Saving babies

Everything is exaggerated in Africa. Time moves slower, the mountains are bigger, and the kids are sicker. For those of you who know my background, you know that I am an ICU nurse whose heavy heart pushed her into primary care in search of healthy kids. But now the kids in primary care are just as sick are breaking my heart every day. Yesterday and today were particularly difficult.

We started off clinic with a very sick little boy with HIV and CP in respiratory distress. We ended up admitting him to the ward with a severe pneumonia.

The next patient was a 16 year old boy that we disclosed his HIV status to and he had NO IDEA. (In Tanzania, the children are simply given medicine and they have no idea why they take it. "Disclosure", or telling a child about their HIV status, happens around 12 or 13.) All he knew was that he took medicine every day because his father told him to and that his mother died when he was little. It remains unclear to me whether he was totally in the dark, or perhaps suspected that he had HIV, but we told him all about his disease. It was one of the more difficult conversations I have ever had with a patient. To him it was a death sentence and meant that he would be ostracized from his friends. We emphasized that he would live a normal life-- he just had to remember his medicine every day. He could even follow his dream of being a pilot if he studied very hard in school. After about an hour of tear-filled counseling, he said, "I would just like to go home if it is possible."

We re-admitted a kid that came back for a check-up after being discharged with a severe infection. He had cancer about a year ago and it had metastasized to the liver. No one told him that he had to go through another two rounds of chemo.

And the cherry on top of my Debbie week was that a beautiful little girl was abandoned in the pediatric ward today. Her mother left and the nurses brought her into the clinic. She looks about 6 months old and has the most wonderful personality. It has been outlawed for single women to adopt Tanzanian children.

Ugh. Rough. I'm headed back to my house now for lunch, a handful of Skittles (thanks Aunt Janet & Uncle Bob!), and a nap.

Tomorrow will be better.