Tuesday - Back to the Hospital

Tuesday morning my sinus infection had settled to my lungs and every breath was painfully accompanied by a cough. Regardless, I was back to my normal routine and off to the hospital at 8am. I spent most of the day in Minor Theatre. I removed my first stitches. A man had been cut in four different places with a knife and had about 25 stitches to be removed. He was quite a character and spoke very limited English. Next, I was confronted with a very sad case, which I won’t soon forget. A woman, about 35 years old, came in for a dressing change. As she undressed, I could see the massive tumors in each of her armpits. I removed the bandage that covered the scar from having both of her breasts removed due to cancer. When the bandage was off I could see more tumors. Where the scar was, new tumors had begun to grow like little mountains of skin out through the opening. The cancer was eating her body alive. The doctor explained that the chemotherapy and radiation they have here is rather ineffective and outrageously expensive. After her surgery to remove the original breast cancer, she hadn’t been able to afford the therapy and the cancer had grown out of control. The doctor had me redress the tumors and gaping holes in her chest, and sent her to oncology. When she was gone the doctor confirmed what I had already suspected; she was sent to oncology for them to tell her that it was late stage wide spread cancer and she wasn’t going to receive much help. It was a really hard concept for me to accept. A few more wound dressings and a pretty insane debridement (removal of the infection and dead tissue) of a man’s foot ended my day in Minor.

            That afternoon we all headed to the beach for a drink and some sand time. Even though we have spent many days at the beach, every time I catch a view of the ocean down that path, it takes my breath away. It’s so naturally beautiful.

 Oh, by the way….I finally got to ride the camel!

 We headed home for dinner, and then off to Cafesserie for dessert. Since the café is in the City Mall, a few of us wandered the stores for a while. The City Mall is one of the most modern places I’ve been while here in Mombasa. It has escalators and four floors (even though each floor consists of only one small circle around the escalator – 3 or 4 stores). Our walk around the mall ties with the Dark Knight Movie going experience for “most American experiences” while in Kenya.