One week from tomorrow I will officially be finished with my year of service at NPH Honduras. Even though it is quickly approaching, it still feels very surreal. I do not feel like I am leaving! I am sure that it will hit me at different points through out the coming week, but right now I feel like I am still in the thick of life at the Ranch.
The most recent new from the Ranch, and from Honduras, is that there has been a Dengue epidemic. Dengue Fever is an illness spread via mosquitoes, similar to malaria except there is no medication to prevent it. The public hospitals are full of people with Dengue, so much that they have set up special units just for patients with the disease. Dengue usually presents with an extremely high fever, pain in joints, neck, and intense pain in the lower back. It can actually be very very dangerous, especially if it is Hemorrhagic Dengue. Up until last Thursday the Ranch has been very lucky and we have had no cases of Dengue. Unfortunately, the first case was one of my fellow volunteers contracted Hemorrhagic Dengue. She had a fever of over 103, and was in intense pain. On Saturday she started to have abnormal bleeding so I immediately took her to a private hospital in Tegucigalpa. Hemmorhagic Dengue is so dangerous because the patients can have abnormal bleeding, and or internal bleeding. If not monitored correctly they can easily go into shock and suffer from further organ damage or even death. The volunteers platelets and white blood cells dropped so low that she had to be hospitalized. Her platelets dropped below 20,000 (They should normally be above 145,000). She could have easily begun to bleed externally or internally. Luckily, we caught it fairly early and she was admitted to a private hospital where they took very good care of her. She is still sick, but is definately on the mend. Unfortunately since last Thursday we have had at least 4 more kids come down with symptoms that indicate Dengue. None of them have been hemmorhagic, but we are still keeping a close watch on everyone.
Other than vector-born diseases, everything at the Ranch has been going very well. I still cannot believe that in one week I will have to say goodbye to all of the friends and people I have known after the last year. At this point, I cannot even imagine what it will be like to say goodbye to Casa Suyapa. My little kids do not really understand that I am leaving. They know that I will leave on the 31st of July, but they do not really understand what the date means. They keep asking me if I will be here for certain events like Christmas, their birthdays, quinceñeras, ect and it breaks my heart to tell them no! I am definitely going to try to savor my last few days with my kids and enjoy the moment.
peace,
Anna
Friday, July 23, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Paola
I have less than three weeks left in Honduras, but there is still never a dull moment in the clinic. For the most part, the past few weeks have been fairly low key. We have had a few exciting or scary moments in the external clinic, but everything has been going very well with the kids. However, on Sunday afternoon, a little girl, Paola, was injured pretty badly while helping cook. There was a party to celebrate the final match of the world cup, and Paola was helping prepare a snack of Tajaditas, fried plantains, when another boy stepped backwards, knocking over a pot of oil that was heating on the stove. The oil covered her face, chest, and abdomen. She was immediately rushed to the clinic, and then went by ambulance to the pediatric ER at Hospital Escuela. I was not working this weekend and returned to the Ranch just in time to see the ambulance pulling out. Annie, an ex-volunteer nurse at the Ranch who is now the regional medical coordinator, went with here in the ambulance, along with Tia Pilin, the director of the girls house.
Paola and Pilin stayed overnight in the ER at Hospital Escuela. Even though Hospital Escuela is far from perfect, it is always best to go to the public hospital first. Most private hospitals do not take emergencies. Paola underwent surgery to clean the burns and then returned to the ER. Pilin and Stefan, the national director of NPH Honduras, were not satesfied with the care that Paola was recieving at Hospital Escuela. The nurses were not very attentive, and the doctors were invisible. This 11 year old has serious injures and needs intensive care. Yesterday while working at the External Clinic, I recieved a call telling me that transport would pick me up from the clinic and take me to Tegucigalpa. We were going to move Paola to a private hospital.
As usual, when it rains it poors. Manuel, the driver of the ambulance, and I were almost to Tegucigalpa when the doctor called from the Ranch. A man working on installing solar panels on the roof had fallen and needed to be taken to the hospital immediately. We back tracked to pick him up. He had a fractured wrist, and most likely fractured vertebrae, sacrum, and possibly pelvis. We took him to the Hospital and then procedeed to break Paola free from the public hospital. It felt kind of like a jail break. At first they told us that we did not have permission to move her because the doctor needed to sign off on her and he wouldnt be back for two days! There was no way we were going to leave her in Hospital Escuela for that long, not getting the proper care that she needed! So we worked a little gringo magic and finally sprug her free. Wrapped in steril sheets, we took her by ambulance to the private hospital.
Paola is one of the more spunky, sassy girls from her age group. Some might say shes quite badly behaved. She is usually getting into trouble, jumping in ponds with her school uniform on, and doing other equally devious things. Personally, I love Paola. Her wit and sass cracks me up. She has got attitude but she also has character. I spent a good two weeks with her in the clinic earlier this year when she had the chicken pox, running after her trying to prevent disaster. I stayed with her yesterday and through the night, last night in the hospital. It is obvious that her spunk and character will pull her through this. Despite the burns and the pain, she is showing amazing strength, patience, and optimism. Even though I am obviously not happy that Paola was injured, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to take care of her last night in the hospital. Holding her hand, reading stories, and sleeping next her bed is truly a privlige. I am so impressed and touched by her courage and amazingly positive attitude.
Paola will probably be in the Hospital for the next few weeks. Maybe even until after I leave the Ranch. The doctors think that the burns will heal, leaving scares, but no actually permanent deformites or damage. Thankfully the least burned of all things was her face. It will take some time, but the skin on her face should heal with minimal scaring.
If you all could pray for this brave little girl I would really appreciate it!
Paola and Pilin stayed overnight in the ER at Hospital Escuela. Even though Hospital Escuela is far from perfect, it is always best to go to the public hospital first. Most private hospitals do not take emergencies. Paola underwent surgery to clean the burns and then returned to the ER. Pilin and Stefan, the national director of NPH Honduras, were not satesfied with the care that Paola was recieving at Hospital Escuela. The nurses were not very attentive, and the doctors were invisible. This 11 year old has serious injures and needs intensive care. Yesterday while working at the External Clinic, I recieved a call telling me that transport would pick me up from the clinic and take me to Tegucigalpa. We were going to move Paola to a private hospital.
As usual, when it rains it poors. Manuel, the driver of the ambulance, and I were almost to Tegucigalpa when the doctor called from the Ranch. A man working on installing solar panels on the roof had fallen and needed to be taken to the hospital immediately. We back tracked to pick him up. He had a fractured wrist, and most likely fractured vertebrae, sacrum, and possibly pelvis. We took him to the Hospital and then procedeed to break Paola free from the public hospital. It felt kind of like a jail break. At first they told us that we did not have permission to move her because the doctor needed to sign off on her and he wouldnt be back for two days! There was no way we were going to leave her in Hospital Escuela for that long, not getting the proper care that she needed! So we worked a little gringo magic and finally sprug her free. Wrapped in steril sheets, we took her by ambulance to the private hospital.
Paola is one of the more spunky, sassy girls from her age group. Some might say shes quite badly behaved. She is usually getting into trouble, jumping in ponds with her school uniform on, and doing other equally devious things. Personally, I love Paola. Her wit and sass cracks me up. She has got attitude but she also has character. I spent a good two weeks with her in the clinic earlier this year when she had the chicken pox, running after her trying to prevent disaster. I stayed with her yesterday and through the night, last night in the hospital. It is obvious that her spunk and character will pull her through this. Despite the burns and the pain, she is showing amazing strength, patience, and optimism. Even though I am obviously not happy that Paola was injured, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to take care of her last night in the hospital. Holding her hand, reading stories, and sleeping next her bed is truly a privlige. I am so impressed and touched by her courage and amazingly positive attitude.
Paola will probably be in the Hospital for the next few weeks. Maybe even until after I leave the Ranch. The doctors think that the burns will heal, leaving scares, but no actually permanent deformites or damage. Thankfully the least burned of all things was her face. It will take some time, but the skin on her face should heal with minimal scaring.
If you all could pray for this brave little girl I would really appreciate it!
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