My Patients in Africa

Hello, all!  I apologize I have not been able to blog more, however, life has been very busy for the past week.  On arrival to Cameroon I jumped straight into my work on the pediatric ward.  The first day was quite an experience.  As soon as I walked through the door I got confronted by the nurses wanting me to help them with a very sick 9 year old female.  She had come in at the end of May after falling while at school.  After the episode she lost the ability to walk so her mother brought her to the hospital.  On arrival imaging was done and it was found that basically she had a brain bleed that had been present for many months and other underlying neurological problems.  After evaluating her I knew it was not going to be a good situation.  Later that evening God had me walk past the ward and I could hear wailing so I went in and I saw the little girl lying there lifeless I tried everything I could think of however God simply wanted her home.  After that first day I was not sure I was going to be able to do this, however, God has since shown me that HIS hands are on mine and has helped me every step of the way.
Medicine here is quite challenging.  There are no specialists, there are limited medicines and the medicines that are available are not in pediatric dosages.  The people wait to bring their children in until the illness has progressed so far that it is hard to help the children.
Today, the clinic staff rushed a little 6 year old girl over to me.  They said that this little girl had a 1 year history of cough and shortness of breath.  On evaluation I found that her oxygen saturation (which is basically the measure of her blood carrying oxygen to her body) was 42% and normal is 92% and greater.  I placed oxygen on her and could only bring the oxygen level up to 60% (we could intubate however there are no ventilators here).  After asking for a stat Echo (picture of her heart), I found what I suspected she has been living with a congenital heart defect since birth.  Right now I am trying to work on getting her to a medical center where they can do heart surgery.  Please pray for this little girl.
I have had several children admitted due to burns.  You may remember Ruby (the cutest little girl) she had burns for which she was hospitalized due to infection she got to go home yesterday or so I thought.  I actually was walking to the hospital this morning and I saw Ruby and her father lying on the ground outside of the womens ward and found out that Ruby's mother had to be hospitalized for an illness as well.   
I had another little 2 year old girl come in yesterday for severe burns.  I was actually sitting in morning report which is a meeting where residents and attendings get together to talk about 1 case that the on call team had the night before when a nurse practitioner ran in and said Dr. Melissa we need you.  I went running.  This little girl had been at an outlying facility and was discharged that morning comatose.  The doctors at the other hospital had said there was nothing more they could do.  She had been playing at her house a week ago when her brother accidentally pushed her into a pot of boiling of water (all of there cooking is on the ground).  The mother walked 2 hours with this child in her arms to bring her to Mbingo Baptist Hospital.  When I saw the child I was very concerned I was not sure she was going to make it.  However, God allowed me the wisdom to check a blood sugar on her and it was 32 which is very low.  IV access was not obtainable due to the burns so we placed an NG tube and we were able to give glucose to the child.  I am serious when I say within 5 minutes of giving the glucose the little girl began to move and I have never appreciated the sound of a cry as much as I did when she started screaming it was music to my ears.   Today this little girl is doing okay, however, her burns are still infected for which I am concerned.  Please pray that God will heal this childs skin.
I have seen tons of Malaria which I am not accustomed to in the states.  Most of the children do really well with treatment however we had one case yesterday that the family had taken to another healthcare facility and when the child wasn't getting better brought to us.  It was to late though and the child passed away yesterday evening. 
I am having a life changing experience!  It is hard at times when I don't know the answers or I know the child may not make it but I am leaning on God and HE is guiding me every step of the way. Please continue to pray for Jeff and me!

The NICU.   There are 2 incubators in the NICU and the one on the left doesn't work.  If you look closely you can see that there are 2 babies in the incubator on the right.  They say that sometimes they have to fit 3 babies in.

This is the 6 year old little girl admitted today with the congenital heart defect that was just found.

5 year old little boy who has a rhabdomyosarcoma (a type of cancer) in his nasal cavity that the mother just brought him in for.

2 year old little girl with burns.  You will notice the mosquito net around her to prevent flies from landing on her burns.