Things I thought I would never see....

The title is not a judgement...just a true statement.  There are things that I might have consciously thought that I would never see, and then there are things that I happen upon and think "Wow - I never thought I'd see that!"  There are a lot of the latter here in Kenya! 

Flip flops made from old tires - very impressive and practical recycling! They are appropriately called Treads.

Ok, really - how do I describe this?!  This guy is actually rollerblading down the HIGHWAY leaving Nairobi.  To say this is not a safe road for rollerblading is the understatement of a lifetime.

The next 2 photos are of a Somali boy's thigh and his MRI (for the medical types; he had the MRI at another hospital).  While it is obvious that he has a very swollen thigh (mass vs. infection), it is not so clear how the skin findings are related.  And why are the lesions in a distribution that is sharply demarcated at either end of his thigh?  It turns out that the family tried to use traditional medicine to heal his thigh by burning him with hot metal rods - 2 months prior!  The family obviously did it out of love, and - before we snort and judge -  it is not that different in philosophy than the early American practice of "bleeding" a patient.  At any rate, the uncle volunteered that they would not use traditional medicine again....an interesting comment, since the boy is still so very sick after almost 2 weeks here.  The double language barrier (English to Swahili to Somali) with this Somali family is difficult - I cannot just sit down and talk with the family.  There are many patients together in his room, and some of the other patients just jump in and start translating.  There is not the same concept of privacy here.  Sometimes it is helpful and sometimes it is downright confusing, with everyone talking at once!   Please pray for this boy, Ahmed, as he is so sick and not responding to treatment.

Right thigh

MRI

Part of the surgical pathology lab

Other part of the surgical path lab - notice the barred door.  Bars are ubiquitous in Kenya!

This is a silly one, but many of you commented on the photo with all the different beans, so you may be interested.  All this came out of one 0.5kg bag of beans - half of it is little stones!

Coolest bug in Kenya (so far)!  I learned last week of another bug, called a Nairobi Eye, that causes a chemical burn if you smash it on you.  I wonder if that is why so many people don't brush flies away (if the bug in question is a Nairobi Eye instead of a fly, they will end up with a nasty burn!).

I was called to the post-op area to see this 2 year old girl with some respiratory distress after surgery.  Her oxygen saturations were upper 70's-80 (out of 100%) when I arrived, but came up easily with oxygen.  At one point, I stepped away to answer a call and, when I came back, the nurse had given her a piece of hard candy (!) to distract her from the nasal cannula.

This is the official hospital memo regarding chai time for employees.  Patients are served chai also!

The next picture is a head CT that belongs to a 14 year old boy named James.   He came in with severe headaches and degenerated to hallucinations, weakness, and focal neurologic symptoms.  There is a fund here called The Needy Children's Fund, which basically helps fund procedures and some costs that families can't afford.  It is a huge blessing to families, but it only has so much money in it (from donations), so it has to be tapped judiciously.  I am still trying to navigate our involvement in the financial aspect of things since we are asked daily to help one patient or another, but this was the first patient that I okayed paying for something from the Fund.  His family is scraping together money from extended family to pay for the hospitalization/medications, but they couldn't afford the CT and ambulance ride to Nairobi to have it done.  You don't really need a medical degree to see that there are round lesions in his brain that aren't supposed to be there.  Tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, neurocysticercosis?  He seems to be better over the last 24+ hours on TB meds, and his mom is praising God for his improvement.  This is why we are here.

It is spiritual emphasis week at RVA, which is a time for the students/faculty/parents to reflect on their walks with Christ.  At last night's worship time, I took this photo from behind students in grades 7-12.  I was so touched by the sincere worship of these teens...what a testimony to me!

Love,
Sarah
“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11