The good and the bad

A little 2 yr old girl presented to the hospital this morning with a 2 week history of bloody diarrhea. Mom brought her to a traditional healer and then eventually to us. She made it to the hospital just in time for us to watch her die on the wards within an hour. I feel bad for the other kids in the ward who have to see kids their age die every day. I can’t imagine what is going through their heads. Another death at the dawn of life.

Aside from a rough start, the day has been pretty good overall. I think I mentioned this before, but the families of the patients are responsible for taking care of and cooking for their loved ones, so there are people sleeping on the ground and sidewalks all over the compound. “Hello Docitah” they say with straight-teethed smiles as you walk by. “Hello, good morning” I say, and they respond with “you are welcome docitah”. And so it goes every morning and afternoon walking between the wards. The youngest children stare at me and touch my skin, wondering how a white person feels. The older kids laugh at the sound of their hearts through my stethoscope. There are many beautifully happy things all around us here, but it takes a conscious effort to avoid the drowning out by a mother’s wail.

The Children's Ward

Junior getting his dressings changed

The moms at the bedside

One of the residents showing me where to stick the needle.

Today a 15 year old girl came in with a spleen that took up her entire abdomen. Could be splenic sequestration due to sickle cell disease or could be something known as Tropical Splenomegaly which, per the residents on my team, occurs after repeated malarial infections in endemic areas. So yes, learning a lot.