Monkey Brain Musings

 Hello and let the countdown begin! This Thursday I will be back on a plane, heading towards Uganda. Yikes! I have lists and notes to myself all over the place and I will start the packing process as soon as I finish here. I am feeling incredibly grateful and lucky to have Rachel and MHI (Mother Health International) taking care of all of the transportation details, especially since the main bridge over the Nile River is closed down for repairs. Planning an alternative route will add hours to the drive, which they are figuring out for me.  In the meantime, I have finished the new curriculum, made another visit to the Travel Clinic to update my Typhoid vaccine, picked up my Malaria meds, applied for and received my travel Visa, and started piling supplies on my dining room table. Thanks to the incredible generosity of friends and family (Kathy & Jim, Arnold, and Steven), on top of the medical expenses, I was also able to order more rain ponchos for the midwives and will pack an extr

Hello, friends!  I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the tail end of summer...Is it really September already?!? I have been working and traveling and working some more. After returning from Uganda and Istanbul, I really hit the ground running and was working quite a bit. It was then that I discovered that I might actually be aging. 😂 I have been consciously trying to ease up on my schedule, both at home and at work. I only took a week off to recover from my 10-week trip and it was not enough, especially when my work schedule was so heavy.  I do have some fun things to share with you all. I may have previously mentioned that I received a $500 grant from one of my professional organizations, Society of Diagnostic Medicine (SDMS). I filled out an application before I left and was awarded the grant with the understanding that I would give an interview of the work that I had done, as well as show receipts from expenses. When I returned, I was interviewed by their Marketing and Commu