Hospital: Pediatrics and Maternity

Martes, 08-Julio-2014

Pediatric Rounds

Every morning several perdiatric doctors come together to do rounds in the peds ward to discuss all the cases before going to their own practices. There were 4 doctors present, including Dr Alvarez (a host dad) and Dr Franćois. 

The first case we discussed was a 10 year old male with a history of asthma and presented at the hospital with symptoms of TB. The chest X-Ray showed small calcified granules typical of TB but the infection was spreading from bottom to top which is opposite of TB. What surprised me most was that no one was taking precautions for TB, like wearing a mask or gloves. They go with the innocent until proven guilty method instead of taking precautions until proven wrong. 

The next case was a 14 year old female who presented yesterday with gallstones. An ecographia was done and they found a large parasite in her pancrease which was causing problems as well. They scheduled her for surgery later today and will start a new medicine regime. 

The final case we discussed was a male baby who was in neonatal intensive care. The doctors had him hooked up to a ghetto CPAP machine. It used an old medicine bottle, some tubing, and an oxygen machine. The FiO2 levels were set for 30% which is 7% higher than normal. This is as high of a percentage that they can go without rupturing the alveoli in the lungs. 

Maternity

We left the peds ward and as we were walking down the hall we heard a baby cry from La Sala de Parto (birthing area). Turns out we had just missed the baby being born!! Today is Erin's birthday so she was really hoping to see a birthday twin baby. 

The maternity area is right across from the birthing area so we poked our head in to see if anyone else was going to give birth today. As we were waiting for an answer I noticed a really young girl at the other end. I thought it was someone's daughter coming to visit... Turns out this tiny 12 year old just had a baby yesterday and was preparing to to home!!!!!! WHAT!

Prenatal Check-Ups

Today was all about the babies! Erin and I were placed with a doctor who was doing prenatal check ups. Our first patient was a 15 year old female who was 36 weeks along. It was her first baby and she literally had no idea what was going on. It was almost scary to think she would be a mother in a month based on some of the questions she asked. 

Also I noticed that no one really wore wedding rings... This is because people don't really get married, it's more of a common law marriage type thing. So the young 15 year old started living with some man and they will have children together and live together without ever getting officially married. Another cultural difference that I wasn't expecting!

The other interesting patient we saw was a 24 year old female who was 18 weeks along with her 2nd child. She was entering into the 2nd trimester and so we watched as she filled out all the paperwork for pregnancy plans and emergencies. In this hospital, they do not gather info on the mothers until the 2nd trimester since many miscarriages happen. Another fun fact, miscarriages are called abortions here since they do not discriminate between a natural or self-induced fetus death. 

S.D. Phone Home

One of the fellow's mom (not mine) freaked out because she hadn't heard from their daughter and so the mom called the FIMRC emergency line to find out if everyone was okay. Danel suggested that we contact our parents to tell them we were alive even if we already had told them. As we were leaving the hospital I saw a pay phone and decided to give it a try! It took a couple minutes to figure out what to do but I was able to call mom's cell and talk to her for a little bit. I think it cost like 2 soles per minute so not too bad but I didn't have many coins on me to add time. 

Lunch

Every once in a while I have to give a shout out to my meal. Lunch is the largest meal of the day so Yaniña made spaghetti and meatballs!! It was so good and felt like home. The pasta was handmade and you could definitely tell the difference. 

Anti-Drug Campaign

A new NGO (non-government organization) just formed in Santa Aña for children addicted to drugs. We decided to partner with them and present during a big campaign they held. We brought the medical aspect to the presentation. There was also a police officer, psychologist, and social worker who presented. It was sad to see how many young children (10-18 years old) were already doing marijuana or parta (a poor-man cocaine concoction). Several kids were clearly high while there but I'm glad they showed up and somewhat listened. 

The family who runs the NGO wanted to thank us for coming so after the campaign presentation we ate dinner with them. They cooked for us and served chicken and rice. The family actually runs a street food restaurant out of their garage. The seating is inside the garage area and the cooking is done open the sidewalk under a tent which advertises the food. So I guess I can now say I've had Peruvian street food!

Erin's 20th Birthday

All week we've been secretly planning a small party to celebrate Erin's birthday! The boys organized everything and got a cake and balloons. When we got back from the drug campaign, Erin got stuck talking to someone on the patio while I ran inside to light the birthday candles. She was super surprised and so happy to finally celebrate a birthday with a bunch of friends since she has a summer birthday and many people are out-of-town for it. 

As per Peruvian tradition, Erin had to take a bite out of the cake and while she did that someone would push her face into the cake! Yaniña (host mom) did the honors and it was super funny to see her reaction. We spent the rest of the night hanging out and talking on the patio until the 6 people staying with other host families had to leave.