Haiti - Day 11

My medical ailments continue here in Haiti.

I have self diagnosed myself with having the Giardia Parasite that is most commonly contracted through drinking contaminated water. Among many of its hallmark features, (I'll spare some of the lovely details) are sulfer-tasting belches. Yep, I got ‘em. And as if this wasn’t enough, I accidentally fell asleep last night without remembering to douse myself in deet, as I usually do before I shimmy under the covers. After a long day of feeling lousy, I passed out in an Ambien induced coma, and had a nice long, 7 hour sleep…

…until I awoke at 6:00am, feeling rather itchy, and rather lumpy.

I looked in the mirror to discover that I was covered with mosquito bites (at least I hope that the bites came from a mosquito, versus some other less desirable insect). 121 times over (and probably more as I can’t count the ones on the back of my neck), covering my face (I look horrendous), neck, arms, and hands.

After I fashioned a fine bag with cut out eyes to throw over my head, I pulled myself together, yet again, and hopped on the bus. I should have used my better judgment as once again, I could hardly stand up straight without feeling dizzy. It was a unanimous decision that I should be sent home. It probably had more to do with the fact that once people took a look at my wretched, pale, mosquito infested face, no one wanted to come within 3 feet of me. But regardless, back on the bus I went. I lasted a total of about 2 hours – better than yesterday – but at least I got to have some patient contact this morning.

Unfortunately, the one patient contact I had was not a pleasant one.

Overnight, the ER admitted a very small 3 year old girl, who was laying on the gurney with her mother. She had not yet been seen my any medical staff, so I took her chart and began to investigate why she was there. Aside from a ratty diaper, the girl was completely naked. I could tell just by looking at her that she had an obvious cognitive and developmental delay, and markedly stunted growth.

She whimpered a bit and looked uncomfortable, but she was by no means cry or looking in obvious distress.

Through the help of my translator, the woman conveyed to me that her daughter was having vaginal bleeding. Immediately concerned and suspicious, I got my head lamp and proper supplies. I removed the diaper and was horrified to see that she was ripped from top to bottom…from her urethra to her rectum. It was a bloody, macerated mess. This, of course, elicited a horrific scream from the little girl, and I realized that if I was going to get a more thorough exam then we would have to make her more comfortable. We gave her some ketamine (like we did for the little boy who needed his forehead sutured) , and our stomachs churned when we discovered that she had been so brutally assaulted that her injuries involved her colon/large intestine as well. She would need immediate surgery to repair this hole in her bowel, before she became septic. The chances of her getting this surgery immediately is almost slim to none, as I have seen dozens of people over the past 10 days require emergency surgery that never receive it, and are left to die, right in front of us.

Makes a million mosquito bites and an intestinal parasite seem like nothing.

I await the return of my colleagues tonight to find out what happened to her after I left.

I end with an article sent to me by my Uncle Ralph yesterday, posted in the New York Times. It discusses Haitian women who are brutally assaulted and raped, and subsequently left to die. Many do, but this one woman didn’t. She tells her story; a story that is frighteningly similar to thousands of violated young girls and women, not only in Haiti, but throughout the world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/world/americas/24haiti.html?sq=haiti&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=2&adxnnlx=1277402434-+6wVGrwcN+WbEixM+2o3KA