A crazy week!

My mum left and then before I knew it, it was the middle of April! I cannot believe how fast time is flying. I had always thought that once my mum had left I would really be counting down the weeks to my return and then it was here. Eeeek!! I have 11 weeks left here and I can feel the time slipping away. I have had a great few weeks with all my visitors but there was certainly no time to get sad because as soon as I was back on site from dropping my mum off my crazy week started.....

On Sunday night I returned from dropping my mum off in Entebbe to find Laureen, 5yrs who had a very swollen left elbow after having fallen over giving her friend a piggyback! I was not sure if it was fractured so we went off to the local clinic the next morning for an xray (we still do not have confirmation as the xray reporter ended up not being at the clinic that day! The technician did say a fracture was unlikely and now her arm is fortunately slowly improving! He said if it doesn’t get better its probably broken and to come back!! Great diagnostics!)

On my return from the clinic on Monday I did my rounds to find that Eddie had measles. The team here were amazing and all worked together to get him shipped out of his house as we wanted to protect one of our other HIV children in that house who has not been immunised and is at risk. Eddie is now doing well and back in his house with his friends. We have since had a number of cases of measles reported in the village and in our school and have been told that there is a measles epidemic in this area.

In the middle of this I had also been administering IV antibiotics to one of our HIV children every 12 hours. Phillip has a chronic ear infection that is only sensitive to a certain antibiotic and we began that antibiotic course also on Monday! On Wednesday morning unfortunately that IV cannula stopped working so at 6.30am Phillip and I went to the clinic where I tried to recannulate him. What a challenge he was! After his stay in hospital in November when he was really sick they must have used and used every possible vein in his body to the point he hardly has any left!! He was such an amazing boy and let me prick him until we got one in and even helped me to stick it down and hand me things with his one free hand – he was a fab assistant! As a reward we both had some chocolate for breakfast!

On Wednesday, after cannulating Phillip, I took Faziri to hospital in Kampala for his monthly check up. I had gone with a really heavy heart knowing that we would be sitting in the waiting room waiting for 4-5 hours just to see a doctor for 10 minutes. I walked into the reception and after handing in my paper went to the back of the queue trying to ready myself for the long wait. As we walked into the waiting area the doctor who saw us last time saw us smiled and said ‘see you soon’ - Haha I thought! Behind him was one of the nurses who then led me to the front bench. I was confused and also starting to get embarrassed as everyone was looking at me. I hate the ‘white skin’ thing where we often get offered special treatment and I really try to avoid this where I can but she was insistent that I wait at the front. As she then called me to go in she told me how grateful they are that people like me come to help them and their children in Uganda and the least she could do is try and help me a little. I could have hugged her! I have seen this nurse on the last two occasions I have been at this hospital and she has sat and chatted to me as I’ve waited – it’s a novelty for them to have a ‘muzungu’ (white person) sitting with everyone else waiting in the government hospital and she always makes a bee-line for me! I was flabbergasted to be in and out in 15 minutes (my other two hospital waits with this child were 9 hours and 5 hours) and after telling my driver I would call him later (he knew that meant much later!) I was ringing him with the exciting news that we were ready to leave. This nurse made my week, what an angel she is!

Back at GSF whist going back and forth between Eddie with the measles and Phillip for his antibiotics, I had also been seeing the usual day to day clinic patients when I also started to get a steady stream of children coming to me who had either vomited and/or had diarrhoea. It took me a few cases to figure out that not everyone had malaria (always my first assumption!) and there was a bug spreading around the children's houses. We are now seeing the tail end of that and my work is getting back to a normal pace. The last 4 days have felt like a marathon! 

What with saying goodbye to my visitors and then work being a bit crazy I have had a whirlwind of a week and that’s without even mentioning the four new children that have arrived to join our family here – wait for the next blog!! 

No pictures this week. Sorry, too busy!!! :)

  Philippians 4 v 19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."