Time for a mid-trip break

Hey friends,

It's been a short week in peds but a couple of highlights include that we were able to diagnose our kid with fevers for 3 months with TB using a PPD skin test. The TB coordinator didn't exactly agree but after Dr Lace talked with the chief medical officer, I think we made our case and the child will be able to get treatment and go home as she is not all that ill with the exception of the fevers. Another interesting case that came in yesterday was a young boy with some sort of movement disorder. We're still not entirely sure what is going on but it is mostly likely a case of rheumatic fever. Maybe we'll have some
answers when we get back and see how he is progressing. Then this morning we saw a rare occurrence: a child with chicken pox. For whatever reason, chicken pox is actually very rare here and the doctors actually weren't quite sure what to do with him!!

We also saw our first case of pediatric HIV. Very sad. He's very ill and has likely progressed to AIDS but we're going to do all we can to get him healthy: anti-retro virals, antifungals, antibiotics and hope that we're able to give him enough of a fighting chance to recover. We still haven't had a chance to visit any of the HIV clinics here but that is definitely on the list before we leave.

As for our mid-trip break, we'll be heading to a Maasai village with Dr Lace tomorrow for a few days to put on a clinic. We get back Saturday afternoon and them we'll leave on Sunday morning to meet our new friends in Zanzibar. We're not entirely sure how long we'll be staying but likely for about 4 or 5 days.

Since we'll be out and about, no guarantees of when I'll be able to post another blog so hang in there and I'll update when I can!!!