Stormy Weather!

So the rainy season is starting! It is storming almost every afternoon. I sort of like it and sort of dislike it. It’s nice to have a little break from the heat in the afternoon, but then the mosquitoes are so awful afterwards! It’s funny I have yet to see a single mosquito bite me. I finally saw my first mosquito this morning, but I’ve gotten bites throughout this whole trip.

The hospital has been slow this week, but I feel like I’ve helped everyone I’ve seen. Unfortunately, there is another little boy with burns. I feel so badly. This little guy is so so brave every time I perform his ROM. It’s so painful for them and their families can’t afford pain medicine. Neither boy has national health insurance, so often they go days before the dressings are changed.

The one little boy that I’ve been seeing for awhile is really stiff again. I guess the doctor was a little too aggressive when she was trying to straighten the leg during a dressing change. He had a lot of bleeding and pain so now he is back in a bent position. I had to beg the doctor to still let me see him. She wanted to wait to start ROM until the burns were healed. I told her it would be too late by then. Today, we got his leg a little straighter so I’m hoping we are making progress again.

The new little boy, I can’t be very aggressive with because if I put too much pressure on his leg I will shear off his intact skin. It’s such a fine line. I want his leg to be straight, but he needs skin covering his body more! Skin is our first line of defense to infection.

7 or 8 year old boys do not understand the importance of keeping the leg straight. To top it off, their parents start yelling at them for not listening to me. I tried so hard to have Celestine translate to the family that the boys are not being bad. They are in a lot of pain. The families need to nicely remind them to keep the leg straight, not threaten to beat them.

Hopefully, these boys will heal with good ROM so they can walk on both legs again. Otherwise, they will need surgery to release the scar tissue. I’m sure the families cannot afford that. If they end up with a contracture, stiff knee in a bent position, then they will have to use crutches for the rest of their life without a surgery. I think the doctor now understands the importance of ROM for burn patients so hopefully she will make the PT referral every time a burn patient is admitted.

I can’t believe another weekend is here. This week went by so fast. I only have 2 full workweeks left in Ghana, and I will be travelling a lot so this was my last full week at the hospital!

Have a good weekend!

Love, Kari