Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Is that a worm in your head or are you just crying to see me?

Valerie told me two very interesting stories from life at the clinic.

Well, I should add first that Valerie asked for desks for the clinic. I told her that we had a few, but that they were big desks. She says, no problem. Oscar fixes desks to take to the clinic to try to fit into the assigned space. Valerie then tells me "whoa, these desks are huge!" Ah, communication.

So the first boy was a middle class boy yesterday that was at the clinic with a problem in his head...he had a worm growing in it. From what we are told, usually they can just be pulled right out, but this one was quite tricky...which sounds like no fun for either patient or doctor. Get a wound on your head, fly or something lands, egg planted, and viola, you have a worm. I am a little confused about the whole egg getting planted that is a worm from something that flies...but I am sure I will get that cleared up from a doctor friend in the next medical brigade.

The next patient was today, a two year old. He had a big gash on his head. His mother did what seemed natural to her to stop the bleeding...stuff the wound with coffee grounds. Valerie, dumbfounded, walked into the optical room to share her dismay with our temporary optician Gladys and the patient Valerie had just given an exam. Both women instantly responded to Valerie's "can you believe that?" with "oh sure, only natural, any good mom would do that." Valerie asked Marlene and Reina at lunch...they have a slightly different opinion. "We hate it when people do that!" You see, the coffee stops the bleeding...until the doctor goes to clean out the wound at which time it is a huge pain in the grounds to the medical staff and takes quite a bit of irrigation to clear. Oh, not to mention the slight extreme discomfort the patient then experiences...which could be heard by, just about everyone.

2 comments:

beckyc said...

The worm sounds like a torcelo (bot-fly). I think they normally host in animals such as horses and cows. At "our" orphanage in rural Honduras, they have a farm with pigs, cows, horses, etc. and the kids and adults that work over there often get the torcelos. I've been in their clinic when they were working on the patients. I think they prick open the skin and start squeezing real deep. It takes several visits back to the clinic with more squeezing to be sure to get it all out. It's obviously quite painful.

Unknown said...

Ouch! I think I knew about the coffee gounds thingie. Kinda like my folks who thought butter or margarine was the remedy for a burn. It works for 5 minutes than exacerbates the problem. It's a temporary salve. And that's so typical here. Fix it for now and worry later about the consequences.