1/18/2010

It’s been yet another busy day here in Mukeu. Dr. Sams made French Toast for breakfast…I was so excited for something familiar. But I still felt like I had something stuck in my throat. I figured it wouldn’t be so bad, but after eating just a little bit, my throat started having spasms again. I took a little nap and felt much better when I awoke and headed up to clinic around 10:00. When I got there, I was amazed at how many people were waiting. I guess the word had gotten out about the Muzungo doctors being in town. They saw some pretty serious situations today. One lady had given birth by C-Section a couple of weeks ago and had what they were pretty sure was a pulmonary embolism. We sent her straight to the hospital. Another young girl came in with blood pooling at her feet and soaking her skirt. Her index finger was just barely hanging on as she had cut it really severely using a machete on the farm. An elderly man who had already suffered a stroke came in because he was having altered mental status. He had a pretty bad infection, so they tried to give him an IV but weren’t able to get it in. After giving him some rehydrating solution, he appeared to be back to normal so they sent him home. He appears to be on his last leg…it’s only a matter of time for him. There was a patient with paranoid schizophrenia, and someone just diagnosed with congenital heart failure. There were lots of emergencies…what a day! I worked in the pharmacy for a while again today. I’m amazed at how the pharmacy works here. I was pretty concerned about it, so I talked to Chris, who explained that it’s just a cultural thing. This is the way they do things here. There have been numerous times that the American medicine names are different from the Kenyan medicine names. Sometimes when I ask about it, they will say, “Oh, I think this is the same thing.” Key word being think. When I press them about making sure it’s the right medication, they just take it from me and give it to the patients anyway, without being sure that it’s what has been prescribed. Today, a man was given his medication and he said that he was having stomach pain and wasn’t given anything for his stomach. The pharmacist asked me what to do and I said that we should ask the doctor if something should be prescribed whereupon he turned around, grabbed a medication off of the shelf and gave it to the man without a doctor’s prescription! Later, I was filling a prescription…I guess I am a bit of a rule follower and when the prescription says something, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. The other guy working with me followed me around and kept taking pills I had just put in, out of the medicine baggie and putting them away. I asked him what he was doing and he said that the patient didn’t really need all of the medication. Just some. He evidently knew better than the doctor did. It really bothered me and finally I just stepped out. The pharmacy wasn’t the place for me today. I think the British tea tradition has had a deep impact upon the culture here. The British, afterall, were the settlers here. Every day at 10:00, clinic stops and they and have tea. Then at 2:00, they stop clinic again and have lunch. Then at 4:00, there is another tea break. The poor, sick, hungry patients just sit there and wait. It’s been hard for us to get used to. Especially today, since we really had life and death situations. The girl who was bleeding profusely and had a finger dangling off was sitting waiting to be seen, and Chris was trying to find someone to help him with interpretation. He asked two girls and they said, “But first we will go take tea.” I explained to them that in the US, they don’t get to take breaks until their work is done, and a girl was really in serious condition and needed immediate help, and they said, “But sometimes we get hungry.” So sure enough, the doctors waited for all of the interpreters to take tea before they could see their next patients. Tea must be a very intricate part of their culture. At 2:00 this afternoon, we were going to go to Kijabe to visit the mission hospital there with Pastor John. We were going to go on Wednesday, but Pastor John wanted to go with us and visit a patient as well as meet with the medical director, so we agreed to go with him. So we climbed into Pastor John’s car and headed out to Kijabe. We learned a lot about the hospital, and we had a productive meeting regarding Kijabe partnering with Mukeu in creating a larger outpatient clinic where more services could be offered, perhaps even Kijabe supporting the building of the maternity health center that we’ve been talking so much about. It was interesting because the medical director said that they had just made a 10 year plan and in that plan, they had decided that the next outpatient clinic they’d like to start was in Mukeu. It seemed perfect timing that we approached them about supporting the dispensary and maternity center. It’s so neat to see God’s hand at work. We got to see Margaret, the lady who had a stroke last Monday. She seemed to be doing well. She still cannot move the left side of her body at all, but is talking and able to eat soft foods. We were able to talk with her for a few minutes and pray with her. All in all it was a productive day. But I must say, I’m so ready to come home. Papa Johns sounds really good tonight! :)