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Doctor heal thyself
It has been awhile since I have written. One factor has been an influx of patients – we had 40 admissions to hospital on August 31. Twenty-eight patients had sleeping sickness and 12 had malaria, malnutrition or other important pathologies.
As well, we had many valued visitors and advisors recently to our project. And this sub-base has been more than a bit stressful lately for a number of reasons. The biggest factor leading to stress is that it is a start-up
project. We are constantly evolving and improving. And to be frank, this is a rough, rural, imperfect project – isolated in every way possible, not yet fully staffed, and with a work overload. You can easily work yourself right into the ground here. I don’t want to end up like that.
Our recent guests included a German journalist and a communications officer from the MSF-Germany. For everyone who has been in the field with MSF they know that visitors are a useful opportunity to reflect on how the mission is going – its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Another benefit of visitors is that they bring some well-deserved treats. Our visitors from Europe, in particular Yasmin – brought many items that we cannot easily get in the field and savor:
-excellent coffee
-iced tea crystals
-Haribo candies
-batteries and a recharger for the nurses night headlamps
-good chocolate
-some good soap
On a personal side, I’ve had to adjust my work pace in order to make sure I stay healthy too. This has included:
-more regular walks into the countryside (which our American nurse-practitioner loves go on)
-1/2 beer with dinner
-more movie nights
-more non-medical reading (especially James Orbinski’s book – An Imperfect Offering – which I hope will give me some inspiration and insight)
-stopping work at some point in the evening and not working all night
-sleeping outside more
-moving out of the hospital-office compound to our new expat tukuls across the road
-doing more stretching while our American nurse-practitioner does her yoga
-delegating more simple, routine medical work to our nurses
-more exercise – I’m trying to rig up a stationary bicycle
I’m hopeful these strategies will keep me a good doctor, a good volunteer, a good person and a good MSF’er.
Warm wishes from the Central African Republic,
Raghu Venugopal
September 5th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Hi Raghu, Keep yourself healthy. I enjoy your blog. Lauralee
September 6th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
brother.
yes, you need that space to take care of yourself, not only so you can take care of others, but so that you properly get the experience. to take it all in, as much as you can, because you have the chance, and it won’t be forever.
it sounds like you are being challenged in good ways, and i hope you are getting the best parts of the work that you are doing. i know you are giving the best that you know.
things are alright here. after a wet summer, we have a short reprieve before the frost. this weekend is a long one, even more so because i am working throughout it. still, like yours, the work is good, and i am grateful for it. i am off to ethiopia in a few weeks, and am grateful for that too. who can argue with a whole country that serves ethiopian food? not me.
the moon here, like yours in CAR, has just started to wane. however, in toronto, it is noisy. a car door just slammed. in the distance i can hear voices through my window….another car door. no crickets, only the hum of electrical wires. drink in all those spaces for us, then tell us about them on your return.
peace to you, brother. sleep well.
james.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Hi Raghu,
Great to be able to read your news. Hope all is well and you’re taking good care of yourself!
Cheers,
Jess
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Hey Raghu
Glad to hear you’re back over there! I know that the wait felt long. I hope that someone’s brought you an October-infusion of coffee and chocolate. For web-based yoga and stretching check out: http://www.eoinfinnyoga.com/downloads.php
…I’m up in Yellowknife right now and I’ve been doing them looking out my window as the sun rises over the rocky tundra with its golden-fall leaves and shiny lakes. You’d have a different view, but the breathing and blissology part would be the same
I’ve got an application in w MSF right now and am waiting to hear back–may see you in the field!
Unril then…Namaste
Courtney
November 15th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
hi Raghu,
We communicated when I was a med student and met at CAEP this year, when I picked your brain about working with MSF and balancing life at home. Thanks so much for that – even though it’s been from such a distance, you have been such an inspiration for me as I’ve seen your name pop up over and over again during my medical training. I’m currently working in Inuvik (and I just noted that courtney howard left you a message – I’m her locum ‘replacement’ up here! small world
)
I hope your attempts at work/rest balance are paying off – take care of yourself. Can’t wait to read the next instalment.. I’ll keep my eyes open as i visit the site and prepare my application.
Take care,
Brighid.