General Pediatric Unit

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June 13th 2010

Published: June 14th 2010

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Kayce

Sara, Erin, and I with the doctor

This week I stayed at Hospital del Nino and worked in the General Pediatric Unit. On Monday I went with Mary Beth to the orientation for the ten new students that had arrived over the weekend. We were able to be there to answer all their questions and orient them around La Paz. On Tuesday, Mary Beth and I, along with two of the new students, Erin and Sara, worked in the General Pediatric Unit. The patients here suffer from a variety of illnesses or diseases, or they are there because other units are full. This week there were a lot less patients than I had previously seen, which of course is a good thing, but it also meant that there wasn't a whole lot for us to do. At the start of the week there were two girls with Lupis, two girls with tumors, and one girl who had attempted suicide. The two girls with Lupis were both pretty young, which we don't really see too often in the states since it is a disease the more commonly affects women, and one was suffering from neurological complications and the other one had kidney problems. The girl who had attempted suicide

Valeria reading to me

The patient had a tumor of hair in her stomach because she ate her own hair.

tried drinking a household chemical. I guess her mom is blind and since she is the oldest of her many siblings, she was left taking care of all the kids and the house and she doesn't go to school. There was a psychologist on the unit and he told us that suicide is pretty common here. On Friday we had another suicide attempt as well. One of the girls with a tumor was 11 and she had a tumor in her stomach which was a result of her eating her own hair. She loved to read so I would let her read to me a lot. On Tuesday we went with the doctor down to her office to do individual consults. Since the doctor is a nephrologist, she sees a lot of patients with urinary infections. They are very common here and the patients some times get them over and over again. The sanitation and hygiene isn't very good here and most of the mothers don't use baby wipes or sometimes even diapers. Also, depending on your income and where you live, some times the children aren't bathed very often. With these reasons and the factor of malnutrition, urinary infections

Doctora Bocangle

This is the doctor we worked with for the week in the General Pediatric Unit. She is a Nephrologist.

are very common.
Since there weren't that many patients on the unit and rounds were always pretty short, Doctora Bocangle, would take the time to teach us all about the urinary system, common problems, and treatment. Even though nephrology isn't the most exciting topic, I definitely learned a lot.
On Friday evening, Mary Beth and I decided to take our new roommates out to this fondue restaurant. It was surprisingly really good! We later bumped into some British friends who we had met the week before and had no idea that they were still in La Paz. We made plans to meet up with them the next day to watch the England vs USA world cup game.
On Saturday, we went to this English pub called Oliver's Travels to watch the game. I think that ever Brit in La Paz was at that pub. There were a few other Americans, but we were definitely outnumbered. It was a great game and I am almost glad it ended in a tie, because than there were no bitter feelings between the Americans and the Brits. We ended up just hanging out with our friends for the rest of the night.
Today, Sunday,