I hate that I didn't write this sooner, but my internet timed out and I couldn't buy more time till a few days later and then I just procrastinated... I dropped the ball and to my faithful readers, I am very sorry.
Male ward was the time of my life. I can't say enough about how much I appreciated their light-hearted jokes, their kindness, and their faith in my medical knowledge and skills even when I second guessed myself and double checked with my handy dandy iphone apps of medical knowledge.
As much fun as it was, it was also (obviously) a full time job with several of my patients needing frequent check-ins and not enough daily staffing to oversee each step of treatment. So these men all became my babies- I really can't describe it any better than an almost motherly role spread out among 13 patients at a time.
I'll tell you about a few, unfortunately I couldn't get pictures of all of them because I just didn't feel right taking pictures when they weren't feeling up to par even if they would have let me.
I've told you a little about Box- he's the one who had the uncontrolled diabetes and had been admitted 2 weeks before I took over his care. I have never seen diabetes that was more resistant to stabilization than his was. He would be nearly stabilized for 2 days and then have a hypoglycemic attack one night and the next day his glucose would be sky high again on the same amount of insulin, any tweak in insulin levels would inevitably welcome another huge swing in blood glucose. We had a long talk about his diet and finally I think had a break through that a small helping of rice and tomatoes could not be treated with the same amount of insulin as his bigger meals and that whatever way he might be able to afford, he needed to get some protein in each meal. This was not an easy fight for a man that hates beans but can't afford to have eggs or some sort of meat each day. He agreed to try, anyway, and noticed a big difference in his symptoms other than feeling dizzy and occasional blurry vision which had been written off as hypoglycemic symptoms. On a whim, I sent him to IVV (our eye specialist center) before he left, just to be certain, and Box came back walking with a strut and a smirk he couldn't hide.

I pat myself on the back a little too much for this case and don't know why I consider him to be such a big victory, when I have seen much more miraculous recoveries and when I know it is through no power of my own that Box can now see clearly- but I can't deny that for some reason I feel some bit of pride when I see cute little Box with his glasses on. Maybe its just sheer giddiness to have seen such a difference in what I assume to be self confidence. Love him and wish him the best.
As much as I would love to go on and tell you about all the rest of my patients tonight I will have to leave you with just this quick update and write about the rest another day.
We leave Zambia for good tomorrow and if anyone wants me to be able to function as we take on London tomorrow they'll need me rested. Hope you're doing well and I can't wait to tell you more about the week in male ward and my week in Lusaka.
Love Julie