Another Call

Dan has stayed on Maternal-Child, getting to know the various midwives. Mary one of the midwives has been doing midwifery for 40 years. There are very few things that get her riled, so when she called us into a repair at about 10pm we new it was not going to be simple. The patient was actually a successful TOLAC. Unfortunately she had and extensive lacertation. Dan and I started to prepare for her repair when all of a sudden we get a shout from Mary saying “we have a flat baby”, meaning the baby is apneic or flaccid, this was a baby of another women who delivered as we were starting our repair. So Dan and I leave the other patient, or actually we just turn around to the “resucitier” or what we would call the warmer, which is in the same room, and proceed to resucitate the baby. The infants heart rate is initially under 60 so we commense with chest compressions and PPV. Fortunately the baby responds appropriately after about five or ten minutes and we are able to return to our initial patient.

Most Zambians are very stoic, calm people who rarely get worked up or overly express emotions. We however seemed to have found the only female in the country who had a profound phobia of needles. Unfortunately unlike most patients with a needle phobia she did not pass out when they were encountered, but proceeded to climb backwards over the bed. So here is Dan trying to hold her down on the bed, with me trying to do the repair. Finally we just decide to take her to the OR and do it under conscious sedation.

Front of Hospital

Kajo Kona (Food Corner), local restaurant