Medical Problems
Sorry to have been off for a couple of weeks but have been having some medical issues. After months of chronic UTIs I went for an IVP which was normal, no stones and within 12 hours started pain and passed a stone! So much for tests! I had Major drive me to Harare to see my doctor because of the excruciating pain and about at the end of our dirt road felt a lot of pain and then relief! I knew that bumpy road was worth something!
All the way on the road I was curled up in fetal position not talking and Major was sure I died and kept asking if I was OK! I couldn't talk because it would hurt more and so he talked more! Funny now that I look back at it, not when I was using my Lamaze breathing techniques! That pain was something else and the drugs didn't touch it--and let me tell you I tried quite a few!
Now I am feeling better and only missed 1 day of work so that was good timing! My doctor in Harare gave me more drugs which helped a bit but seemed to make me more sick so didn't take them for long!
This week we have been dealing with so many patients who have been mistreated by other local hospitals. We finally decided that they might as well close the other hospitals and refer all people here because no one is going to them. As one of my patients said "I would rather die than go there," which is almost what happened!
Lori is helping me a lot in the work and this week she is being our computer expert as 2 of our computers started to crash! I am glad someone knows something besides how to turn it on and off like me!
We are always amazed that training of nurses and doctors has deteriorated so much due to the brain drain and those who could teach leaving for greener (even just a little less brown) pastures! This week one of my nurses wrote "dislocated diagram (meaning diaphragm)" as a diagnosis for a kid who got knocked out of scotch cart. That was a new one for me! I gave her a short anatomy lesson to tell her how that was an impossibility! The patient recovered so didn't need to google how to treat that dislocation!
We keep having hot weather and expect the rains to start any day--but nothing so far. People are wanting to buy seed and fertilizer but it is costing more than most people can afford!
We were blessed by a local farmer in Karoi who sent word he has 2 tons of maize for us and we can come and get it. After all the farmers have gone through in getting kicked off their land, it is truly a blessing for us to have him share so generously with us!
Today I was thinking I would be nominated and win the Nobel Prize for medicine--and you can say you knew me when! I was counting on how to spend that 1 million dollar prize too! I was counselling a patient and his wife for ART (drugs to treat AIDS) and asked the patient if he had been sick at all. he told me he had cancer. Immediately I began looking for K/S lesions (cancer in AIDS patients) and I asked where and he showed me in his armpit and he had a fungal infection. I told him I could certainly cure that "cancer" and prescribed some Diflucan! Maybe they will still consider me for the prize or at least the million dollars!
Take care and have a good week! Love, Kathy
All the way on the road I was curled up in fetal position not talking and Major was sure I died and kept asking if I was OK! I couldn't talk because it would hurt more and so he talked more! Funny now that I look back at it, not when I was using my Lamaze breathing techniques! That pain was something else and the drugs didn't touch it--and let me tell you I tried quite a few!
Now I am feeling better and only missed 1 day of work so that was good timing! My doctor in Harare gave me more drugs which helped a bit but seemed to make me more sick so didn't take them for long!
This week we have been dealing with so many patients who have been mistreated by other local hospitals. We finally decided that they might as well close the other hospitals and refer all people here because no one is going to them. As one of my patients said "I would rather die than go there," which is almost what happened!
Lori is helping me a lot in the work and this week she is being our computer expert as 2 of our computers started to crash! I am glad someone knows something besides how to turn it on and off like me!
We are always amazed that training of nurses and doctors has deteriorated so much due to the brain drain and those who could teach leaving for greener (even just a little less brown) pastures! This week one of my nurses wrote "dislocated diagram (meaning diaphragm)" as a diagnosis for a kid who got knocked out of scotch cart. That was a new one for me! I gave her a short anatomy lesson to tell her how that was an impossibility! The patient recovered so didn't need to google how to treat that dislocation!
We keep having hot weather and expect the rains to start any day--but nothing so far. People are wanting to buy seed and fertilizer but it is costing more than most people can afford!
We were blessed by a local farmer in Karoi who sent word he has 2 tons of maize for us and we can come and get it. After all the farmers have gone through in getting kicked off their land, it is truly a blessing for us to have him share so generously with us!
Today I was thinking I would be nominated and win the Nobel Prize for medicine--and you can say you knew me when! I was counting on how to spend that 1 million dollar prize too! I was counselling a patient and his wife for ART (drugs to treat AIDS) and asked the patient if he had been sick at all. he told me he had cancer. Immediately I began looking for K/S lesions (cancer in AIDS patients) and I asked where and he showed me in his armpit and he had a fungal infection. I told him I could certainly cure that "cancer" and prescribed some Diflucan! Maybe they will still consider me for the prize or at least the million dollars!
Take care and have a good week! Love, Kathy
Oh dear, i wish you and everyone out there a lot of health wealth and success and those in ailment a speedy recovery. Health is the biggest wealth, so everyone please look after it.
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