Katy's Third Day

Yesterday I shadowed my dad and Dr. Kendrick on their hospital rounds as they checked on patients. The first patient had died just 20 minutes earlier. He was too sick- his malaria too far advanced. Next we saw a young boy, Djamilan, with typhoid with abdominal swelling because of a bowel perforation. They scheduled him for surgery that afternoon. Next was a 16-month-old with malaria who needed a blood transfusion of rare O-negative blood that the hospital didn't have. Then a 6-day-old baby with icthyosis (the same my dad talked about earlier on this blog). The swelling of his eyelids had completely gone away so he could open his eyes. There is nothing we can do for his skin condition except recommend a lotion and tell the parents to keep him covered to prevent infection. He was discharged. Then was a 7-month-old who weighed only 9 lbs. Then a two-year-old who couldn't breathe. The doctors say he was breathing the way people do just before they die. Very sad. Then the emergency c-section. Then my day was done.

My dad went on to complete three more c-sections, a hysterectomy, a third-degree tear, and assisted on the typhoid patient's bowel repair. He was in the OR for something like six hours straight yesterday. Came home totally exhausted. Then got called back to the hospital for another section