By Brittney Hibbard
It’s 10:23 pm and I just got back to my tukul from a very exciting game of Phase 10 with Dr. Farley and our 2 interpreters Giso (Geeze-Oh) and Abel (Ah-Bell). Of course the boardgamer Dr. Farley was the winner, leaving the rest of us to hope there would be a redemption round tomorrow. “Good night!” I say to my competitors as I head for bed after what seemed like only the perfect day to set up for another blog post…
“WAT WAT WAT!” I hear 3 birds cry outside my tukul window. Yes, this is the sound birds make in Ethiopia, which yes I will miss after I leave. I look at my phone to see 6:06 am. No “groundhog day” wake up at 6:10am this morning for Karla and me. With dreary eyes from a busy weekend, we get up and get dressed for our usual walk/jog around the compound. Turns out everyone besides 4 of us had the weekend hangover. After a refreshing WALK, since I was still VERY sore from our hike on Saturday, we headed to breakfast and started our day.
Per usual the dental clinic was hopping today. I believe we have been seeing 30ish patients per day, but today we saw over 40! Our day started out with a little boy who came to us last Friday when we were all packed up and ready to leave. Dr.’s Moore and Farley gave him a screening to see if anything could be done that day. Unfortunately we were not able to see him and told his father to bring him back Monday. So that’s exactly what he did. Long story short, we ended up saving the 2 teeth he had pain with. After the procedures on him, Dr.’s Moore and Farley, Giso, Abel and I took a picture with him and sent him on his way with a smile on his face and a bandana around his neck.
Now let’s do a complete 180 degrees and I’ll tell you about our last patient of the day. One of the ladies from the kitchen staff at Project Mercy came to the hospital to have #17 (lower wisdom tooth) removed. She is such a sweet woman, very quiet and gentle and she was very nervous. First Dr. Moore started the extraction with her sitting on a folding chair in the hall outside the dental operatories where we usually work. Since there are 2 dentists on this trip we have 2 areas set up for extractions. After only a couple of minutes, Dr. Moore knew we were going to have to move her into the better chair where she could lay down and it be easier for him to proceed. So even longer story short, after a long extraction, Dr. Moore finally got the entire tooth out and we had her biting on gauze. We sit the chair up and she starts not feeling well. She ends up passing out in the chair and coming to and passing out and coming to. Giso grabs some glucose to give to her because she said she has been fasting all day, but isn’t able to swallow this because half of her mouth is numb. After that she starts dry heaving and throwing up mucus. At this point I had to leave because I was dry heaving myself. Of all the blood and exudate I see on a daily basis, but throw a little mucus in there and I’m out the door! Jen and Jacky come to her aid to help Abel and Giso start and IV fluid drip and to take her blood pressure. Thankfully she starts feeling better and we are able to get her onto the bus back to Project Mercy. Another IV fluid drip is needed for her when we get back to base but she ends up pulling through and feeling back to normal.
After things cooled down we had dinner which consisted of bread, spaghetti and the awesome salad we have every night. We had reflection, read the previous day’s blog post and comments, which next to my family I always love hearing the encouraging words from the dental team’s #1 fan Darla Zahn, and departed ways for the night.
We only have a few days left in this beautiful country and I know right now I am going to miss every moment of it when I get back home. I am trying to take in the scenes and people as much as I can while I am still able to.
For now, I want to say hello to my friends and family back home. I don’t miss home quite yet, and I think it’s because I haven’t been able to hear your voices, but I know once I do, that I will want to come home ASAP. Tyler, get your diet pop kick in now while I’m not around ;). Love you all and just know I’m having the time of my life! See you in a couple of days!
Ethiopia 
Surely glad the dental patient is OK now. Quite a saga! Enjoy your final days and enjoy all you are doing.
Love the blog update Brittany, especially your summary of the day by highlighting your first and last patients in the dental clinic, some days that’s all we remember are the 1st and the last (or sometimes the best and the worst) as those really busy days just blur together other than that! Great job taking care of your last patient with the extraction and complications, very scary! Must be the altitude that caused your dry heaves, I’m sure you are not losing your usually strong “dental” stomach! Once you build that skill, it never goes away.
Before I forget, I have an awesome idea for you to capture your audible memories of Yetebon….do a video on your phone to record the most unusual sounds that are the best memories of your experience; the birds, the hyenas, etc. Then ask your UBER TECHIE friend, Dr. Farley, to help you make it into a ring tone to share with everyone so they can program their alarms to wake them up to those distinct sounds every day. Music and sound are the memory’s best trigger!! You can even get one of those huge spiders to make a squealing sound to record – ok, that’s bad, skip that part! eeekkk!
Love the daily updates as they are a great way for you to reflect on your work, your experiences, your learnings, and the memories!
Glad to hear the morning 2K is still a habit, stay dedicated and finish strong!!
WAY TO GO TEAM DENTAL!! YOU GOT THIS!
~ from your #1 fan, and the Gundersen Dental Team
p.s. I would appreciate any connections to the New Zealand visitors you had, I am going there in February!
Happy Tuesday Brittney…not much longer and you’ll be home. Sounds like you ARE having a wonderful time…so many new experiences you’ll get to share with us. I hope you have taken a lot of pictures also to share. Glad to hear you aren’t too sore from the hike…such breathtaking views. Everyone here says ‘HI”…even the TEEKS and KIM’S and yes, Sako. They will be so excited to see you. Enjoy the rest of your stay…and don’t forget to bring me some coffee!! Love you….MOM and DAD
When you get the African bird ring tones figured out, Brittany and Nate – we’d love to have them shared so we can enjoy them too. The morning sounds are one of the ‘memories’ that linger with us in a special way…. that and all the beauty of the people and the surroundings. What a wonderful team; you make us proud. We are praying you end well and have safe travels home.
Sorry Brittney, I misspelled your name in my first comment. I own my mistakes……so, my apologies.
I see your mom got it right! AND I also see we can place orders for coffee??!
Sounds like a much to exciting day but I am very glad that everyone is doing well now. We are looking forward seeing everyone Friday and are glad you aren’t missing home too much:) So happy that you all have experienced so much and gotten to serve so many people. Safe travels!
I couldn’t be happier for you! You are doing such good work and truly enjoying the experience! I look forward to hear all the details!! Be safe!!! ❤️Jeri
So great to read the daily updates about all of the wonderful experiences you have had. It sounds like the country is none other than beautiful. We continuously pray for you and a safe flight home! We love you, Barb looking forward to hearing about your trip!
Dad and Barb
Wow, great story. Love reading the blogs! Can’t wait to see you and hear about everything. And yes, I am getting my diet soda kick in, lol. Love you and see you Friday!
Thanks for all of the great updates! Made the mistake of reading this one over lunch…unlike the patient I was able to keep everything down…just barely;) Jen and other Cubs fans on the trip, our Cubs are up 2 games to 1 over the Nationals. Was all excited about trying to clinch last night, but game was rained out before it began. So hopefully tonight it happens! Other excitement for the last night, is that Olivia survived her first 2 hour cheer leading practice immediately followed by ballet. She did it all with a great big smile on her face at the end of it all. She (and Gianna and Gavin) have been absolute champs the last couple of weeks! The other noteworthy thing from last night is that we were looking at your flight itinerary, and assuming that I am reading it correctly (which I will verify today), you fly in on Friday night, not Thursday night. A little sad that we have to wait another day to see you, but found a positive in it: one more day before we have to start cleaning! Totally kidding, as we have been on the move enough that we haven’t had time to mess much of anything up:) We miss you love you, and can’t wait to see you!