Evolution of an Adventure

Evolution of an Adventure....


10/23/11 Greetings! Welcome to my Nursing in Nepal blog! In May, 2012, I'll be graduating from San Jose State University's School of Nursing and in early June I'll be leaving for three weeks in Nepal along with SJSU faculty and other nursing students to provide nursing care to women and children in Nepal and I need your help to get there! Our team will be providing wellness exams, vaccination clinics, and health education in Kathmandu and other villages in the Kathmandu Valley. My goal is to raise $5,000, which will cover a significant portion of this trip. I realize that the current economy is making life difficult for all of us. Any amount contributed is appreciated as each dollar gets me closer to an opportunity to help disadvantaged families while building my skills as a nurse and caretaker.

I'll be updating this blog with amusing tales of adventures in preparing for international travel and, once there, I'll be documenting my experience with photos and stories as much as the available power supply will allow! Subscribe to my blog and please join me on my adventure in Nursing in Nepal! I welcome your comments, questions and insights through this amazing journey.


12/8/11 I have just received the uber disappointing news that the nursing trip to Nepal has been canceled as political unrest has put Nepal on the State Department's watchlist and the university won't let us go. While it will be incredibly difficult to quit dreaming Nepalese dreams, I am unshaken from my determination to take an equally awesome nursing trip after graduation. I just have to figure out where and how. So, I'll do some research in the hopes of finding another exciting opportunity off the beaten path and apply my passion and your generosity there. If I can't find anything within a few months, I will refund your donations. Thank you again for your support and stay tuned!


Next stop...


1/6/12 It's on like Donkey Kong! So, a bit of change... turns out I'll be going to the Edna Adan Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland. It is a midwife-led clinic and I'll be staying in a guestroom at the clinic (which I hope isn't code for hospital bed) and I will share more details as soon as I have them. When the trip to Nepal was canceled, I was heart broken, crestfallen and downright bummed. I had just long enough to think about it all that I had created an idea in my head of the adventure that I was going to have there. After a few hours of being sad girl, I said to myself "Self, you can still have an adventure somewhere. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself." According to ProWorld, their projects in Nepal are still on, so that was still a possibility, but a very expensive possibility. No different than when the school trip was on, but as long as my adventure options are open, why not find something equally mind blowing for a bit less money? I emailed a doctor who spoke to my nursing class about the Fistula Foundation (www.fistulafoundation.org) and asked if any of the clinics they support in Africa might be willing to take a new grad nurse for a few weeks this summer. An email turned into a conference call which turned into me going to Somaliland!

Side note to any nursing students who might be reading this: clinic placement is not the regular domain of the Fistula Foundation. I lucked into a formal introduction, but you can contact the Edna Adan University Hospital directly for service options.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

So I'm pretty sure I'm mutating into something, but don't know what yet.  I got my travel vaccines today.  I apologize: I had every intention of getting pictures of that special torture for all of my fans out there, but apparently I'd be violating (willingly) my own HIPAA protections and the nurse wouldn't let me do it.  Anyways, I promise it happened.  Hep A and Typhoid in one arm and Rabies and polio in the other and let me just say CRIKEY that rabies shot hurts!  It went into my right shoulder and I think I see an eyeball sprouting out of my acromium region.  You know that part towards the end of Resident Evil when Mr. Beefycakes gets scratched by the Licker in the train tunnel and then he sprouts hair or teeth or something out of his shoulder?  Yeah.  It's like that.   So I'll let you know how that turns out.  I can feel it working....
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You thought I'd canceled or something, right?  WRONG.  I'm still totally going and it's going to be awesome.  I have my plane tickets set.  I'll be leaving June 1st, flying from San Francisco to Amsterdam.  I get a day in Amsterdam to play and then I fly to Dubai with no time to play but plenty of time to kill in the airport, then to Djibouti, then Hargeisa by June 3rd.  I'm there through July 1st, then home via Dubai, with a day to play, Atlanta (with time for breakfast), and home to San Fran on July 3rd.  YAAAAAY!


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