Doctor, Doctor!
Our friend, Rebecca, has been sick with tummy problems for about two months now. On three different days, she has been violently ill but even when she's not, she feels terrible and weak. Already thin, she has lost a lot of weight and can barely eat anything, so on Tuesday I took her to Meknes (1 hr) to see another doctor.
They ended up giving her an IV for two days with antibiotics. I was able to stay with her Tuesday through Wednesday but had to return the next day. Ron and Laurie helped her while I was gone and then I returned to pick her up Thursday. Here are some of the things that happened during this time -
- Translation issues - always the hardest and not such a big deal UNLESS you are dealing with doctors in which case it is very important to know what you are hearing. Often we had to call Ron or Laurie and have them talk to the doctor. Once the doctor explained a bunch of stuff to me and though I understood it all, he either could not understand my questions, or didn't want to answer them. At one point, I asked him to talk to Ron on the phone and he wouldn't let me and said, "No! Don't! I can tell you understand me just fine."
- Which leads me to the second point - Moroccans do not ask questions to their doctors at all. Although Rebecca had been diagnosed with salmonella, her symptoms do not fit what we have found on the Internet. But when I asked the doctor this and other questions, he seemed very annoyed with me and completely unused to answering questions.
- The doctor prescribed an IV for Rebecca and later found out that the antibiotics he was going to give her were the exact same ones she had just been on orally - and the ones which hadn't worked.
- She was told she would have a sonogram in the morning and therefore should not eat from midnight on. Half-an-hour later, the nurses came it and started wheeling her out of the room for the sonogram. I followed them saying "No! She just drank! She had lunch! It's supposed to be tomorrow!' They told me it was no big deal.
- They found a cyst in her liver - which was an indication of Hep A, B, C, salmonella or AIDS. After telling me this, the sonographer said, "C'est ne pas grave!" (It's not serious.) Um, yes, I think it is!
-A little later the doctor came in and said, "So - I just read Rebecca's chart..." Let's see - shouldn't he have read it several hours before? Then he told us that she'd already tested positive for salmonella a few weeks prior and negative for the other things.
- When they'd check on Rebecca during the night, the nurse would walk in, turn the florescent light on, do her thing and then leave. Once a nurse came in, turned the light on, asked if we were all right, turned the light off then left. We were actually doing better before she asked!
- Rebecca can hardly eat anything without violent repercussions. The doctor said he'd give the kitchen a list of her special diet. Obviously the list never made it because the next meal she had was fried sausage. When Rebecca said she could not eat it, the nurse marched out offended. Two hours later she got her supper - a small bowl of soup at 9:15.
- And, after all that - the medicine she was given (which does not match the prescription) has made her feel worse.
- I had to bring her home Thursday because she was in charge of the whole school performance which she got through amazingly!
- The next day she went to Fez (1 hr) with the AUI ambulance where another doctor disagreed with the diagnosis, medication and sonogram.
Right now she is riding it out for a few more days but might have to go to Rabat (2 hrs) next.
This gives you and idea of the medical care available around here. There is a small university clinic and a hospital with no equipment, medicine or supplies here in town. There is also a huge, fully-equipped hospital one block away from us that has never opened (that is another story).
One hour away is either Fez or Meknes and the above account is from Mekens. There are good doctors around - I just know it. It's just that we haven't found them yet. And we are in a country with excellent medical care compared to half of the world!
Please pray for Rebecca. This is her first year hear and it has been rough in more ways than this.
They ended up giving her an IV for two days with antibiotics. I was able to stay with her Tuesday through Wednesday but had to return the next day. Ron and Laurie helped her while I was gone and then I returned to pick her up Thursday. Here are some of the things that happened during this time -
- Translation issues - always the hardest and not such a big deal UNLESS you are dealing with doctors in which case it is very important to know what you are hearing. Often we had to call Ron or Laurie and have them talk to the doctor. Once the doctor explained a bunch of stuff to me and though I understood it all, he either could not understand my questions, or didn't want to answer them. At one point, I asked him to talk to Ron on the phone and he wouldn't let me and said, "No! Don't! I can tell you understand me just fine."
- Which leads me to the second point - Moroccans do not ask questions to their doctors at all. Although Rebecca had been diagnosed with salmonella, her symptoms do not fit what we have found on the Internet. But when I asked the doctor this and other questions, he seemed very annoyed with me and completely unused to answering questions.
- The doctor prescribed an IV for Rebecca and later found out that the antibiotics he was going to give her were the exact same ones she had just been on orally - and the ones which hadn't worked.
- She was told she would have a sonogram in the morning and therefore should not eat from midnight on. Half-an-hour later, the nurses came it and started wheeling her out of the room for the sonogram. I followed them saying "No! She just drank! She had lunch! It's supposed to be tomorrow!' They told me it was no big deal.
- They found a cyst in her liver - which was an indication of Hep A, B, C, salmonella or AIDS. After telling me this, the sonographer said, "C'est ne pas grave!" (It's not serious.) Um, yes, I think it is!
-A little later the doctor came in and said, "So - I just read Rebecca's chart..." Let's see - shouldn't he have read it several hours before? Then he told us that she'd already tested positive for salmonella a few weeks prior and negative for the other things.
- When they'd check on Rebecca during the night, the nurse would walk in, turn the florescent light on, do her thing and then leave. Once a nurse came in, turned the light on, asked if we were all right, turned the light off then left. We were actually doing better before she asked!
- Rebecca can hardly eat anything without violent repercussions. The doctor said he'd give the kitchen a list of her special diet. Obviously the list never made it because the next meal she had was fried sausage. When Rebecca said she could not eat it, the nurse marched out offended. Two hours later she got her supper - a small bowl of soup at 9:15.
- And, after all that - the medicine she was given (which does not match the prescription) has made her feel worse.
- I had to bring her home Thursday because she was in charge of the whole school performance which she got through amazingly!
- The next day she went to Fez (1 hr) with the AUI ambulance where another doctor disagreed with the diagnosis, medication and sonogram.
Right now she is riding it out for a few more days but might have to go to Rabat (2 hrs) next.
This gives you and idea of the medical care available around here. There is a small university clinic and a hospital with no equipment, medicine or supplies here in town. There is also a huge, fully-equipped hospital one block away from us that has never opened (that is another story).
One hour away is either Fez or Meknes and the above account is from Mekens. There are good doctors around - I just know it. It's just that we haven't found them yet. And we are in a country with excellent medical care compared to half of the world!
Please pray for Rebecca. This is her first year hear and it has been rough in more ways than this.
posted by Reimer Ramblings @ 1:07 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
As an American, I like most of us can not believe that the rest of the world holds such little value in women. In fact their disrespect to your opinion is typical of what I have found in a lot of the rest of the world. If your friend was my wife, I would put her on a plane and sent her to the Mayo Clinic as fast as possible. I would be real careful to not send her back where the chance of a second tainted food occurrence is likely. Good Luck to you and her. MUD
It could be the woman factor, but I also think it's a lot like the US 50 years ago when questions were not welcome from patients. We thought about sending her back to the USA too, but the thing is, tummy stuff is often mis/undiagnosed in the States because they are not used to such things. I feel like we just need to find the right doc...julie
Oh misery. We're praying. Maybe it's *good* I didn't see a doc when I was sick in Morocco?
Heidi
There are lots of mysterious bugs out there. Hopefully someone will figure this one out. Best wishes to Rebecca for a speedy recovery. Keep us posted on how she is doing.
Barb
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