Stunning sunsets

Today has been a thankfully gentle day clinically which was much appreciated after a rather turbulent start in getting the older two out of the door to school.

Rounds were very brief and we discharged the man on whom I did a limited caecal wedge resection during his strangulated hernia repair last week. I was also shown two legs with pretty horrendous ulcers. Middle aged men, one of whom was hit by a motorbike 5 weeks ago, the other developed the ulcers spontaneously 3 weeks ago. Whilst I am not a massive fan of managing such wounds, I am grateful for my vascular experience during the early years of my registrar training. Both these men face a very long road if their legs will be salvaged. Amputation is still very much on the cards. But I hope we can give them a ‘wash and brush up’ this week and then hopefully have some success with skin grafting – I brought a special machine to help with such things from the UK. It is VERY heavy and so putting it to use would at least partly justify its big dent in our baggage allowance.

Clinic was surprisingly pleasant as we ran two rooms. Our room still seemed to see the lions share, but then again that is hopefully very good experience for the AMO I was with (the more junior of the two). We saw quite a few children (I have certainly rediscovered my love of paediatrics) and a number of mesh follow up patients, all of whom are doing brilliantly. We finished at lunchtime for a change and it was very nice to get home to eat with my wife who also had just returned from Hospice home visits. We opened a tin of corned beef (something I have always loved) which felt like a real treat – however sad that sounds!

For all the difficulties we face of where we are living, one of the wonderful things about it is that we get a fantastic view of the Usambara Mountains. The sunsets tend to be beautiful most of the time, but this evening it was particularly stunning. A real marvel of mother nature. The photo definitely doesn’t do it justice, but its not bad.