Day 2 @ the Hospital

This morning we woke up early again and prepared to go to the hospital.  The vans came and we piled inside.  About five minutes outside the compound there was a huge traffic jam and our driver alerted us that the road was closed.  We took a roundabout way but the areas around the city were congested with people.  We prodded the driver with questions because there were a lot of police along the route we were taking to the hospital.  The driver said that there had been a riot this morning in the open air market and the police had shut everything down.  After sitting in slow moving traffic for about an hour we arrived at the hospital. 

My group of four made our way up to pediatrics to watch rounds take place.  The doctors were just starting rounds and we followed as they shared and translated for us.  A lot of the patients suffered from malaria or meningitis, some had better prognosis than others and were able to be discharged.  Although some of the cases were similar there were a couple interesting ones.  There was a baby who was born with a weight of 2.5 kilograms and has not gained any weight and is over a month and a week old.  The baby was one of the tiniest things I have ever seen and looked so vulnerable laying in such a large bed.  The doctors said the baby was malnourished, and had symptoms of either malaria or a chest infection.  The doctor explained that a lot of the time they don’t have the proper tests to differentiate between diagnoses so they end up treating the patients for both to see how they respond.  Another interesting case we saw today was a boy who had been in the hospital since august first and arrived comatose and unresponsive to anything.  The boy had severe malaria but has now been improving to the point where he has been audible and calling for his mom.  It’s sad hearing him moan “mama, mama” but deep down we know it is good he is talking because he is getting better. Although the African hospital experience sometimes can be hard it is amazing coming back to pediatrics again and seeing certain children improving and being moved to a less severe area.  One final case I found cool today was a baby had a rare skin disease called lamella echynosis. The baby looked like he was covered in burns and his skin was white and blotchy.  His eyelids almost looked like they had been flipped inside out because they were pink and swollen.  The doctor explained that with proper treatment the baby has great prognosis but a lot of the times the parents aren’t attentive enough with treatment so often they don’t get better. I wanted to take a picture but I had to respect the patient’s privacy so I’ll try to find a photo online. 

Being in pediatrics today really hit home for me; I kept thinking of Victoria because she is about the age many of the children are here in the ward.  A lot of the kids are smiley and stare at us while we walk around the hospital.  I wave or smile at them and a lot of them hide behind their mothers. 

                                                                  Another view of the hospital

After we finished rounds in Pediatrics there wasn’t much else to do so we went elsewhere in the hospital.  First we stopped in Major Theatre to see if there were any surgeries but there were not enough boots for all four of us to scrub in.  We walked over to maternity and met up with some other students from our group.  They showed us around the ward and the women that were currently in labor.  There were three women in their rooms and they were moaning with pain because there isn’t any pain medication or epidurals.  The rooms were divided with curtains and not very private and only had a bed inside.  Most of the time the women would be sent up to C-section because they have been in labor for so long.  Before we got to maternity there had been two births so we checked in on the babies.  They were adorable but basically just sitting in their own room with no monitors or anything.  It was about time for us to be picked up for lunch but we were going to stop in minor theatre before we left.  There were a lot of us there and Mia was changing a dressing so we watched how to do that.  After the dressing we decided we were going to come back at 9 tonight so we could get some more practice. 

                                                           the small rooms in maternity

We left the hospital and our van was there to pick us up.  About halfway there our van broke down on the side of the road.  Our driver called for the other van and everything worked out fine but everyone stared at us standing on the side of our road in scrubs.  We finally got home, changed, and headed for lunch at a café called café mocha which is a vegetarian/Lebanese restaurant/coffeeshop. I ordered a pesto sandwich and it was delicious! It had tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and pesto on a baguette. After eating we walked back to the compound to sneak in a nap before it was time to get ready to go back to the hospital.  It's raining here now pretty hard. Missing everyone, and I’ll update again later if anything cool happens tonight.

                                                our broken van on the side of the road