Interesting start in the outpatient clinic...

Getting up early was tough, but I managed and was in the car at 730am, wondering how many patients would be waiting at the gate. As we drove by, it was hard to estimate the number of patients; they were in a clump rather than a line, but I soon heard that there were about 60 children waiting. Welcome back!

Today was an interesting start to the new year. Lots of 'excitement' and a bit of a delay in getting started in the lab which is also why we were still waiting for lab results at 6pm.

The excitement started when I plugged in my oto/opthalmoscope (machine to look in ears/eyes). Within a few seconds it smelled like something was burning, something electrical. Never a good smell. A few seconds later I saw smoke coming out of the machine. Again, not good! I unplugged it and later got an electrician to help sort the thing out again. Believe it or not, the machine still works! But I wonder how long the burnt smell will linger???!!

The excitement continued when the microscope bulb blew. Then the microscope itself blew. And to make matters worse, when we tried our back-up microscope, it wasn’t working. Agghhh. First day hiccups for sure. Fortunately we got the back-up microscope up and running, but only after 1 1/2 hours; hence the delay in lab results.

On top of the excitement we already had, I’ll add the story of the MISSING WEIGHING BAGS. This sounds strange I know, but it’s a serious matter. You see, we have a hanging scale in the clinic. Basically we have a bag that the children can wear, then we hang the bag on the hook and see how much the child weighs. Well, today both bags were NOWHERE to be found. Imagine that. Both bags missing. Just think about how practical it is to weigh a 1 month old on a standing scale! Well, we managed, but I sure do hope the mystery of the missing bags is solved. Any ideas?