping the country

My visa for Papua New Guinea came through last Friday, after many many frustrating hours on the phone to various Departments of Immigration and High Commissions.
So I'm heading off on Wednesday to Rumginae, not too far from the border with West Papua.
Hopefully I'll have the chance to update this, but I won't be able to check for messages until I get back in mid-July.
Happy winter everybody - I'm heading for the tropics!
Shar

From a different overseas...

For those who still occasionally check this site... don't you have something more interesting to read online?
I'm in New Zealand, and although it shares one word in common with the name of Papua New Guinea, it is a very different place. For one thing, it is very cold.
I'm here on a 3 month placement for work, being a junior doctor at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, and trying to work out what I'm going to be when I grow up - all suggestions welcome...
Love to all!
Shar

I Still Call Australia Home

I seem to have spent a fair bit of time over the last several weeks explaining that I am Australian. And still many people in Oro Bay do not believe me, and keep referring to me as Indian. But as Hugh Jackman reminds me through song (alas! via the iPod and not in person!) - Australia is my home.

And that's where I'll be soon. Things have not worked out well at Oro Bay. With a well-equipped hospital a short distance up the road, and plenty of capable nurses at Oro Bay, there is not nearly enough work for a full-time doctor in that position. I trust that I may still be able to help the community at Oro Bay from home, and maybe one day (God willing) return.

Many many thanks to everyone who has helped and supported and prayed during this time. I am looking forward to catching up with you. In the meantime, I will continue to find stories to tell you via this site...

Sincerely,

Sharmini

News from the black...

Sorry it’s taken so long to be in contact; communications here in Popondetta and Oro Bay are less reliable than I expected…

Suffice it to say that I have arrived safely.

With many important matters to discuss, let me begin with the trivial:

I have discovered the perfect shoes for the PNG climate: crocs. Light, comfortable, don’t get soggy in mud puddles. It was worth the time and effort traipsing all over Melbourne to find the right size, style and colour.

There are a few issues with this placement at Oro Bay that I am trying to work out. For now, can I just ask that those of you who pray, please mention this situation occasionally. Thanks.

I’m hogging someone else’s computer to write this, so I should go.

Love to all,

Sharmini