We Say Goodbye to Dr. Arleigh

Yesterday Dr. Arleigh made the wrenchingly sad decision to return to the states. Her health had been worrying her for several days and became enough of a concern that, after her consultation with Dr. Doug and Dr. Mike, arrangements were made to change her flight. Words cannot express Arleigh’s distress about being unable to continue as a part of the medical team, but, as an emergency medicine physician, she knew the importance of being close to her own medical facilities and physicians.

The operating room saw constant use as Dr. Doug and Cindy worked with Mr. Wazeri, the scrub tech, and Dr. Makao, the anesthesiologist. One of the surgeries was a hysterectomy and Pati was taught to scrub and assist with the procedure. Dr. Mike saw patients all day with the rest of the team assisting him in his exams and dispensing his prescriptions. After working at such a fast pace all week, the energy level on the team was not as high as it had been the previous several days, so work stopped at 5:30. As we left the clinic, we decided to play tourist for an hour or two. Barbara asked for votes, and the top two were fabric and BEER. Unfortunately, it was 5:50 by the time we were in downtown Morogoro and the grocery store where beer can be bought closes at 6. Therefore, obviously, we had to shop for fabric and then eat dinner at a restaurant where the second need could be met.

Barbara took us to her favorite fabric shop, which was a very narrow store front that revealed walls 12 feet tall proudly displaying every array of native fabric. Glynnis (the sewer) and Mike (the world class shopper) traded elbows back and forth as they pointed their choices to the shopkeeper. Barbara was kept busy translating the Swahili phrases on all the “kangas”, which are the Tanzanian bordered fabric.
Dinner was another visit to the Acropol and the team enjoyed a relaxing evening with conversation covering the gamut from Tanzanian culture and traditions to theological debates. By the time we returned to the LJS at bedtime, we were tired but content.

Before today, we had been working with four translators--two local pastors, Pastor William and Pastor Peter; our main translator from last year, Emanuel; and Barbara. Because tomorrow is Sunday, both pastors had to turn their attentions to preparation for services so we had only two translators to help us today. Four surgeries were performed and, again, Pati assisted with a hysterectomy. We were joined in mid-afternoon by Sue and Michelle, two members of the team from Washington State that arrived yesterday. Sue is an RN who works as a school nurse and was eager to see what our mission entails. We were eager for the extra help and immediately put them to work.

Dr. Mike was able to see and treat more than 20 patients with Dr. Doug seeing several surgical candidates during times when the operating room was being cleaned and prepped for the next patient. Our day did not end until 7:30 tonight and Barbara joined us for a late dinner at LJS. Diane Johnson, the leader of the Washington team, and Jill, another Washington team member, joined us in the dining hall to hear about Sue and Michelle’s time at St. Mary’s.

Tomorrow we will worship at a Masai village with the Washington team, after which Dr. Doug, Cindy and Pati will go to St. Mary’s to work on two more surgeries.