New Day....New President.......

Arguably one of the most historic elections in American history has just occurred with the election of Obama, but it does not change the condition of the sick and suffering in the DR or elsewhere......... I sent a text to Angie giving her the news this AM and that PA voted Democratic in the electoral college. (For those of you reading this a little unknown fact about our intrepid Pediatric RN.....She worked in Tommy Thompson's team in Madison as a policy analyst for the state of WI for nearly 2 years as part of the team developing the Works to Welfare reform - it was during this time she gained her interest in politics and saw it being worked out first hand - and helped form her opinion of American politics and her political standing. BTW, this does not provide you with any insight into her political leanings, in case you were wondering, and yes she voted by absentee ballot).

Enough of the political stuff and onto the reason for the blog....an update from the DR. I received the following text this morning: "No power or water. Poverty and filth is wearing me out. Today is supposed to be the busiest day yet to come - come and get me!"

I received this on my way to run a 1/2 day symposium and to give 2 lectures so was unable to text back so I waited until later and then great news...........I got a phone call. We decided to chat for while (and forget the Verizon bill!!), since she wanted to hear the latest about Joe, Elliot and Katie.....and of course not forgetting the dog, Biggles. It was good to be able to tell her that on the home front the problems seem to be resolving and things are ticking along.

So what other "gems" did I gather about life in the DR. Apparently life is just very wearing and tough. Even the evenings are tiring, it is very hot and there is very little time to really relax during the evenings. The bugs are enormous and apparently there are photos to prove it (the size of a hand). Bug bites are de rigor although Angie seems to have avoided the worst of it - one of the team has 35 on her legs alone. At 4 am most mornings Angie finds her GI system decides its time to spring into action and sleep therefore comes to a halt. A rush to the bathroom ensues and afterwards, due to the lack of water, a trip outside to pick up a bucket of rain water is required to flush the "loo" (OK British parlance for toilet).

It seems that everyone on the team (and here at home) is now really counting the days and nights before they return home.......

...................3 more nights and 2 more days...........