Another update. One sad story (sorry) and 2 more
light-hearted ones..
When we were on the Diploma last year in Liverpool we were
lucky enough to have some fascinating lectures on the effect of snakebite on
the rural poor communities in Africa. We had seen a few cases since getting
here but none very severe. Last Friday a 19 year old girl was brought to my
ward having been bitten on the forehead by a puff adder while sleeping on the
floor of her hut. This is a very venomous snake and her face swelled up quickly
and she had difficulty breathing. We started to treat her and then tried to
source some antivenom, which is intravenous medication which can be
life-saving. She had a tracheostomy put in to help her breathe (by a surgeon
who was off sick but got out of bed to come and do it) and by 5pm I had managed
to source some anti-venom from a hospital 2 hours away, which the hospital car
went to pick up. The whole day had seemed like one huge team effort with
different departments working together in a way that any hospital could be
proud of. I would love to tell you that this story had a happy ending but
tragically the girl died that same evening, while the anti-venom was still en
route from the other hospital. I have no idea whether if we had had anti-venom
at our hospital it would have made the difference, I’m inclined to think it may
not have done as the bite was so severe and in such an unfortunate place, but
we will never know.
We had already been told in Liverpool that anti-venom was difficult
to come by and often not accessible to those who need it most, but seeing the
effects first hand was pretty devastating.
We deal with high mortality here a lot, but every now and
then a case comes along which just seems tragic and pointless and makes you
angry for the injustice people here suffer.
The support from everyone here is fantastic though and
although cases like that can be hard to deal with there are also the really
amazing stories of patient’s recovering against all the odds.
Right.. on to the happy stories…
On Saturday Nelson (our gardener) invited us to his home in
a village the other side of the Great East Road. We cycled there in the
beautiful sunshine and arrived to a line up of chairs outside his house and
some cold cokes, bread rolls and cucumber bought especially for the occasion,
as well as a lot of very curious children – see photos! It was very humbling to
see how he and his family (wife and 3 kids with another on the way) live and
they were really hospitable. We saw their house, fields (where they grow maize,
pumpkins and sunflowers) and Nelson’s cow and calf (a gift from Nigel the
English paediatrician last year!) They are better off than many as they live in
a brick house with a tin roof, but they still worry about food, school fees and
so forth.
After a relaxing day we decided it was about time to sample
Katete’s night-life, so Tom and I, Charlotte and Gustav (a Norwegian Dr who has
been every year for the last 5) headed out into the dark night with some of
Gustav’s Zambian pals. It was pretty dark as Zesco (the slightly inept power
supplier!) had decided on yet another power out, but when we arrived at the bar
we were delighted to find some light, cold beers and music, all courtesy of a
very noisy generator!! The power did eventually return however so we went to
Drums (Katete’s ?only night-club)
and danced Zambian style to an eclectic mix featuring Celine Dion and other
classics.
That’s all for now.. In the words of our Medical Superintendant, ‘I hope you have
a quiet week.’
Becca x
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| Tom with Mr and Mrs Nelson (and their pumpkins) |
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| Becca and Nat on a Sunday outing |
