Doctor Hat, Mom Hat

Many of you have asked what types of illnesses and diseases we will see here in Kenya.  In the little time that we have spent in the hospital thus far, I have been astounded at the significant and varied pathology...and the high level of care these kids receive despite very limited resources.

View of the hospital from the road behind our house - the children's ward is on the side facing the picture.

4 wheel drive ambulance - one big hurdle to getting a patient here is the road down to Kijabe from the main highway. It is very rutted and washed out.  I can't imagine traveling that road with appendicitis or broken bones.  Ow, ow, ow - each pothole another experience in raw misery.

We will be covering the pediatric ward (paediatric, due to the leftover British influence from colonization!), the kids in the ICU (5 ICU beds for entire hospital - babies, kids, and adults), nursery (more like a NICU, since "well-babies" are often seen by the midwives and then discharged), outpatient clinic, and Emergency Dept (called Casualty here).  The work is divided between 2 pediatricians during the day, and one person covers on call during nights and weekends. 

Let me give you a snapshot of a few patients that have been here over the last few days....

On the ward, there was a child with miliary tuberculosis, a 6 month old infant with worsening jaundice (screened for TORCH and found to have congenital CMV), another with a neck mass who was scheduled to have a biopsy the next day to determine if it was inflammatory or malignant, a couple of kids with diarrhea/dehydration/pneumonia, and then there was "John."  John is a 12 year old boy who came in for scoliosis repair, but was found to be in congestive heart failure with pulmnonary hypertension likely due to pneumonia.  He required treatment in the ICU with mechanical ventilation but still suffered anoxic brain injury.  You medical people know what this means, but - to spell it out - he went from being a normal 12 year old boy to a boy who will probably never be able to go to school again and may be wheelchair bound.  His is not a happy ending.

In the nursery, there is a baby with coarcation of the aorta who was SGA (small for gestational age) and, therefore, too little to repair at the moment; a baby with tracheoesophageal fistula AND transposition of the great vessels (with large ASD and VSD); one whose mom abrupted during labor and was rushed here (still wet and not stabilized) from a facility 45 minutes away; a couple of preterm babies with feeding issues; an 8 week old with hydrocephalus/hypernatremia/malnutrition.  I can share a very happy ending from last week...I am told that Kijabe Hospital has never been able to celebrate a successful tracheoesophageal fistula repair, but one was repaired a week or two ago (another one besides the one with transposition) that was feeding well and discharged home!!  He still has a long road to full recovery, but what a joy to celebrate new successes amid the sadness.

The entrance to the children's ward.

This is on the wall outside of the children's ward - what if this charge were followed everywhere!  Hospitals, schools, homes....and we are ALL God's children, so if you follow that logic.....

Wednesday morning chapel at the hospital.

Now for a break from the medical report.....I will put on my Mom Hat. :)

Ted made the JV soccer team at RVA, and started in his first game on Saturday! :)  They played Moffat Bible College, also here in Kijabe, so their opponents were in their early 20's.  They played well as a team, after only a handful of practices together, and won with a score of 3-2.

Go Ted! :)

You may be wondering if we forgot to pack shin guards - no, we didn't.  Most of the team did not wear shin guards.  I'll post pictures of the first round of bruises.....nuff said.  I told you I was wearing my Mom Hat! ;)

The soccer game was a nice chance to visit with people we have met and meet some new people.

Note to self:  white clothes do not work here...even just for a day at Titchie Swot.

If it has been raining on your laundry for 5 minutes, do you leave it out or bring it in?  We left it out....

I hope you can see these men cutting the grass with machetes.  That is the norm here - most of the work from "mowing" to edging to digging ditches is done by hand.

Tutaonana (we will see each other)!

Love,
Sarah
Galatians 5:22-23