Scalpel....

Monday morning Chelsea and I are invited to observe in the operating theatre. Within the span of about 2 hours, we witnessed prostate surgery, a mastectomy, and an appendix removal. It was absolutely fascinating, but the reader will appreciate this post's lack of pictures... During the first surgery, Chelsea stood stoically by, while I had to leave the room seven times to avoid blacking out completely and casusing a commotion. This was odd given my brief yet profound exposure to invasive medicine in the past, but oh well, aclimatizing I guess. After that, all was good and amazing. The surgeon was happy to have us there, and taught us a lot. To see cartoons from the anatomy text come to literal life was superb. I really could go on, but won't. That afternoon, we helped at the HIV/AIDS councelling centre by weighing patients who were coming for routine visits.

At about 16:00 that afternoon, I felt "a little off". At about 17:00, I felt very much "off". I had contracted food poisoning for the first time in my (lucky) life. I will spare you the details, but those who have had it will know. I did not get out of bed all day tuesday. Or wednesday, until evening- and it was an effort! The upside (that I am only now able to appreciate!) was the hospitality of the UPMB staff. I had visits throughout the night from one lady in particular who lives on-site. She would come bearing tea, honey or another of the thousand bottles of water I went through before convincing my body that the coast was clear. Today (thursday) is the first time I have functioned as a healthy, productive person since then.