Tuesday 24 March 2015

AEP to Sport Scientist….

Well ex-pats in Malawi certainly know how to put on a good show for St Patrick's day.  I was not expecting to see some excellent Irish craic in the middle of Lilongwe!  A tent packed with at least 1000 mzungus.  Who knew that there were that many of us here! Some flash mob appearances of 'Boyzone-reincarnated' kept us entertained whilst I reminisced of an interesting St Patrick's day in Dublin 9 years ago!

From a clinical perspective every week the tenacity and determination of the clients that we see continues to astound me.  From mothers who continue to carry their 12-14 year old boys with CP, to cancerous limbs that one should not ever discuss again, to burns contractures which could have been prevented had they had treatment post burn to those that have been 'treated' by traditional doctors with scars, blindness and other interesting 'cures'.  No 2 days are the same.  CP kids still win the day with me.  One small look has me entertaining them all day.  A pipe dream would be to set up a CP clinic in the villages.  Any willing benefactors and potential rehab staff willing to volunteer get in touch!!!

On a slight change in career path here I was approached by one of the top Malawian teams to assist with rehab, fitness, strength, flexibility and who knows what else!!!  Who knows FIFA may see me yet!  You may make a sports scientist out of me yet (I say that very loosely old colleagues of mine).

2 weeks before Easter and I'm looking forward to the new cases potentially coming through but also a week off to explore some of Malawi! Stay tuned!


Thursday 12 March 2015

Lake, complex clients, CP fun and melting..in a good way

It has been a full couple of weeks.

Finally got to see some of the scenery of Malawi the last couple of weeks managing to spend some quality days with amazing friends at Salima, Senga Bay and Dedza.  Malawi is truly beautiful in the rainy season.  Having a couple of days at the lake, although over cast, was great to sit and watch the world go buy and have a sneaky G&T or 2.  Sunsets in Malawi are like no other!  You can see why African sunsets has such meaning!

My social life also took me to the Malawian Music Awards.  That was indeed an interesting experience.  I lasted a few hours but did not witness much music!

Another week of interesting cases with CP kids winning my heart again!  A young boy with significantly mobile knee has been an exceptionally puzzling case for all clinicians this week.  The royal 'we' are trying to come up with an interesting knee brace to serve some purpose while we await a surgical review.  He is exceptionally bright and has been home schooled by his dedicated father.  When the boy asked if I would teach him daily my heart melted.  We are hoping to find a children's centre near his village so he can at least get some education.

We had an outreach with a new partner this week and all clients were children with CP or spina bifida.  All children were under the age of 6 and of varying severity.  Whilst I love being a fascination and them playing with my hair, skin and earrings, I'm not so keen on the face slap or vomit!  My heart did melt when a gorgeous young girl with spina bifida said in English to me 'see you tomorrow'.  I tell you I am just a melting pot these last few weeks!

We have however seen some excessively confronting clients this week too.  Some include neck burns, leg burns and a cancer of the heel that I do not want to discuss or see again.  Some things are better not said!

The next couple of weeks we have some more outreaches and we're hoping to see more interesting clients come through.  Whilst some days are particularly Malawian (eg being in the bank for 2.5hrs for them to produce a form for me to sign) other days like outreach days consolidate why I'm here.