Pagnes

Here in our part of Cameroon, most of the women wear "pagnes" which consist of a wrap-around cotton skirt with matching blouse, head cover and shoulder wrap. The colors are crazy and the patterns can be quite amusing.

I have decided to keep a list of the different patterns I have seen.

This list will be updated periodically:-)

Here goes...

1. cellular phones 2. perfume bottles 3. billiard balls 4. gas pumps 5. hair dryers 6. fans (electric and hand held) 7. chickens 8. the president of Cameroon, Paul Biya 9. high heeled shoes 10. parrots 11. peacocks 12. playing cards 13. armchair (complete with side table and lamp) 14. bowls of fruit 15. apples 16. light bulbs 17. gas lanterns 18. stacks of money 19. champagne flutes 20. windmills 21. whales 22. bulldozers 23. birdcage (complete with bird) 24. cuckoo clock 25. tubes of paint 26. turkey, dressed for cooking 27. the Taj Mahal 28. crawfish 29. chandeliers 30. balloons 31. ladders 32. cars on a street with trees 33. raffle tickets 34. toasters

That's all for now, I will keep you updated!

This one's for you, mom:-)

Today during morning rounds, I came across a patient that was newly admitted. The examining nurse had written in the chart that she had multiple necrotic sores on her foot. In addition a blood sugar test showed that she is more than likely diabetic.

After perusing the chart I then asked to see the foot. She began to unwrap her homemade bandage of cotton strips to reveal that almost her entire foot was completely black...except for the part that was leaking pus.

A maggot fell out of the wound and started crawling across the floor...

I told her to cover the wound again because the smell was so strong I had tears in my eyes and hastily wrote in the chart that she needed to be seen in the OR.

Just another day at the office:-)

Helpless

This evening was prayer rounds. Upon walking in to the OB ward, my prayer partner and I encountered immediate resistance. I tried to strike up a conversation with a mother who was taking care of her sick infant. She did not smile, barely acknowledged my presence and refused to talk to me. I continued my attempts and even went so far as to call the nurse over to care for the child's IV, but to no avail. The young mother in the bed next to her followed suite and also refused in the same rude, cold manner.

We then entered the women's ward and approached a new arrival. Her husband refused our prayer, demanding to know if we were Christian. When we replied to the affirmative, he nervously and forcefully demanded to speak to one of our hospital chaplains. The chaplain was called, but the man stated that even though he was also a Christian, he did not want our prayer because we did not worship the same God.

My first response was to feel threatened, then angry at their treatment of me. I was frustrated by their ignorance. For the first time I had a glimpse of what life must have been like for the disciples. I can not imagine trying again and again to share God with a people who shun these efforts with coolness and hostility.

I came home and prayed for them anyway.

After prayer rounds I was then informed that the young patient whom I wrote about in the previous entry (Overwhelmed) had developed yet another abcess in her arm. The situation seems truly hopeless. She is only 16 and dying very quickly. She is so frightened of evil spirits and witchcraft that she seems to have given up. She refuses to leave her bed, she no longer eats and is wasting away before our eyes on a daily basis.

So I do my best, changing her meds and securing appropriate therapies, but I can not even begin to touch the real source of the problem. This leaves me feeling helpless and impotent.

We have assured her that God protects this hospital and that He is more powerful than any evil spirit that might be sent to attack her, but what happens if she dies? The enemy wins? How do you prove the presence of an all powerful God when the family's greatest fear is validated, their belief in witchcraft seemingly justified?

I came home and prayed for her too.

Overwhelmed

One of my patients, a young woman of approximately 16 is currently hospitalized due to recurrent high fevers and a severe pulmonary infection. When multiple different antibiotics resulted in little to no improvement, we moved to the diagnosis of tuberculosis and began treatment.

However, this morning, while preparing to do rounds on the ward, I was told that this patient was again running a very high fever. Upon examining her we found that in addition to her tuberculosis, she has a very swollen and painful left thigh. Her heart and respiratory rate were greatly elevated and she began convulsing.

After running a few quick tests and giving her a sedative, I added medications, spoke with the family and reminded myself to check on her at the end of the day.

When I completed work in the clinic, I spoke with Dr. Jacqueline Koster, who had been with me during the patient's episode of convulsions. She had visited the patient to obtain more history and at that time the mother confided that when her daughter began experiencing abdominal pain that morning, the family had desired to take her home immediately.

Apparently they have been greatly concerned and frightened that there is someone in the village practicing witchcraft and that their daughter is the target. When the patient began experiencing this symptom of pain in the “stomach” the family believed that the evil spirit was trying to eat her. This “tactic” of witchcraft is very well known, and some victims even choose to take their case before the Laamido (chief of the village) in order to punish the alleged perpetrators.

Whoa...

So...what lab test can I order that would give me that kind of information?

I sat in stunned silence wondering once again how I will ever break through the barriers of language, culture and spiritual beliefs that keep me from understanding these people I want so desperately to be well.

Every time I step on their cultural toes with my actions or mannerisms, every time they try to explain their symptoms in ways I simply can not understand...I wonder the same thing. When they come in to the clinic, having cut or burned themselves, trying to cure themselves of their illnesses, I just look at their scars or burn blisters and am reminded again of all that I don't know.

I'm chipping away at the tip of the iceburg, just hoping to treat what I don't fully understand.