August 5th

            This was the first clinic day. We saw 130 patients many of whom were the students of Jamii School, or their parents or brothers or sisters. Many of the students had upper respiratory conditions ranging from allergies to sinusitis to some lung involvement. This is to be expected from the close living quarters that these children live with every day. I also saw 2 children with chicken pox there is soon to be an outbreak I am sure in 10 or so days.

            2 cases stood out. The first were two small boys that were burned pretty severely. Both were burned over a pretty large body area, but for the most part were very superficial and should heal nicely. The other was a thin woman that had 3 weeks of a cough. She had had x-rays 3 weeks earlier that were negative, but the cough persisted and the cough was getting progressively worst. It turns out that she had HIV / AIDS which put her at higher risk of TB. We sent her to the HIV clinic to get further testing. The thing that struck me was here was a woman in her 30’s with a severe disease that is going to dramatically affect her life, if not end it prematurely. She had her whole life ahead of her to now consist of endless clinic visits, multiple medicines that have a variety of side effects, and who knows the concerns for herself and her children that she must carry from here on out.