6

This week has been a strange collision of life and death. Rupturing membranes and resuscitation. The saddest thing was I turned up this morning and the doctor told me a mother died yesterday from a PPH (bleed following delivery). It was because the doctor prescribed 3 units of blood to be given immediately but she was only given one unit of blood this was 4 hours after the doctor requested it. She was only 31 and has left 6 children. So sad especially as it was totally preventable. No one should die in childbirth anymore.
Lots of resuscitating this week! First one was a baby who I was left resuscitating with a nurse because there were no doctors around. There was only one oxygen machine which another baby was using. There’s no neonatal unit here yet. There’s one baby on the ward who is severely malnourished, so bony. The o&g doctors who are supposed to look after them are too busy to do paeds as well.
The second one was a woman in shock following PPH (bleeding after delivery) Found myself squeezing saline bags to get fluid into her because the cannulas are so small. She came round after a while and is now looking ok.
The third one was a woman with twins who had had 9 children already so a very stretched uterus. The F1 decided to trial normal delivery because the first twin presented head down. But the labour went on for so long and she was getting really severe abdominal pain so we thought she was about to rupture and had to rush her into theatre. They opened her up and pulled out one massive baby! I was SO happy it survived I thought I was going to cry. That’s what happens when you don’t have ultrasound scans.
That’s the other side of o&g – LIFE. Absolutely incredibly the woman in shock with the ruptured uterus survived. Total miracle because she had an unrecordable BP and the doctors couldn’t even auscultate her heartbeat when they took her into theatre. They couldn’t anaesthetise her because it would have killed her so they did a section with no anaesthetic as she was unresponsive to pain. Wow. I think God was in on that one.
I managed to catch a normal delivery yesterday after a long wait! Freaked out a bit when the midwife left me alone with the placenta. Fortunately got it out ok. Also freaked out when I thought I’d given a baby on the weighing scales back to the wrong mother. Quick scout round labour ward saw that no other mothers had delivered yet. Close call.
Yesterday I ditched placement for the afternoon to help the Irish team who are redecorating the paediatric unit. I sanded some walls and doors which was a nice break from the wards/theatre. Today we walked into Masaka and are at the Danish cafe/church/charity for their meeting at 7 – they make yummy food as well.
The kids are all lovely here. Just sitting in Ten Tables where we watch the football 2 beautiful girls came over and they just want to hold your hand and sit on your lap – sweet. There was a gorgeous little girl in the paeds unit as well, lovely afro hair and black and white spotty dress. Her friend was there but she had tinea (fungal infection) all over her, looked really ill as well, she was just looking up at me and wanted me to pick her up too, really sad but I thought I better not transmit fungal infection all over the hospital.
This weekend we’re going to Lake Mburo which is about 3 hours from here. We’re going to do a bit of safari, it’s not as good as Murchinson (which we’re going to at the end) but has lots of zebras and hippos. The surgeons went last week and ended up running for their lives from a hippo. Foot safari = mistake.
Will be back here on Sunday so will update again then :)
Much love X