Will We Ever Get There ???

(Click Photo To Enlarge)
The first wave of our team left Nashville International Airport on Wed, 5-12-10. It was an ordeal just getting ready for the trip because of the events of the prior weeks in Nashville and our busy schedule at work, so there was a definite sense of relief when we got to the airport, got checked in and were able to sit down and for the first time and get excited about the trip ahead of us.

There were 5 of us from Vanderbilt leaving from Nashville; myself, Leah (PCCU critical care nurse), Kristen (PCCU Nurse Practioner), Rebecah (PCCU critical care nurse and buddy from Tenwek trip #1), and Tom (Critical Care Physician) all from Vanderbilt. The only problem so far is that there are 2 Tom’s AND our last names rhyme, so things could get confusing. Mine starts with a “K” and his with a “P” so he will be referred to from this point forward as “TP” (his suggestion, not mine!). We took off on Delta from Nashville on our way to Detroit.

Once in Detroit, we met Dr. Mike a cardiologist and buddy from Tenwek trip #1 who flew in from Knoxville. We affectionately refer to him as “Uncle Mike” because he is so much older than the rest of us. He is very sensitive about this, so we try to mention it at least 3 or 4 times per day (sorry Mike, this is my blog and you’re asleep across the aisle from me right now unable to comment ;) “Uncle Mike” is my roommate on this trip and is the glue that holds the Tenwek experiences together. He is the reason these trips have become a reality through his relationship with Dr. Russ the Chief of Staff at Tenwek Hospital. We also met up with Dr. Ross (Cardiologist) and wife Sharon (Hematology – Oncology nurse) from the Midwest.

Introductions from the lower left photo (from left to right): Me, Uncle Mike, TP, Sharon, Joe and the 3 nurses on the far right (from left to right) are Leah, Rebecah (in back) and Kristen (in front).

After a brief layover in Detroit we boarded our KLM flight for Amsterdam, the first really long 7+ hour leg of the flight. The nice thing about KLM is that they feed us – constantly. If we have to stay up for almost 48 hours straight we might as well be eating while we do it!

None of us could sleep on the flight to Amsterdam so we were pretty wiped out when we got there. Of course you could never tell by the photo of the “girls” upper right in the Amsterdam airport while enjoying a latte.

The flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi was even longer than the trans-atlantic flight, so we continued our sleeplessness… AND our eating. 8 hours later we landed in Nairobi. I think most of us got “some” sleep on this leg of the flight, but we were all pretty beat-up when we got off the plane. I love getting off in Nairobi because you know you’re definitely not in “Kansas” anymore. As difficult as it was for me to accomplish, I kept my camera in it’s bag and didn’t take a single picture in the airport. We were given strict instructions not to take any photos in the airport so I complied. It was very hot and humid and sticky. We collected our suitcases and trunks and baggage filled with medication, hospital supplies, gadgets and monitors and headed for customs.

Last year my bag was the only one that the Nairobi customs officials decided to pick through and ask questions about. This year after we exchanged our US dollars for Kenyan Shillings we proceeded to customs and waited about 5 or 10 minutes in line before Kristen noticed that they weren’t waiting on anyone, they were all just standing around talking, so we casually pushed our 4 carts of luggage and other baggage on wheels right out the door into a very cool evening. It had just stopped raining and the cool weather felt great.

Our good friend Gerald was waiting for us from Samaritan’s Purse to drive us to our final destination that evening. On my last trip to Kenya in 2008, Gerald drove us back and forth from Nairobi to Tenwek and from the safari back to Nairobi and several other people in the group knew him as well from their repeat trips. By the time we got through all the Nairobi gridlock traffic we arrived at the Menonite Guesthouse around 10:30 pm Kenyan time. We were all very excited to be shown to our bedrooms for our first good night sleep in 2 nights.

That was last night. This morning we enjoyed a big breakfast and were taken by vans to Tenwek Hospital. More on that later.

We’re here, we’re safe and we’re all very excited!