OFF! to bed

So, I woke up this morning with a trail of small red spots on my forehead. And a few on my arms. And then some on my fingers. And I found one on my toe. Some of them are a little bit itchy, but they are mostly just red and ugly. I sleep with the window open every night because otherwise my room gets too hot, especially in the morning when the sun is shining through. Now, this morning I found 3 mosquitoes the size of small birds in my room, 2 of which I was able to kill. I still haven't found the third one tonight. So, I'm not sure what I was bitten by because these don't seem like typical mosquito bites and I don't have bites on my body, so I don't think its fleas or bed bugs (gross, I know). Anyhow, I have officially doused myself in OFF in preparation for bed.

Last night, Dr. Windus and Henish arrived here in Eritrea close to midnight. I heard their car arrive because my windows all face the entrance to the hotel and are all open. I was called when they got in, so I, very deliriously, went downstairs to greet them. It was so exciting to see someone else familiar. And it helped that Dr. Windus came bearing chocolate for Hannah and I. We are very excited that they will be here for a while especially since Dr. Windus knows the city so well having been here so many times.

Today was a new day on the service. I spent quite a while rounding with my intern this morning on each patient going over labs, looking at vitals, and asking new questions to try and discern the medical problems in each case. I am still confused on some people, but I have come to realize that this may be the case for some people. I want to help those that I can and I think the best way to do that is to try and get to the bottom of what is going on in each case. My intern is really very good, but I think I need to help her focus on how one should round each morning on the patients. I feel for her because she is essentially sort of on her own, which has to be hard. I can't imagine having been on my own as an intern, for example. How scary that would be. For what she is given, she is doing a relatively good job.

After having stayed an additional 2 hours at work today for various patient care reasons (talking to Hannah about a couple of sick patients, going to buy juice and crackers for a type 1 diabetic who can't eat the hospital food, finishing up on admission paperwork from some patients), Hannah and I met with Dr. Windus, Henish, and Melles Seoyum, the director of the National health laboratory here in Asmara for drinks. We had a nice time with them talking about our experiences thusfar. Melles was a fighter in the Eritrean war against Ethiopia, which makes him a very interesting person to speak with, but beyond that he is also just a very well-spoken and seemingly trustworthy guy.

After drinks, we headed out to Blue Bird Restaurant where Hannah and I actually at dinner last night where Hannah, Henish, Dr. Windus, and myself all had dinner. I am officially loving the national food, which was sort of a surprise after my first experience in St Louis with the food. I wasn't such a fan, but having it here is quite a bit different. We spoke about the creation of the medical school which was interesting and I learned that Jack Ladenson, who basically invented the CK-MB (the biomarker for cardiac injury), from Wash U essentially supplied the medical school here with all of their books. He was also instrumental in helping to improve the lab services here so that basic labs such as liver function tests, electrolytes, etc, are can all be done within a reasonable time period. I would really like to meet this man because he has done so much to impact the health care in this country.

This is a little short tonight because we spent all night visiting, and I need to go to bed. I'm hoping the off will keep me bug-free tonight!