Cora and I had an unplanned adventure today... we visited the Yabello hospital.
She has been sporting a 103 fever for nearly two days, although she has not exhibited any other illness symptoms except fatigue (no diarrhea, normal appetite, no vomiting, no earache or stomachache that we could see demonstrated). Two nights ago, when it started, she woke up every hour or so asking for water and wanting some comfort from us until we let her sleep in our bed, and she slept the rest of the night through.
Last night, she slept normally in her tent and I thought she must be getting better. This morning, however, Nate left at 5:45am and I woke up at 7, wondering how on earth I'd been allowed to sleep in (Cora has been our regular alarm clock at5:30/ 6am for days).
I got up, puttered around the house and prepared for her to wake up. When I had time to sweep and mop and even make breakfast, I began to wonder what was going on. She woke up a couple times asking for water, and then fell back asleep. At 8am her temp was 104.1. Yikes. I gave her baby ibuprofen and she fell back asleep immediately until she woke again at 9am.
By then I'd been texting Nate and we'd decided she should see a doctor. Nate suggested I contact Lebin, one of the enumerators from the just-finished first survey that Nate worked on all month, so he could act as our translator/hospital guide.By 10am, Lebin was here, Cora was dressed and fed and acting her normal self (temp down to 102.3), and we all headed the 2 blocks to the hospital.
At first, we waited for about 30 minutes outside the Italian doctor's office (I think because he's also a foreigner everyone assumed we should see him). While we waited, a group of prisoners came in with their guards and joined us in the waiting courtyard. Lebin said they were from the local prison on the hill that houses "high criminals, like murder and rape". They were not wearing any handcuffs or chains or anything. Nice.
Eventually the Italian doctor's assistant told us to go to the pediatric unit. After about 10 minutes, the pediatric doctor showed up. Even though the docs and nurses live on-site, Lebin says they are often "unavailable" for no known reason -- I guess someone called this doctor saying "there's a faranji to see you!" and he decided to come on over. He spoke English, so I explained Cora's symptoms, he checked her heartbeat and tonsils, and then sent us for a blood test at the lab. Strangely, he didn't take her temperature. I guess he took my word for it.
The lab drew a small amount of blood from her left arm with an adult-sized needle. Cora handled it like a champ, but I was pretty upset for her. The technician put her blood on a microscope slide and disappeared while we went out again to wait. Just after 11am, Lebin started worrying that we wouldn't get our results before the hospital closed for the rest of the day (Friday is the Muslim holy day).
But pretty soon after that, our doctor called us in to say that Cora was negative for malaria and positive for a bacterial infection. With the facilities on site he couldn't pinpoint the exact bacteria, not surprisingly. He immediately started proscribing "a shot" and I stopped him, saying that we'd brought an antibiotic prescription from the US. I showed him the paperwork on the antibiotic and he agreed that that would be perfect for his infection. Hooray for planning ahead!
We paid 7 birr (less than $0.50) for the visit and 30 birr (less than $2) for the blood tests. Now Cora has her own hospital card, which I hope she never has to use again.
She came home and refused any lunch besides a few bites of the bananas that Lebin bought her, and she's been napping for the past hour and a half. When I can get her to eat something more substantial I'll give her the first dose of Amox.
She has been sporting a 103 fever for nearly two days, although she has not exhibited any other illness symptoms except fatigue (no diarrhea, normal appetite, no vomiting, no earache or stomachache that we could see demonstrated). Two nights ago, when it started, she woke up every hour or so asking for water and wanting some comfort from us until we let her sleep in our bed, and she slept the rest of the night through.
Last night, she slept normally in her tent and I thought she must be getting better. This morning, however, Nate left at 5:45am and I woke up at 7, wondering how on earth I'd been allowed to sleep in (Cora has been our regular alarm clock at5:30/ 6am for days).
I got up, puttered around the house and prepared for her to wake up. When I had time to sweep and mop and even make breakfast, I began to wonder what was going on. She woke up a couple times asking for water, and then fell back asleep. At 8am her temp was 104.1. Yikes. I gave her baby ibuprofen and she fell back asleep immediately until she woke again at 9am.
By then I'd been texting Nate and we'd decided she should see a doctor. Nate suggested I contact Lebin, one of the enumerators from the just-finished first survey that Nate worked on all month, so he could act as our translator/hospital guide.By 10am, Lebin was here, Cora was dressed and fed and acting her normal self (temp down to 102.3), and we all headed the 2 blocks to the hospital.
At first, we waited for about 30 minutes outside the Italian doctor's office (I think because he's also a foreigner everyone assumed we should see him). While we waited, a group of prisoners came in with their guards and joined us in the waiting courtyard. Lebin said they were from the local prison on the hill that houses "high criminals, like murder and rape". They were not wearing any handcuffs or chains or anything. Nice.
Eventually the Italian doctor's assistant told us to go to the pediatric unit. After about 10 minutes, the pediatric doctor showed up. Even though the docs and nurses live on-site, Lebin says they are often "unavailable" for no known reason -- I guess someone called this doctor saying "there's a faranji to see you!" and he decided to come on over. He spoke English, so I explained Cora's symptoms, he checked her heartbeat and tonsils, and then sent us for a blood test at the lab. Strangely, he didn't take her temperature. I guess he took my word for it.
The lab drew a small amount of blood from her left arm with an adult-sized needle. Cora handled it like a champ, but I was pretty upset for her. The technician put her blood on a microscope slide and disappeared while we went out again to wait. Just after 11am, Lebin started worrying that we wouldn't get our results before the hospital closed for the rest of the day (Friday is the Muslim holy day).
But pretty soon after that, our doctor called us in to say that Cora was negative for malaria and positive for a bacterial infection. With the facilities on site he couldn't pinpoint the exact bacteria, not surprisingly. He immediately started proscribing "a shot" and I stopped him, saying that we'd brought an antibiotic prescription from the US. I showed him the paperwork on the antibiotic and he agreed that that would be perfect for his infection. Hooray for planning ahead!
We paid 7 birr (less than $0.50) for the visit and 30 birr (less than $2) for the blood tests. Now Cora has her own hospital card, which I hope she never has to use again.
She came home and refused any lunch besides a few bites of the bananas that Lebin bought her, and she's been napping for the past hour and a half. When I can get her to eat something more substantial I'll give her the first dose of Amox.
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| An old, unrelated photo: eating mango on our hotel porch on Feb. 6 |
4 comments:
Tough couple of days--but you 3 are troopers!! Wishing Miss Cora quick healing.
Much love,
David, Erin, Eliza and Willem :)
Even more upsetting when you are in such a different setting. Hope today is better for you all....
Love always,
Gramps and Nana Hutch
Man you are really having quite a time. Wish we could give you some hugs and kisses. Cockroaches huh!!! Not my favorite kind of bug! I was wondering if you are receiving my emails to you. Hope so. Love, Janet & Peter
Thanks to all of ya'll for the positive thoughts... even yesterday afternoon (after the hospital) Cora was doing much better. Her fever is reduced to about 100 now which is a relief! And she continues to be her sunny self through it all, you'd not have known she was even sick during the worst of it except the hot body and extra sleeping!
Sorry my posts have been rather negative lately. I have to write them in advance and just post them when I can get the internet to cooperate for 10 minutes, so I don't get a chance to do the little happy notes in between, just the long versions that tend to get moody, apparently. Sorry!!! We are doing really well, actually. Let me focus on some of the good stuff for a while!
Love you folks!!! I do get your emails, but I can't be patient enough for the hour investment it takes to get a reply out, I am sorry!
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