Day Twenty-one: Where are all the cannulas? 06.28

This morning at Morning Handover there was a lot of talk about how supplies are running low. Apparently we’re low on just about everything, from cannulas (which are used to put in IV lines) to antibiotics to give the children. Because if miss-placed or non-existent stock, there were three deaths last night. On top of that, Morning Handover was followed by a length meeting that mostly entailed Dr. Erdi, Dr. ABD, and Marcel arguing about what to do in the children’s ward because there are so many patients and not enough space for them. It was back and forth on what patients we should admit and where we would put them and so on. It’s a very stressful time during rainy season in the children’s ward.

Afterward I followed Dr. Erdi on rounds in the Children’s Ward until about 12h00, and then I took a quick lunch break. When I got back to the theatre, the infant with the huge germ cell tumor was having her dressings cleaned and Dr. Erdi decided it looked infected, and that the infection was spreading, so we couldn’t wait any longer to operate. So I watched a C-section, and then baby-sat the germ cell tumor baby while they performed a hernia repair and an abdomen exploration. We had a terrible time setting an IV for the little baby, because even the smallest size needle we have is much too big. It was only on the sixth try that we were able to set a line. We had to try both arms, both legs, and both sides of the head before we were finally able to get it to work. But when we did, they decided to do that operation last because they wanted to leave the rest of the day to take their time if need be. So, I watched her and made sure she didn’t pull out her IV and cleaned up her poo a couple times.

Eventually we got her into surgery, and it seemed to go well. All the tumor tissue was removed, and the bowel seems to be untouched. We were also able to remove the coccyx, which is where they think the tumor was originating from. Last time they performed a similar surgery the child died within three days. Hopefully this one ends happier.

After some scanning, we had a huge and delicious dinner with some of our expat friends here at the compound. Now we’re just chilling and about to finish a movie we started last night, American Psycho.

This post is dedicated to the two children and one adult patient who died last night, and to the infant who underwent surgery today.