the first day
I've only been here for a day and drama has already happened!
It turns out this 7 year old girl with spina bifida from the orphanage some of the staff had been taking care of (and she's been flourishing under them... after being left in a cot for 4.5yrs and only knowing how to drink from a bottle) has been facing kidney failure for awhile. The american doc says that catheterization 3x a day was the best way to support her kidneys. The chinese doc says that her decline is the fault of the staff (well the westerners who were taking special care of her), and that placing an indwelling cathether and changing that once a week was his way. If they chose not to listen to him then she'd be sent back to the orphanage (instead of the home she'd been staying in the past 3 years). If anything goes wrong from now it'll be their (the westerners) fault somehow anyway. But doing it his way would mean increased risk of getting a bladder infection, having to transport her to the hospital every week, and if she goes back to the orphanage that means the end of any sort of stimulation in her life, being away from what she's known over the past 3 years, probably a quicker decline of her health.
So the team is quite down about this. It's the chinese doctor's way or the highway it seems. I'm going to meet the girl tomorrow and help bring her to the hospital. Which means I get to see the inside of the orphanage (quite exciting news for the lady I'm staying with as foreigners aren't allowed in at all).
Spent most of today at the centre with this one kid- he's 5 and has lived with his grandmother in the countryside most of his life. He's got the intellect of a 2-3 year old, has no idea of boundaries and rules or respect, has a crazy thick country accent, yet is cute as anything with his mannerisms. Apparently he has improved tremendously in 4 classes since he started last week so it'll be nice to see how he goes in the future!
And I've been asked to help translate a letter from English-Chinese tomorrow. Should be interesting considering I haven't done one in years!
It turns out this 7 year old girl with spina bifida from the orphanage some of the staff had been taking care of (and she's been flourishing under them... after being left in a cot for 4.5yrs and only knowing how to drink from a bottle) has been facing kidney failure for awhile. The american doc says that catheterization 3x a day was the best way to support her kidneys. The chinese doc says that her decline is the fault of the staff (well the westerners who were taking special care of her), and that placing an indwelling cathether and changing that once a week was his way. If they chose not to listen to him then she'd be sent back to the orphanage (instead of the home she'd been staying in the past 3 years). If anything goes wrong from now it'll be their (the westerners) fault somehow anyway. But doing it his way would mean increased risk of getting a bladder infection, having to transport her to the hospital every week, and if she goes back to the orphanage that means the end of any sort of stimulation in her life, being away from what she's known over the past 3 years, probably a quicker decline of her health.
So the team is quite down about this. It's the chinese doctor's way or the highway it seems. I'm going to meet the girl tomorrow and help bring her to the hospital. Which means I get to see the inside of the orphanage (quite exciting news for the lady I'm staying with as foreigners aren't allowed in at all).
Spent most of today at the centre with this one kid- he's 5 and has lived with his grandmother in the countryside most of his life. He's got the intellect of a 2-3 year old, has no idea of boundaries and rules or respect, has a crazy thick country accent, yet is cute as anything with his mannerisms. Apparently he has improved tremendously in 4 classes since he started last week so it'll be nice to see how he goes in the future!
And I've been asked to help translate a letter from English-Chinese tomorrow. Should be interesting considering I haven't done one in years!
2 Comments:
At Wed Oct 21, 03:08:00 pm ,
gwenda said...
:) hi cam
At Thu Oct 22, 02:10:00 am ,
Cam said...
hi gwen how you? email me! ive discovered meebo isn't banned but trying not to make a daily habit out of it ;)
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