31 July 2020
"You're going to love every minute!"
I heard these words two years ago, during those last few months, those months of preparation and anticipation and trepidation. Before France. Before Tchad.
I've wondered many times since then, was it ...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 6th, 2021
30 July 2020
The airport closed, and one of our doctors couldn't come back at the end of her vacation.
"That's ok," we reasoned, "It has to open eventually, and she'll make it back. At least it has to open by the time our annual leaves are scheduled....
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
17 July 2020
"Doctor, on a reçu un enfant à la pediatrie. Elle a avalé l'argent." We have received a child at pediatrics. She swallowed a coin an hour ago.
The x-ray confirmed the story. A large, circular, radio-opaque object--consistent with the 25 f...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
30 May 2020
So familiar. So unwelcome. Not again!
Maybe this time we can fix this. Maybe this time will be different.
We sat relaxing in the potluck pavilion, 1.5-year old Adelaide bringing mangoes to each of us at the table, then enthusiastically r...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
8 April 2020
I stared at the laptop screen, running through a chest x-ray mnemonic in my mind, trying to decide if there was anything worthwhile that I could find on this film, and trying to guess why it had been ordered. I'm supposed to give a lectur...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
26 March 2020
Upside down. Also, stunned, knocked down, bowled over. This just seems like a great word for this month. The world has been stunned, turned upside down, bowled over. Even the babies are coming out upside down lately.
One of our student ...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
12 February 2020
What's the ICD-10 code for fall from mango tree? I guess it would have to be W14.XXXA. Fall from tree, initial encounter. But the lack of a specific code to blame the fall on a mango tree only reflects the lack of mango trees in the U...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
5 February 2020
For the past several days our hospital compound has oscillated between light and dark, between the gentle distant hum of a diesel motor and silence, between running water and dry faucets. After months of relying on two large generators...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
17 January 2020
"Baby shark, doo doo do do do doo..."
One of the many songs that comes in handy when stuck in the car too long and the 1.5-2-year old is getting restless (at least, this worked great with my niece last time I was in the US). Also one o...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
10 December 2019
The mother lounged on the thin, vinyl-covered mattress covering the wooden platform--a bed in the pediatrics ward. Her 4-year old lying beside her appeared fatigued and ambivalent. The nursing student presented the case, reading the c...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
