Nearing the End

Today was my second to last day in the hospital. How strange. 

Yesterday started as usual with morning meeting. Our "special cases" to review for the day were far from usual though. The lone incubator was filled again. This time with a toilet baby. That's right, a mother "didn't know she was pregnant" and had her beautiful baby boy in the latrine. This sounds bad enough, but if you didn't know already, the toilets here are deep deep deep holes in the ground that you squat over. It's like a never ending port-a-john. So some university colleagues of this woman got a ladder, climbed in, and took the child to the hospital. He was hypothermic, but by the time I got to see him he was fine.

You may be thinking that the mother asked her friends for help, but according to the meeting they just rescued it and the mother had gone claiming she had just used the toilet and didn't know there was a baby. These colleagues knew who the mother had to be. Apparently you can't go to the university if you are pregnant so she was keeping it a secret. When the mother was brought in she had a vaginal tear repaired. Clearly this means she was pushing, in pain, and knew that there was a baby. So we have two scenarios- she went to the latrine to give birth, or she gave birth and she or a friend dumped it there.

TODAY THE BABY WENT HOME WITH HIS MOM. The police were not called. There were only a few questions asked to the young woman sobbing into her pillow. And that was it. For all we know, that baby could be strangulated and back in the latrine. She was single, there's no father, she doesn't want the baby, she is supposed to sit for her finals to graduate next week and there's nothing we can do. Of course she had a small counseling session, but I find it hard to believe that would change her feelings. There's absolutely no reason in the US that the police or child services wouldn't be called in this case. Again, I'm helpless and all I can do is send up prayers and ask you readers to do the same. 

The other case we talked about was a young woman who had attempted suicide. She is pregnant. According to Dr. Agullo during rounds, she came home intoxicated, got in a fight with the husband, and then ingested pesticides. When I walked in she was in the middle of getting her stomach pumped with what looked almost like a miniature vacuum. The problem wasn't the equipment it was that the nurse was operating it in such a way that she was actually choking the patient. I'd never seen a staff member at St. Joseph's scolded, but Agullo ripped her a new one. So again I questioned their decision to let pre-med students come "help" when some of their staff aren't even sure of what they're doing. But hey, who am I to complain?

Today I did rounds again and came back. Okay I should say I went to the hospital and there were no doctors there so I came back and napped and by the time I went back two hours later, Dr. Agullo (and him only) had finally arrived. Honestly I'm fed up with "African time." So rounds were mostly the usual. 

After lunch (fried chicken and potatoes mmmm) a few of us went to a school for orphans up the road. The headmistress took us from class to class and when we entered each room they all stood and sang "Weeeelcome welcome our guests..." it was super cute, but it gave me a very uncomfortable feeling. Two of the girls brought a soccer ball and some frisbees and in each class the students were asked to clap for us. Then they came outside and assembled and we played a little. I think what mostly makes me uncomfortable is that they're taught that we're privileged. Like we're just allowed to walk into their classrooms and interrupt learning and ask them to come play when it's not even their recess. It makes me sad and as I've referred to in previous posts, that's one of my main concerns for the future of Kenyan children. On the other hand, I'm not going to say it wasn't fun and I love playing with the little kids.

The really weird stuff didn't happen until the walk home. We were just about to turn the corner on the dirt path and suddenly this guy runs around the corner waving at us to run as a swarm of bees came after him. He jumped in his car and we made a run for it. Sarah got a few stings because they got stuck in her hair and I haven't screamed like such a little girl in so long. It was absolutely bizarre and we had to hang out for about a half hour before we could get back to the guest house. One of the weirdest things that's every happened to me. 

Oh I forgot to mention I rode a pikipiki- mom and dad stop reading right now!  A pikipiki is the name for a cab. And it's a motorbike. I refused to do it the whole time and yesterday I was forced (yes forced, m&d) to take one from town back to the house for 40ksh. The driver takes one look at me and asks if I'm scared to which I give the honest answer of, "Yes, very." (I'm not sure if I was more scared of being injured or of having to tell my parents I did it). Then he says, "If you are scared you will die. Only the people who are scared die on the bikes." Great. Anyways, I made it safely thinking, "Man I really need to take more advantage of those things!"

So today God basically slapped me in the face with a "No way, Hannah!" There were four motorbike accidents in the hospital (somehow I had only seen one before) today including a six-year-old with a broken femur who has been in a coma for three days. They can't do CT scans here. So you win dad, it won't happen again- in Kenya or anywhere for that matter. 

And now I keep thinking of so many things to add, but I don't want to babble so I'll wrap it up. Thursday morning we're leaving for Mombasa- the beach! I'm really excited because I wasn't expecting to go and it will be a nice end to the trip. I don't know that I'll be able to post again until I'm back in the states so be looking for some long posts in about a week!