One week into my paediatric clinical placement an I’m already completely infatuated with babies. My history with babies and children has been a rocky one though. No surprise at all then that I was very nervous when I bathed and fed my first patient on tuesday, a 3 week old infant. She was very small, a little underweight, but as beautiful as a rosebud. When she smiled, something within me clicked, and my womanly senses were activated. From then onwards, it was an easy ride.
My Patient was diagnosed with really bad GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). This means that the contents of the stomach escape up into the esophagus, and the acids therefore irritate the mucous linings, causing pain, loss of appetite, regurgitation and apnea. If left untreated, the symptoms may become very serious.
The surgeons decided on wednesday to have the Ph of her esophagus tested. So these tubes were inserted through her nose and the length just above the esophageal sphincter. These were connected to a machine that then calibrated the ph changes over a period of 24 hrs. The results showed that when the baby was asleep and in a supine position the ph dropped below 4 for very long periods. Upon this, the Surgeons decided to operate.
And of course I had to see this!
And believe me, seeing a live laparoscopy is just absolutely beyond awesome! The abdomen is filled with CO2 gas, and a camera is inserted. Every one in the OR could see clearly everything that the surgeons did.
What more was cool, the anaesthetic nurse had lived in Zimbabwe for 14 years. So we of course had to reminisce about africa. Speaking of which, it has been confirmed: I will be going to Zambia for three months next year! (and home after that). I will be doing my specialization in the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka. Plus I get to do my data collection for my research project in Malawi and Zambia. The Project is part of a bigger project ‘Developing Clinical Tutoring in Malawi and Zambia’. I will be interviewing teachers and clinical tutors.
Current state: Happy happy happy, scared, busy, fatigued.
Off to read about interesting syndromes. Cheers!
Health Tip: One very sad story: excited kid is given peanuts, puts some peanuts into mouth, starts running, falls, aspirates nut, nut absorbed liquid and expands, asphyxiation brain damage from hypoxia…Don’t give nuts to small children!!!!
