After a while, everything starts to run together. When you do medical clinics for 12 days seeing over 1200 patients, the stories start to run together and it's hard to keep the details straight. Not to mention that I was too busy to take many pictures.
However, this one woman took more time and her condition allotted me the opportunity to snap a pic. When she arrived, I noticed that she seemed physically distraught. As Raegan and I gathered her vital signs, she kept grabbing her forehead and making visible signs of discomfort. I took her temperature and it was too high, so she got moved up in line.
After she saw the doctor, they wanted her to remain near by so that we could monitor her temperature for a while. She was originally sitting on a bench but still seemed so uncomfortable. She could barely stand up or walk, which was even worse since she was carrying a small child.
Another member of our team and I felt that she needed to lay down, so I found her a covered place on the ground. The other lady was helping her to stand up, but she was struggling. I took the baby from her arms and was not happy about that. I figured his crying was better than both of them ending up on the ground. Once we got her to the covered place, I sat the baby down next to her. She had another small boy with her as well and he just sat down next to her.
As I watched them sitting there, my heart broke for those little boys. Here they were, in a place they had never been, surrounded by strangers, and their mom lay on the ground barely coherent. They didn't complain, didn't make a sound, just sat there looking around, not able to do anything else.
I suddenly recalled that there were dum-dum suckers in the medical clinic, so I went in and took a couple. I took the suckers to the little boys and helped them remove the wrappers. It was such a simple thing, but they perked up a bit. As I started to go back to my observation seat, the mom lifted her head and said, "thank you." Her voice was faint but the look on her face told me that she really appreciated the gesture.
Every 30 minutes I had to take her temperature again. At first, the temperature actually went up. It was nearly 104 (that's even worse because their natural body temperature is generally lower than ours anyway)! After eating their sucker, the boys laid down next to her and they all slept peacefully.
We got the mom some bottled water and I helped her take her first round of medications, which would help bring down the temp. Finally, about 6 pm her temp had gone down enough and she was able to stand up on her own. Once she was improved, she gathered the boys and headed home. She was so grateful for our help.
However, this one woman took more time and her condition allotted me the opportunity to snap a pic. When she arrived, I noticed that she seemed physically distraught. As Raegan and I gathered her vital signs, she kept grabbing her forehead and making visible signs of discomfort. I took her temperature and it was too high, so she got moved up in line.
After she saw the doctor, they wanted her to remain near by so that we could monitor her temperature for a while. She was originally sitting on a bench but still seemed so uncomfortable. She could barely stand up or walk, which was even worse since she was carrying a small child.
Another member of our team and I felt that she needed to lay down, so I found her a covered place on the ground. The other lady was helping her to stand up, but she was struggling. I took the baby from her arms and was not happy about that. I figured his crying was better than both of them ending up on the ground. Once we got her to the covered place, I sat the baby down next to her. She had another small boy with her as well and he just sat down next to her.
As I watched them sitting there, my heart broke for those little boys. Here they were, in a place they had never been, surrounded by strangers, and their mom lay on the ground barely coherent. They didn't complain, didn't make a sound, just sat there looking around, not able to do anything else.
I suddenly recalled that there were dum-dum suckers in the medical clinic, so I went in and took a couple. I took the suckers to the little boys and helped them remove the wrappers. It was such a simple thing, but they perked up a bit. As I started to go back to my observation seat, the mom lifted her head and said, "thank you." Her voice was faint but the look on her face told me that she really appreciated the gesture.
Every 30 minutes I had to take her temperature again. At first, the temperature actually went up. It was nearly 104 (that's even worse because their natural body temperature is generally lower than ours anyway)! After eating their sucker, the boys laid down next to her and they all slept peacefully.
We got the mom some bottled water and I helped her take her first round of medications, which would help bring down the temp. Finally, about 6 pm her temp had gone down enough and she was able to stand up on her own. Once she was improved, she gathered the boys and headed home. She was so grateful for our help.
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