Monkey Brain Musings

 Hi people! Whew, I'm back home! I landed back in the US 2 weeks ago and I hit the ground running. I took a few days to get my brain back into PST, catch up on laundry, and clean and put away my luggage. Returning home to the PNW in November is a shock to the system, it's dark and rainy and dreary. Last year I decided that once my favorite holiday (Halloween) was over, I could officially decorate for the holidays! It's dark when I leave for work in the morning and it's dark when I get home, so having an overdose of sparkly lights waiting for me when I get home is a great way to get through the winter gloom. The weekend after I got home, I dragged out all of my decor and went crazy! The next couple of months are going to be bananas. I have picked up quite a few shifts at the hospital and outpatient clinic, I have officially started my new position as a Maternal Health Specialist for One Heart Worldwide, and I am filling in every spare minute with my consultant job at Uni...

Hello Folks! It's Friday evening and class is dismissed!! This week was a a pendulum of extremely long days of non-stop scanning and then a day of constant rain with no patients and no power for the machines. We all rolled with it, as you must do here, and today was the final evaluation for the class. Everyone was given a 30 nminute time slot to scan, given the opportunity to talk about what they were seeing, and answered some questions. After their 30n minutes was up, I gave them some suggestions for improvement, made a distinct point to tell them about the progress they made, and especially how much I enjoyed having them in class. Hugs and kind words were abundant and then they took off, in an effort to travel home before nightfall and more rain. Last night I prepared bags of supplies to send with them; towels, ultrasound guide posters, probe cleaner, etc... I was up early to clean up the classroom and break down all but one of the scanning stations. Evaluations started at 9:15am...

Hello friends! I hope you're all well. It's hard to believe that I am already nearing the end of my time here. Next week will be the final week of training, with the scanning evaluation on Friday. I will spend the weekend here, then drive into Gulu ealry Monday morning, catch the small plane back to Entebbe, spend the afternoon at the guesthouse and start my journey home Monday evening. The midwives are doing well, although they don't seem to think so! The curriculum is mutlilayered, so when they get something down pretty well, I add something else...which is where their fristration comes from. I'm actually very proud of them and how well they are doing. They have a wonderful attitude, work very well together, and keep trying even when they're frustrated. I also feel like the curriculum is really where Rachel and I want it to be. I'm still putting in long hours of teaching, but it's worth it, and Max has been a good addition. Last night, the childre...

  Monday, October 20, 2025 Hello Friends! We have had continuous challenges with the power and WiFi network, so I will write away and we shall see when I am able to post! We have completed the first two weeks of training, as well as the lecture portion of the course, and today we will begin the scanning only portion of the course. We begin at 9am and review saved images from the previous scanning session, then start scanning patients as they arrive. We will take a lunch break at midday, then resume scanning until the last patient has gone. I have just found out that Max has been delayed by the heavy rain, so today I will manage the students on my own. We have three beds/scanning stations in the classroom, so I will float between the stations for instruction, and also scan every patient to make sure no pathology has been missed. Last Thursday evening, Rachel arrived in the new (to us) Toyota truck ambulance! She drove in with the ambulance lights flashing and all of the midwiv...