3 more days....

3 MORE DAYS TILL THE USA!!

I can't believe I leave for the US in 3 days.  What seemed like a long count down is finally on the verge of occurring.  As usual, its a sprint to the finish.  I thought for the first time I would be able to leave with things running smoothly on the work front.  Now I am trying frantically to finish up loose ends: tracking down supplies for my staff, getting questionnaires printed, responding to scientific steering communities and finishing a biannual report.  

Here's a glimpse of my to do list at work:

1. Get gloves out of the store

2. Have data team print lab forms

3. Get adult data from the data team

4. Run SAS code on all data

5. Generate biannual report

6. Respond to ERC regarding protocol

7. Buy Glucose strips

It kills me how things get pushed to the back burner until they are absolutely necessary.  I don't work well in pressure situations.  I don't like procrastination.  Unfortunately my life is consumed by this.  Some how it will all get done.  It always does.  In the meantime I am praying for some peace before I leave and time to enjoy my vacation, family and friends. 

Another attempt...

So all day I had this itch to start some kind of project, accomplish something big, clean something out, etc.  Well I really didn't have anything that met that criteria so I decided to try another recipe.  This was a cheesy garlic baggette.  It didn't turn out as I expected but I think I have an idea where I went wrong.  First I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour.  There's nothing I can really do about this as we don't have bread flour in Kenya.  Second, my yeast wasn't really going when I added the dry materials.  I think this is because I used raw honey.  The yeast just weren't able to break down the complex sugars.  Lastly I could have done something with the whole kneading process.  The recipe said it worked best with a Kitchen aid.  Well we don't have a Kitchen aid (yet...) so I had to use my good ole muscles.

Overall its alright, a bit doughy but still very tasty.  I mean you can't really go wrong with butter, garlic and cheese!

Baking adventures

This post is a little old and these brownies are definitely all gone now but they look too good to not share.  I found this recipe online a few months ago and tried making them for a friend's baby shower.  They turned out ok but I wasn't satisfied.  The cookie dough on top of the brownie was grainy and pulling apart from the brownie.  The brownie itself wasn't as gooey and moist as I would have liked.  Well with another attempt I think I have this one down.  I had to substitute chocolate chips for a cut up chocolate bar but otherwise they were amazing.  And by amazing I mean diabetes in a bar...SO SWEET.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

I think Buddy is Missing Elise...

Ok Elise!  He's on his way!

The Work: An Update

I realize that I don't write a lot about my work on this blog.  Its not because I don't love what I do but because it has become the everyday for me.  I get up, go to work and complete whatever projects/tasks I have laid out for myself.  But since I know this blog will become a sort of diary of our time here in Kenya, I feel I better give an update on my project.

I am currently coordinating an encephalitis surveillance study based in Siaya District Hospital in Siaya, Kenya.    We enroll all patients over the age of 6 weeks that exhibit a certain set of encephalitis-like symptoms.  From there we collect cerebral spinal fluid and blood to test for pathogens that may be making the patient sick.  Over the course of the patient's hospital stay, we collect more blood samples and monitor their overall progress.  We finally ask the patients to return to the hospital a month after their discharge for a follow-up visit to check their overall health and take yet another blood sample.

The main focus of this project is to see what is causing encephalitis in western Kenya.  Currently there isn't a lot of research out there on the subject and a lot of the hospitals in the area aren't even doing spinal taps on their patients!

The last six months of the project has had their ups and downs but I am happy to say things have been running smoothly as of late.  Some of our accomplishments in the last 6 months include:
1. Teaching medical students and interns the proper way to perform a spinal tap even with limited resources and supplies
2. Making spinal taps available to current MOH doctors.  They love that we do this service now and regularly request them for their patients!
3. Diagnosis our patients and being able to correctly administer the right antibiotics.  There's a lot of drug resistance here and finding out what is causing the infection goes a long way in helping treat it.
4. Changing the negative perceptions of spinal taps in the hospital and community
5. Successfully enrolling 85 patients and only have one person tell us no

We're also looking forward to expanding to Mbagathi District Hospital in Nairobi.  This urban site will give us some insight as to if there is any differences between encephalitis in the rural and urban areas.  Next week I will be meeting with key officers at the hospital to get some insight as to the best way to implement our project there.

So there it is, a short update on my project thus far.  Its been great working with CDC this past year and I am looking forward to finishing out the year with the group.  I'm hoping in my last six months here I can see the roll out of the new study site, the implementation of the new laboratory testing cards and the hiring of new study personnel.  But as all things in Kenya, these take time.  We'll see if 6 months is enough! :)

2 weeks

2 Weeks till I land in the U.S.  Well almost give or take a few hours....

I'm really excited for this trip for all the things I have planned:  TONS of wedding planning, day in Chicago with my besties, visiting with family both in IL and WI, a hiking day with my husband-to-be at Starved Rock and one of my good friends weddings.

Most of all I am excited to get away for a few weeks.  I love it here and Kenya is definitely home but I find myself getting a bit down on it all after about 6 consecutive months here.  I'm ready for a refreshing trip to brighten my spirits a bit.  (It usually takes me a week or so in the U.S. to start missing Kenya and appreciating what we have here.)  Here's to another adventure...only stateside :)