Salome

And He healed many who were sick with various diseases,
and cast out many demons.
Mark 1:34

Salome is where I work. It’s the women’s ward, named after a woman who worked at the hospital many years ago. There are many sick women here, some with severe medical conditions, and some recovering from surgery. It’s a place where some are healed in spite of our inadequacies, and some are not, in spite of giving them the best care we can.

Catherine, the in-charge nurse, and Mary are hard working and dedicated, and a pleasure to work with, as are Jennifer, Pennina, and the other nurses. Moses is Catherine’s assistant, and a big help. When I need to do a procedure and want it set up promptly, I go to Moses.

Chaplains visit every patient every day, offering prayer and encouragement. We even have Somali-speaking chaplains, because Kijabe has been attracting many Somali patients, traveling here from Nairobi, northeastern Kenya, or even directly from Somalia.

Esther is a 30 year old woman who spent about a month with us. She had given birth to her third child a back in May. Shortly after that, her husband abandoned her for some reason, and then she became ill. We diagnosed malaria and tuberculous meningitis. In spite of treating her infections, she remained nearly comatose. I talked to her father about getting a CT scan in Nairobi, to help us better understand what was happening. A CT costs 6,000 shillings, about $80, far more than most can afford – perhaps 1 or 2 months’ wages. He went home to their village and scraped the money together. The scan unfortunately showed that the TB in her brain had been complicated by a stroke, so she would probably remain paralyzed on the right side.

In spite of her grim prognosis, Esther began to improve. Each day, we were encouraged to see her become just a little more alert. She started to follow with her eyes and use her left hand. One day she even said a couple of words to her mother. We fed her with a tube, and I spoke with her sister about caring for her at home. She said the family wanted her to stay a bit longer to regain more strength, so her children wouldn’t be frightened by her appearance. I agreed, and we made tentative plans for discharge.

Sadly, I came in one morning to find that Esther died during the night. She choked on her oral secretions and the nurses were unable to suction out her airway. It was a sad and disappointing moment.

We also see encouraging and even miraculous things. Lucy is a young woman who also had tuberculous meningitis, as well as brucellosis, a disease from close exposure to cattle. She was very ill, comatose for a week or so, and very slow to improve. But she gradually overcame her very serious infections, and was able to go home a few days ago. We were happy to send her on her way!

Ndahabu is a 60 year old woman from Somalia who fell and broke her hip about 3 months before coming here. It wasn’t handled properly, and she developed several bedsores. It’s too late to try to fix the broken hip, so we’re allowing it to heal on its own and encouraging her to start walking. She’s an animated, boisterous woman, and I enjoy visiting her each day, even though communication is difficult. Except for the chaplains, none of our staff speaks Somali, and she doesn’t speak Kiswahili. So we gesture and she gesticulates, and somehow we understand each other.

Elizabeth is a 20 year old single mother who lives with her baby in her parents’ mud and stick home. She’s had increasing conflict with her mother, and finally took an overdose of an insecticide used to kill fleas on cattle. It’s also lethal to humans, but she stabilized after a night in the ICU, and then came to us. After receiving loving care from our staff, and counsel and prayer with the chaplain, she left yesterday with a smile on her face and hope in her heart.

Patients and their families are very grateful for the care they receive, no matter what happens. But our resources are limited, and things don’t always turn out the way we’d like.

Someone commented recently that we give patients the best care we can, but we don’t get to choose the outcome. Ultimately, healing is in God’s hands.

- Doug