Friday, October 24, 2008

today in the clinic...

i've seen a plethora of 'interesting' cases... we were joking that at home (in the US) we sort of "live" for the interesting cases. that being because most of what we see are routine well child checks, visits to check on blood pressure, diabetes, etc. all of which are not very "interesting."
Here, on the other hand, there is an endless stream of "interesting"... to the near complete exclusion of anything routine. Though, i suppose we do call the severe anemia/malaria combo somewhat routine now.
So, the list of interesting cases today:
myelomeningocele/spina bifida
possibly typhoid fever
cystic hygroma (bigger than a large grapefruit attached to a baby's neck) resection
malnutrition
bad malnutrition
babies drinking water not breast milk (unfortunately borders on routine here)
sciatic nerve damage from an injection
a 5 year old with heart failure - i took a video of his chest. it was dancing!
tetanus
syphillis in baby and mom

back to work this afternoon...


Some Updates:
  • the woman a while ago with tetanus died.
  • i continue to struggle with the nursing care here- it is a major limitation to the quality of care we are able to give. please pray for me to be patient, but also for the nurses to catch a vision for how much of a difference they can make in the patients' lives. And, that they would care! about these people (regardless of tribe!), not just show up because it is their job.
  • there are several pretty sick children that need prayer - 6 y.o. girl with cerebral malaria; a 9 mo. old boy with cerebraal malaria and malnutrition. please pray for their healing and that their families would encounter Jesus through this hospital.
  • praise to God for some children who have improved from being very very ill.
  • pray for someone to be raised up to champion the cause of the infants here - the moms need so so much education, and the in-hospital care we give infants is again sub-standard often due to the inadequate nursing care, and the extent of damage already done by the mothers' feeding water to the babies, etc.

No comments: