Another Friday...

I'm so glad it's weekend. It was another crazy day today. It was one of those interesting days at work in which I ended up doing so many things that probably someone else should have done...

I went to the ward to sort out two patients only to find out one of them disappeared. Instead of waiting for a referral letter (as instructed) for an echocardiogram they decided to go elsewhere for a blood test that needed to take place at some point but which was much less urgent! No one knew where she went at 6 am! Anyway, all said and done, they returned mid-morning and echo is re-scheduled for Saturday.

The second patient has been in hospital for a month and needs anti-tuberculosis medication. Unfortunately the country is out of anti-tuberculosis medication (can you believe it?) and has been for the past month. The child also has an infection in his leg and so I sent him for a second opinion elsewhere. Mom's a trooper cause when I walked in to town later in the afternoon to go to a meeting I met mom on a busy street on her way to the hospital after buying some anti-tuberculosis drugs from the pharmacy. One of the three meds was not right, so we ended up going to the pharmacy together to sort it out. Her child will finally receive anti-tuberculosis treatment now. Question is, will this be sustainable? Let's hope the national TB program's drugs come soon so that there is a continuous and free supply!

Speaking of drug supply, I ended up having to find anesthetic drugs for the maternity hospital today. They were on their last few vials while waiting for a shipment to be released. We found out the drugs will be cleared on Monday so, to tie them over, we arranged a loan of drugs from an NGO hospital. I'd hate to think of what would have happened to the women coming in needing emergency surgery (C-sections, ruptured uterus, etc). Oh Salone. Oh agencies.

Another mom cornered me as I was leaving the ward. That's what happens: you go in to see a patient and arrange something and before you know it, you're asked by another mom to come and see her child. This was a boy I knew from ICU. He was diagnosed with meningitis and is on i.v. Ceftriaxone. He needs to be on i.v. treatment for a while but unfortunately the supply ran out today. I won't go into details because the whole supply/re-stocking is very complicated but it means his treatment will be interrupted. So sad. Fingers crossed he'll make a full recovery. Unfortunately he does have some right-sided weakness but I'm hoping physiotherapy will help! Let’s hope for i.v. Ceftriaxone again on Monday.

I had a meeting today about radiography training and am hopeful about the prospects. Not for me of course, but for the trainees and for the children in the health facilities who will finally have access to x-rays! Let's hope this kicks off in the next two months. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, we need to try to source an x-ray machine, some equipment to go with it, consumables, etc. Toes crossed too.

This evening after we got home from work I went out again to go and visit my driver. He fell down this morning and wasn't able to make it to work. So, a friend and I drove up. He's okay but will probably need some rest and painkillers for a few days. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to convince him to stay away from injections. Almost everyone here loves injections.

When we brought the car back to the office I went inside to download some documents that were sent to me this afternoon. Financial documents for a meeting I have tomorrow. Better late than never? Well, I was a bit frightened by what I saw and decided I would need to stay in the office for a few hours to go through the spreadsheets/documents. So, here I am: in the office, with a cup of tea, looking through spreadsheets (and blogging). In an hour a friend will come to pick me up (and bring some bread) and I’ll head home to sleep. In the morning I am taking the Land Rover to IMATT for inspection and then going to my accounting meeting. I'm definitely taking next weekend off!