Uphill then Downhill

Wednesday. I am tired. Several trips to the hospital during the night. One of the diarrhea kids is not doing well. Not too much sleep, but when I did it was heavy. Early to the hospital. When I was leaving after rounding, Gabriel, the night nurse, and I stepped outside and he paused, grabbed my arm and said "don't step there, it is a snake" and yes it was. Not too big and with a design. Gabriel threw rocks at it, hitting it several times, but is slinked under the storage container. He told me it is very bad, a viper. Yikes. I just hate snakes!

Went to Bor today to plead our case with the Minister of Health and the Director General to get the state to provide formula for the triplet family. They really have nothing, not in the sense of having nothing in the USA, but in the sense of having nothing in the Sudanese sense. Nothing is nothing. No cows, goats, no land. They had to borrow money to buy a chicken - as I mentioned the other day.

Minister of Health

We were greeted cordially and when we told our stories, and showed pics I had on my camera, they were amazed. They seemed really receptive to the government needing to provide social services (is there such a thing in South Sudan?) for them. I am hopeful. We did get formula to take back to the diarrhea kids. That will be helpful. I also purchased baby bottles. The second thing we spoke of was the leper colony. I think we will go on Friday. Both the Minister and the Director General were not informed of this group. Dr. Ajak has made a report to the government on this colony, but since these two are relatively new, they had not come across the report yet. We discussed things that they could provide. We will get back to them after our visit with a new report. I did invite both of them to come visit our hospital and see the work we are doing.

Then back to the hospital. About 5 minutes after we arrived one of the diarrhea kids (such a terrible thing to call them) passed away. I was shocked. I was actually preparing some of the formula we got in Bor. I am so sad. I am so sad for his mother who tried so hard to keep breast milk down and ORS (oral rehydration salts). We did everything by the book and with our resources. I believe he developed some aspiration pneumonia. We had started him on Rocephin. But his pulse ox was down. We did put him on oxygen but the generator must be on for this. The generator was on most of the day and had been turned off to cool down. It was overheating. A half hour was all that was needed. This is when the child died, during this half hour. Diarrhea is the number one killer of children worldwide. I am just heartsick over this. This beautiful baby boy with huge brown eyes. We have no anti emetics, limited antibiotics and only ringers lactate - which I guess is ok for someone losing their electrolytes.

He looked so good just three days earlier

I ran over to the hospital and the little guy was wrapped in a cloth. Nobody was around. When I unwrapped the cloth to get one last look at his sweet little face, They had bound his face with gauze wrap. They also bound this hands together and his feet, as is their tradition. Rebecca, one of the mama's that does the wash, and young Mary, one of the cooks, came in and placed him into one of the carrying holders that they use for babies. Then Rebecca put it over her shoulder and Mary wrapped the cloth around them, in their tradition. They then went to the mother and accompanied her to the land cruiser that John, our driver, had ready to take them home. It was horrendous to witness. They were all very stoic. I think I was the only one crying openly. Please keep them in your prayers.
C