Olkoroi

I wanted to quickly summarize a few journal entries but didn't want to go as in-depth as my last few posts.

Journal entry 6-25-10

Me and MB had the opportunity to travel to a few medical clinics in Kenya to help assist the doctors there. I love traveling so 2-3 hour car ride is enjoyable, even though we are traveling on the worst roads ever. One of the clinics we went to was in Olkoroi. I assisted Dr James, a national who lives and works in Ewaso N'giro, with vitals, book work and physical exams. We saw mainly pregnant women who were 13-20 years of age. All of the women were married except one. I think pregnant women by far are the most beautiful creatures ever...call me weird, I don't care! Dr James taught me how to estimate the age of the baby and the position just by feeling the mother's stomach-so cool! I was also able to give my first immunization to a little 11 year old girl, right in her butt-poor thing! We saw around 120 patients and didn't stop for lunch- it was exhausting but really beneficial day. Busy days-it's how I role! A few patients stuck out to me that day so I will quickly share a two of them with you:

1. Our very first patient was a mother who had 4 children and was 7 months pregnant. As the doctor was showing me how to examine the mother, another doctor entered and said something in and proceeded to pick something off the floor. As I turned around, I noticed that the mothers child was lying flat, face planted to the floor. I found out that her 5yr old daughter had epilepsy and had seizure while we were examining her mother. I felt so bad, we didn't even hear her collapse. Her seizure got worse and I had to help hold her arm while the doctor injected her with medicine. the seizure stopped and I asked when she would wake up and the doctor said around 45 mins-the mom flung the child on her back and headed home. I am so impressed with the mothers out here, they are so tough. We have seen around 10 patients with epilepsy since being here, not sure why it is so common, but it is.

2. A mother came in with her 1 year old baby who had been sick and was on antibiotics for the past two weeks but the child was not getting better so she brought her back in. The baby started to fuss and the mother began to nurse her to calm her down-we sent the infant for HIV testing, it came back positive. The mother was told the outcome and was given counseling right on the spot. Since the baby caught the disease we knew that the mother must have given it to her child, but to make sure we tested her for HIV testing as well, it also came back positive. How devastating! The mother not only found out her baby had this terrible disease but she was the one who gave it to her child. Was the mother unfaithful or her husband? I can't imagine getting such bad news.