Elections

I just received the email that our team mission is a "go".  We were informed last month that we might be canceled depending on the election results and resulting response in Haiti.  The election results were supposed to be announced tomorrow.  They have now been postponed until Monday after we arrive.

They also told us that the security threat was level 4.

That's very helpful, but they failed to tell us how many levels there are.  Is level 4 somewhere around "don't walk around wearing big diamonds as you might get robbed" or more like "the plagues of locusts and frogs have nothing on the stuff you are about to see"?

Slight difference.

Either way, I am DEET and permethrin prepared.  It won't do much for the locusts or frogs, but at least the mosquitoes might leave me alone.  I would like to avoid malaria if at all possible.  I have accepted I will probably catch something.  I just would like it to be a manageable infectious disease.

* Image is courtesy of WHO Malaria Department.  It can also be found here.  I do not own this image nor claim to have any rights to this image.*

Fleeing the country

I'm fleeing the country on Saturday.  Okay, so not technically fleeing, but leaving for a wee bit.

I've been blessed to be allowed to go to Haiti with a group providing sustainable medical care for those in the Port-au-Prince area.  I was able to use some of my vacation time to go and was given the full support of my department attendings.  I can not tell you all how wonderful it feels to finally be able to give more back after all the years I've been in school.  This is something that I'm passionate about and feel so very blessed to have the opportunity to do.

I am super excited.

I am super nervous.

I had to see the international travel clinic doctor to prepare for the trip.  I am quite aware that doctors in general make awful patients.  I am no exception.  I knew that I would have to get shots for this trip.  You guys, I hate needles.  Rumor has it that I once passed out getting my tuberculosis skin test.  This has never been confirmed as the only eye-witnesses mysteriously disappeared.  Despite this abhorrence of needles, I am now vaccinated against hepatitis and typhoid, have started my prophylaxis for malaria, and have prescriptions to treat cholera. (Haiti is a dangerous place, infectious disease-wise.)

I also went in to take my mandatory annual tuberculosis skin test.  Turns out that the typhoid vaccine is a live virus, and you can't take a TB skin test if you are taking a live virus.  Golly gee whiz, did that upset me.  Terrible news.  Guess the evil employee health nurse will have to wait 'til another day to torture me with her needles.  I really couldn't have planned this better.



** Image from wwwp.greenwichmeantime.com   I did not draw or create this map, and thank the owners very much for letting me borrow it.**

Sacrifices

Residency, you win.

DH and I are heading our separate ways.  He's a wonderful man, and we both care about each other a lot.  So while we still like each other and have not resorted to quarreling over spatulas, we're parting amicably.

He's going to go on to do wonderful things - probably get his PhD, teach, move to Alaska, grow a beard.  Well, maybe not a full beard.  He does have some areas that refuse to grow facial hair.  Maybe grow a partial beard.  He's a fantastic man, and I wish him all the best.

Me?

I'm going to continue residency.  As he is fond of telling me, I married my job, and I make a terrible bigamist.

So it looks like it's just you and me, Residency.  Take your shoes off at the door.  I just scrubbed the floors and don't want you tracking blood everywhere.