Friday morning! Last day at St. Apolinaris hospital. We got to the hospital around 8am. Inge went to meet Dr. Bhengu who ran the ARV clinic on site, Candice and Meredith went back to pediatrics and Jill went back to high care.
Candice and Meredith were excited to return to the children they had grown so fond of. They were able to give baths and play with the children. With more time this morning they were also able to focus more on the children they knew were orphans or had no visitors.
Jill spent another busy day in high care. A newly diagnosed HIV/TB patient was being transferred into the unit. She had developed Steven Johnson syndrome, an adverse side effect to one of the medications she was taking. This syndrome causes the skin to slough off, an excruciatingly painful side effect. This girl was only 15 and was very I'll. It was interesting to see the admission process and how a new and critical patient was handled.
We were able to be on the floors until about noon, then we had to meet to head back down to Durban (all were a bit sad to leave the B&B and Bruce). We had only been away for 2.5 days but if felt like much longer. We stopped on our way home for a pit stop at Mugg and Beans, a local restaurant that is famous for their large muffins and bottomless cups of coffee (all of you Americans who have traveled internationally and had to pay for refills will appreciate this!).
We arrived back in Durban and got ourselves ready for our big weekend... A real African Safari!!
I think we all enjoyed our trip to the mountains and the wonderful nurses and other personnel we met. Today I was with Mr. Bhengu who is an advanced nurse clinician and a very good one at that. During these days I have met with nurses and doctors, one of whom was from Atlanta and supervises the ARV and TB Clinic at St. Apollinaris. Another doctor, the one who asked us to leave something behind, asked me to join him on rounds but was so detained I had left for the visit to Donnybrook. I left him a Lancetl article on the degree to which South Africa is meeting the Millenium Development Goals.
ReplyDeleteThe HIV nurses were superb. Mr. Zuma pulled me in yesterday to discuss a case about which he was concerned. I think it will lead to another area of HIV research for us. The same thing happened today with Mr. Bhengu. They're seeing problems that may be much rarer in the U.S. or a prodrome of what may happen but I want to conduct a lit search to check that out. And if I can find some information, share that with out South African colleagues who were very gracious to all of us. Where-ever we went we were able to give back. And we always brought cookies- a sign of our respect for our hosts. Two more excing visits next Monday and Tuesday but I'll let "the girls" tell you about that. Tomorrow and Sunday, we're back to nature. Thank you to all of our followers and special appreciation to those who communicate with us. Inge