30/12/2017
WHO CARES IF A MONKEY HAS DIARRHEA IN THE FOREST?
'Who cares if a monkey has diarrhea in the forest?' was the question I asked Dickson.Dickson is a chef who became a close friend ever since I had taken care of his daughter when she fell in hot oil.I remember really blasting him after the little girl had pulled through .And we had become good friends.He caters for all our fundraising events and he had just called to ask when we would have our annual charity ball.
But truth be told, I was tired of all the asking for funds.I was tired of fighting a system that didn't really care about children.I had spent the year begging and coaxing management to create a place for sick newborns. I had spent the year advocating to get drugs for children.I had spent the year sometimes fighting parents to allow us to treat their children and refusing to accept requests for discharge against medical advice.I had spent the year teaching parents to take better care of their children and not give all the meat to the father.
And now I was just tired.
Who cares if a monkey has diarrhea in a forest? Who cares if a nameless faceless child dies in a remote district because her parents couldn't afford drugs or because there was no equipment to help her live? Who cares?She's nobody important.. she's nobody important's child...and with malnutrition she may never be anyone important... So who cares?
I explained to Dickson why we wouldn't have the fundraising dinner this year and as I paused to take a breath , Hannah, my Pediatric ER nurse poked her head into my office and mouthed ' we need help in ER'...' Call me at 5pm' I said to Dickson as I jumped up and ran towards the Pediatric ER.' What's up with the kid' i asked Hannah .' Kid is very pale and we can't get an iv line'
We both joined the rest of the team in searching for a vein.' Has a sample been sent for blood ' I asked . ' yes ' said Hannah..' Nurse Teye is going to donate blood for them' .I love my team.Nurse Teye often donates blood for the most helpless patients... And sometimes he is even on duty as he does this.
We finally secured a line and I gave a couple of instructions for medications to be started.My back was killing me after been in such an awkward position trying to get a line for the kid.I had planned to drive to the city after work today, get a massage, a facial, get my finger nails and toenails done...and paint them purple for the week.
I had already withdrawn the money for all this .I planned to sip a cocktail by the poolside in a hotel and relax.pure bliss ahead of me...so I could endure this fleeting backache.
I asked Hannah after a couple of minutes about the drugs for the kid .' they dont have health insurance' Hannah said.'OK, so where is the dad,we need the drugs now and they may have to buy it across the road...from a pharmacy in town'
Hannah spoke to the mom again and I gathered that the father would come tomorrow as they came on a motorbike and there wasn't enough space for him.A car leaves their village just once every three days,so he would have to wait.Ok.
'Hannah,ask the mum if she can get us the drug please or get the money from her and go buy it so she doesn't get knocked down by a car' I said.Sometimes,the stress and confusion of the parents resulted in them getting knocked down by cars.
The woman untied the edge of her cloth and I looked out of the corner of my eye with one eye still on her critically ill child.All she had were the red notes.One cedi notes.And there were just 10 of them.It wouldn't be enough for anything.
The child's eyes turned glassy and I knew that look.The look of a child about to die.Teye brought in the blood ...his blood ...and we set it up.But we needed some drugs.'
The woman began to weep as if the glassy eyes and unresponsiveness had registered with her .She wept asking us to save her toddler.
And it happened, as it always does. Somewhere ,somehow,in a way I never understand, the ability to save a life was no longer the responsibility of the parents of the child, nor society.In a strange way, things had changed and I was a key stakeholder,if not the main one, in the child's life. now it was my decision to make: to save the child or not to.
'Olivia,do we have money in our emergency fund?'Olivia is our business manager and guards our fund with an eagle eye.'The kid from Ivory coast who spent two weeks in intensive care exhausted the fund' she replied.
Faced with a dying child, whose whole life depended on an amount of money less than the total of my pedicure, manicure,and facial,but an amount more than his parents had,my needs and wants were no longer a priority and I said ' Olivia,there's money in my bag, take some and get the drugs for the kid...and take off those heels if u cant run in them'
I counted the seconds till she came back with the drugs.We stabilised the kid and I went home.
Lying on a mat on the floor trying to relax my hurting back the next day , and boiling a kettle of water to do the pedicure myself, I thought through the previous days events.
I had seen the little kid again in the evening and in the morning..little kids are resilient..incredibly so...this morning she was sitting in bed eating, with both right and left hands, some waakye my nurses had graciously bought for both her and her mum ,she was fixated on the egg...probably a rarity in her diet....her diapers looked like a dress on her but hey...u can't complain about donations
She was alive....and well...and the father came in ,all dusty from the journey...he had more Money than the mum...he had three 5 cedi notes......
As I tried various stretches on the mat,i realised that I may get tired of caring,I may feel like giving up but I can't stop till the day the system works for the most vulnerable.
I called Dickson back.
'Dickson, ' I said' the fundraising dinner is on the 30th of November.'. Dickson laughed merrily and said ' but Doc, who cares if a monkey has diarrhea in the forest?'
' Hmm Dickson,' I grudgingly replied..'
Kindly donate now to our sick kids fund. Any donation WILL save a life.
Mtn mobile money 0244268572We must all care'
