Brutal Week!

This week has been one of the most brutal, exhausting, and humbling week of my life.  We packed up for a 5 day stay in the middle of the country, a place call Makeni.  We brought all of our supplies and equipment, and drove over 4 hours into the rural area of Sierra Leone.  We thought we were mentally and physically ready to take on the challenge of staying for 5 days w/ practically no water and electricity.   The heat and humidity was excruciating, a big difference from working next to the ocean.  The climate wasn’t something you could just get use to.  However, we stayed focus on the reason why we were here and to provide dental care to as many patients as possible.  

We stayed in bare houses w/ no fans and minimal running water.  At night, lying in the bed, sweat would continuously roll of your skin and soak the bed sheets.  Everyone had water bottles to replenish the lost fluids throughout the night.  Trying to sleep, sweat would continue to fall in my ear canals, making it almost impossible to fall asleep.  It felt as if I was sleeping in a sauna.  The whole week, everyone had to fight off sleep deprivation, since sleeping was almost impossible.

On my fourth day in the morning, I started to vomit.  Trying to fight it off, I would continue to work on the patients, however, as the morning progress, I started to get light headed and dizzy.  I could not continue to provide care, and had to be sent back with the photography team, that came for the day, to the ship to recuperate.  The only thing I could think of that caused me to get sick, was brushing my teeth from the running water of the sink.  Probably shouldn’t have done that.  I am still recuperating at this moment, and almost had to be sent to the ICU unit to get an IV to replenish my fluids, since I had a hard time keeping any fluid down.

I just can’t imagine living in the conditions we were in.  It amazes me how the locals are able to adapt to the climate, even though the translators from the water coasts of Sierra Leone even thought it was too hot for them.  It’s definitely an experience I would never forget, and hopefully something I don’t have to experience again, unless I bring a portable fan next time.

We ended up seeing over 700 patients, more than the goal of 300.  We primarily did extractions, many on young children. 

(Just uploaded more pictures, so make sure you take a look!)