Excitement for Erin
Tuesday, I spent the day visiting different hospitals and doctors in hopes of discovering the cause of the growth on Erin’s forehead. When myself and Kilara did her initial intake interview, we noticed a growth on her forehead that has been there for over a year. Her family was unable to pay for the medical tests required to diagnose its cause. When we visited the doctor, we were told to come back for x-rays when power returned. Tuesday, power finally came back.
There is no privacy in Ugandan Medical Care. In Canada, when waiting for an x-ray, you sit quietly and don’t talk to anyone. In Uganda, you wait in a big group of people all talking and showing their x-ray results to eachother. Erin had never had an x-ray before and so she was extremely excited and waited with anticipation for her name to be called. Erin had two different x-ray shots taken and then we were told to come back in a couple hours to get the results.
The first doctor we took the results to, held them up to a light, told us there was no damage to the skull and prescribed medication. Concerned, I asked what he was prescribing the medication for… He didn’t have a diagnoses, so he took the prescription back and sent us upstairs for an ultrasound.
The Ultrasound Doctor put the x-rays on a proper viewing screen to examine them. He said the mass on her forehead appeared to be calcified bone. But, he didn’t have the proper ultrasound equipment to examine the mass and referred us for a lightly penetrating ultrasound at one of two other hospitals. I had an uneasy feeling about the information I was receiving from the doctors and so I decided to take Erin and her x-rays to a more expensive hospital with internationally trained doctors.
There we were seen by two Doctors. The Doctors using proper viewing equipment told me that the mass appeared to be quite deep in her head and needed further examination. They explained that when a child gets a goosebump the skin is tight over the bump and you are unable to move it around, as you can with normal forehead skin. With Erin’s bump, you are able to move the skin around which demonstrates that the mass is originating from quite deep. Furthermore, both Doctors pointed out areas on her skull where it appears to be eroding. They said that the bump on her head is actually causing her skull to erode and as a result is very dangerous.
They said that they could not use an Ultrasound to discover the cause because Ultrasounds are for soft body parts like the stomach and do not work well on bone. They said that the only time you can use an Ultrasound on the skull, is for babies because their skull has not fused yet so you can get a probe in, to look around. Both Doctors agreed that the only way to discover the cause of the mass on Erin’s forehead was through a CT scan. This information seemed to mesh better with what I knew about Ultrasounds etc.
When I asked what the wait list was like for a CT scan, the Doctor laughed. He said that was the problem with developed countries (waiting lists for medical tests), in developing countries you pay for a Medical Test and you get it right away. No waiting lists. He wrote us a referral, gave us a list of hospitals and then wished us well.
Erin’s eyes grew huge at the mention of Kampala. She has never been there and so the possibility of going is amazing. Then to make her day complete, she got to use a fingerprint reader . As we were waiting for our referral to be stamped, a number of people were signing out for the day using a fingerprint scanner. Erin kept watching them all and wanted to try, so I asked the nurse if it would be okay. The nurse had no problem with it. So I helped Erin up the steps so that she could put her finger on the scanner and see the result. The result came back invalid but Erin was still amazed. I still get excited by things like that, so I can only imagine how excited Erin was.