Bloody sick

I am sick, really really sick. After I came back from a wedding of my co-worker in Napa Valley this weekend,I woke up with a fever,cough, running nose and a bad nightmare.
Today, I took a day off knowing that my unit have enough staff. I haven't taken any cold medications. Instead, I slept all day and by the end of the day I went to my cousin's house and got good two cups of Ethiopian coffee. It sure did make me feel better.
This is the thing, although I am a nurse I hate taking medications. I like my own immune system to fight those viruses. So, Tylenol and Sudafed is last option for my once in a while cold. Instead, I substitute medication with tea or coffee, soft Kleenex and sleep.
Anyhoo,when I get sick like this I wish my mom is with me. I want someone to takecare of me. I want my mom to make me soup or touch my forhead with her hand to check if I have a fever or not.
So, if I don't feel better by tomorrow. my immune system going to be:
Sudafed
Benadryl
Tylenol
more Kleenex
and human touch(wink)

Happy Ethiopian New Year

Children, you can't guess who was on BBC have your say Africa. Last week, I was interviewed by BBC cast about Ethiopian New year. The interview was done early morning and I don't think I said what I wanted to say but by the end, I was so excited hearing my own voice on my favorite radio program, I didn't care about what I said at all.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/meta/tx/nb/africa_hys_tue_au_nb.ram

Books

First things first, I am done reading Harry Potter and I must say I am very satisfied with the ending.
So what I have been up to lately besides reading Harry Potter? As you know blogging at work is not that easy, but I am doing it now anyway. I just transfered one of my patients to the step down floor and I am left with one patient with Liver failure, portal hypertention and Hepatic encephalopathy.
Well having said that, I have been thinking to post books that I read. I like books that is coming of age. Like The Kite Runner, A fine Balance, The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time, Middle sex and so on.Do you read books? If you do. What kind of books do you like and recommend? I love to hear any suggestion.

Nothing thrills me

Recently, I’ have been thinking about my daily routine. Day in and day out it is all the same. Well, may be not day in and day out, there are unique days but mostly I follow an established routine. I go to work but even the most stressful job in intensive care unit is becoming a routine. I take a salsa dance and I am looking for excuse to stop dancing. I love to read books and sometimes that is also getting me to think the entire books I am reading are also boring too. On Friday, my friend told me she feels the same way. She told me the 12 leads EKG interpretations, titrating drips (potent IV drugs) and saving people during Code blue is no longer exciting. If you are feeling the same way, listen this music Boring by The pierces

Female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation(FGM). This video(Viewer discretion advised) is used in UK as a teaching tool to increase awarness of the painful culture in Africa and other countires. In the video you can hear an 8 y/o girl crying her heart out for help. It is sad to think that those who are preforming the action are mothers and grand mothers who were done to them by their mothers and grandmothers. After I watched the video, I felt sad for those who went through and for those who are going through this painful experience. Some of you may remeber about an Ethiopian man accused of mutilating his own daughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

I can't get this song out of my head

I heard this song for the first time from my 6 y/o nephew when I was visiting Ethiopia. The song is called Lejinetae by Mezmur Yohannes. I love everything about it, from the lyrics to the video. It reminds me of my childhood and luckily I found the video on you tube. If you are one of those people who like to dwell in your childhood memories this video will take you back to that special place.

Harry Potteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer

Children, finally the most anticipated book of the year is going to be released on July 21st. Yes, I am a big fan of Harry potter book series. I have read all the six books. Yes, you may think it is so childish to read that book but for me it brings the imaginary, the adventure and the fantasy from me. My nephew and I have already pre- order our book ( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) from amazon.com. The author J. K. Rowling told during one of her interviews that there are two significant deaths in the book. My nephew thinks Harry is the one who is going to die. I would like to think that is not the case. I will let you know when I am done with the book.

Wishin' and Hopin'

The heat wave is killing me and I am hoping it will cool down soon . It makes me lazy and lethargic. Really, I am either having a heat stroke or immaculate conception ( wink). I called in sick twice in a week and I haven’t been to work for the last three days. Despite all the days off , I still feel exhausted and light headed.

New Docs

It is that time of the year. July is the month when all the fresh doctors came out from med school. Some look confused, some look excited beginning the new era.. For nurses, July is not fun at all. We have to deal with all these newbies. Do not get me wrong I like them but getting orders and reporting changes on patients status is like telling a child to go to bed early. It is very hard. They would say, let me get through my resident or they would say okay I will get back to you.. When? after my patient crash.. I remember a year ago when one of our obese patient was bleeding through his penis and we couldn't stop it, the nurse called the on call intern and told him the problem. He came right away and the nurse explained what happened. He asked her where u trying to get a penile temperature? All of us just laughed out loud.
Don't you just love being a nurse, the good , the bad ,and the ugly life of nursing.

Appendicitis

I haven't accomplished much lately. One of the reasons was my 16 y/o nephew had an appendectomy last week and I have been taking care of him. When his mom called me and told me that he had been vomiting and been complaining abdominal pain, first i thought it is the quanta he had been eating from Ethiopia. Regardless, I went to see him and found out that an advice nurse told him to take anti nausea medication. When I saw my nephew the way he was sitting, I asked him where the pain and what he had been feeling. He told me it felt burn and took Pepcid. I asked him to lift his right leg straight up in the air and bend it, my nephew was in a lot of pain. That is when I knew it could be appendicitis( an inflammation of the appendix). He had the classic symptoms and signs that were low grade fever, abdominal tenderness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and loss appetite. I told his mother to take him to the ER and to described his symptoms for the ER nurse.
Like what i suspected the doctor thought the same. They took blood and urine and then gave him morphine sulfate. At 8 pm the surgeon took him to OR and my nephew had a laproscopic appendectomy and was discharged the next day.
I was so happy I was able to recognized it(wink) and told his mother to take him to the hospital ASAP despite his mother's hesitation.
Appendicitis has a 90% fatality rate if left untreated. They little tube will burst and spilling infectious material to the body . This can lead to what is called septic shock syndrome( when infection leads to low blood pressure and low blood flow compromising all the organs)

My personal message

As many of you know, on June 23 there was a walkathon and I walked four miles and have raised $350. I was amazed by by the people who encouraged and supported me.
Thank you all. I am sorry I didn't take pictures..

More pictures from my trip

Growing up in delgi is the best thing it ever happened to me. After school, we run to the lake to swim and lay on that beautiful white sand soaking all the sun until it dips below the horizon. All that is gone now. There is no more white sand. It has been shipped for years and years to Bahir Dar to make seimento. Sand has been replaced with mud and what is left is what you are seeing.

Walking to fight cancer

On June 23 ,I will be walking four miles to increase awareness of cancer in Ethiopia. Although, there is a myth that the prevalent is insignificant comparing to other diseases like AIDS, Malaria and so on. I have decided to join the organization to raise money. The money will be spend for early prevention and detection throught research, education and community outreach to all Ethiopians. Currently, I am asking people to sponsor me by donating money. As of today, I have collected $ 160. My aim is to raise up to $300 . If you can't donate money, join me for the walk.
for more information about the organization , visit http://www.lifesecondchance.org/

Sister, Sister

My sisters acting to be Ye balager lejochi. The pictures was taken in our backyard delgi.

Sunset in Delgi

Delgi is located on northern shore of Lake Tana , the source of berbrie, teff and nice beach. I took this picture while having coffee with my sisters.

Labor and Delivery room

Clinic in Ethiopia

Shop until you drop

Today is a shopping day. I have been planning to shop the first day I thought about going home, but the idea of shopping freaks me out. So far, I haven't been to any mall. I hate shopping... anything associated with shopping makes me nauseated... I found shopping to be very boring and overwhelming . For me, I only go to the mall when I really need to buy something and the entire shopping process takes me only half an hour and so.
So, today I promise myself not to postpone, to be patient and to get over it. Therefore, I shall shop until I drop.

Nothing like home sweet home

Finally, going back to Ethiopia has arrived.

Since this is my third time flying back to Ethiopia, I came up with several ideas to survive a boring long distance flight

Ten essential things to have for my trip are:

1. My laptop

2. Books ... to help me cope the long flight and to make me happily antisocial passanger.. I am planning to read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Ethiopian author Dinaw Mengestu.

3. Medication .... anything from anti acid to anti diarrhea..yes, it is all about the medication.

4. Get up and walk from time to time to avoid cramps or blood clots.

5. Take a sweater to avoid the cold temperature inside the plane.

6.Don't drink coffee or wine.. Oh.. I had a bad experience..

7. Wear flip flop shoe. I found it to be very easy to take it off and put it back.

8.Don't eat too much.

9. Have a bright eye catching luggage for quicker identification.

10. Camera

Melkam Fasika

Easter is around the corner and I am reminding people to cut some of the eating habits we do during Fasika. Let's add some variety of veggies and fruits to our meal. See previous post to read more about the food pyramid.

Amharic-English diabetic Handout

Yesterday, while I was surfing the net, I run into this site and found bilingual version of the food pyramid and diabetic hand out. Although, I myself in the process of developing Amharic version for signs and symptoms of diabete and hypertension and managements of the disease, I found this one to be well put together by Georgia state University, department of Anthropology.
Kudos to them. Help yourself .http://monarch.gsu.edu/multiculturalhealth/handouts/Amharic.

To be or not to be circumcised?

Do you remember in the bible(Gn. 17: 10-13) every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised...and it goes on ... you must get circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it must serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.. ..finally, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS have announced last Thursday getting circumcised reduces the risk of contracting HIV infection in men by 60% .The study have recommended that circumcision should be used as part of HIV/AIDS prevention for heterosexual men.To read..http://www.who.int/hiv/mediacentre/news68/en/index.html

Grossly over populated

Yes... the earth is getting crowded by a day . According to the UN population divisions, world population will reach 9.2 billion in 2050.While the population expected to remain the same in western countries,....in develeoping countries the population will just keep on rising.

What are we afraid of?

Two days ago, I attended my first Ethiopian Funeral ceremony. It was a very sad and heart breaking experience for me. When I heard about a 21 years old young man hang himself after he left a hospital within an hour, all I could think of is the young man did it for crying out for help. The ceremony was great and very fancy. The flowers, the foods, the candles and even people were well dress in black . We, Ethiopians are very good at aftermath. We are good at helping during death and wedding, but why aren’t we that good at crisis intervention?Why are we good at “J ib kehed wesha chohe?" I hear here and there about mental illness in our community. I myself had a very close family memeber who went through sever depression but, luckily he came out of his depression with the help of God and his family. I can't help but wonder if this incident is a wake-up call for our community.
My concern is it would be too late before we wake up and smell the coffee, so let’s stop the stigma with mental illness and talk about it. For the young man, may his soul rest in peace and give strength to his family