Sorry it's been so long since I have posted anything. We had major rain the past 3 days, which puts a big damper on my ability to access the wireless internet. Time is flying by here- today is my last weekday. I can't even think about leaving yet- there is just too much to be done.
We have had some ups and downs this week, as always. The NICU has had some sad cases. We had a 4.6 kg infant delivered at 44 weeks with severe asphyxia. We also have an infant whose mother was in labor for 48 hours before she sought medical attention. These babies have such severe anoxia. One of them passed away last night, the other is in critical condition. The importance of maternal and child health supervision is evident everywhere you turn. Access to care is still a major issue here. And it is a hard, hard thing to be a baby in the developing world.
We also have had some malnutrition admissions. One is a 3 month old girl who has a cleft palate. She is unable to breastfeed due to her cleft, and her mother cannot afford food. Breastfeeding failure is a major cause of malnutrition here because when mothers are unable to feed they often do not have another option. This poor little sweetheart just grabs your heart. She weighs four pounds, so she even infant clothes are baggy on her. She was really irritiable when she came in, but has improved after being fed. I went on a quest for a Huber nipple, which is a specialized nipple used to feed babies with cleft palate. As you can imagine, I was not successful. I could barely find a place that sold baby bottles at all. I am hoping Dr. Okoh can bring a few back from his trip to the states.
We have had an interesting challenge on the wards this week. A few children from local orphanages have been brought in for various complaints. One of them has unbelievable splenomegaly, but nobody knows how long he has been that way or any family or medical history. The staff from the orphanage were interested to know if we would be interested in making field trips to see children at the orphanage for them. Apparently now they have 500 children they are taking care of. If they had asked me before today, I would definitely have gone. Maybe next trip.
We discharged one of the tetanus admissions this morning. He has been here the entire three weeks I have been here. He walked out of his room today(albeit stiffly) and said "I'm ready to go home." We all clapped for him- it is so good to see him well again. It is really uplifting to see a boy who was so sick walk out smiling today.
Hopefully I will have internet access so I can publish some reflections before I leave.
