Trip to theouterlands part 3

When we left for the mountains, we decided as a group, that I would be anonymous, meaning that we would not tell anyone that I was a nurse, for fear of me being overwhelmed with work.  I did not bring any of my diagnosis books or assessment tools (not even a stethoscope).  But, the woman who runs the CP clinic did not get that memo, and she mentioned to all of the patients families that a nurse was coming. Oh dear...

One day while we were on our trip, an employee at the CP clinic asked me to go look at his daughter who had been sick for a while.  So, we went out to his village and it turns out that his daughter has malaria.  She had already been diagnosed, and was taking medicine, but I didn't have my drug book with me, so I called a friend back in Mazar to get the right dosages.  She was not taking enough, so I corrected the dose for her.  About a month later, I found out that all Afghan malaria was drug resistant, and that what the doctors prescribe is useless there.  Ugh...well it is a lesson learned.  During our surveys on this trip, we found out that in the mountains, most people get malaria every summer.  So, they desperately need some prevention measures, like mosquito nets, and getting rid of standing water etc...

After we finished with the little girl, one of the women in the house said that she was suffering severely with gall stones.  She had lost so much weight, that she was a stick and her shoulder blades were sticking out.  She said that the doctor told her she needed surgery,  she couldn't afford it...again the public hospital is supposed to be free, but the docs and nurses want bribes to treat you.  Thankfully there is  a Turkish run wing of the hospital and we had made some contacts there, so we got her into see someone.  It is s frustrating to deal with the apathy of the medical community there!

As we left the house, people started coming out of houses and streets all over the village, asking for me to come and examine their sick loved ones.  This is my biggest struggle in Afghanistan.  The need is so incredibly great, and the resources are so few.  I long to help everyone in need, but I am only one person, and sometimes I work until I have nothing left and I get so sick that I can't go on for a while. (more about that in a later blog)  I did something that day that I don't do very often, but for my sanity I am having to learn.  I walked away.  

The next day, at the clinic, a baby was brought to me who had pneumonia.  Since I didn't have anything with me, I couldn't treat him, and once again, I had to walk away (though I did tell the mom to get the baby to the hospital).  I really struggled that night with what I should do, and I finally came to the conclusion that I wouldn't travel without my medical things again.  The basic things do not take up much space, and it will be worth it.  Second, though I can't go into a village and treat every single person I see, when individuals come to me (like the baby with pneumonia), I need to be ready to treat them.