Iman

Today we sent little Iman home to be with his parents during his final days.  This poor kid, for every step forward he took in recovering, he took three backward.  He came in with a head injury due to a taxi cab running him over.  Then we discovered he had a multi-drug resistant e. coli in his sputum, so we treated that.  Then we couldn't get him off the ventilator, we succeeded in that yesterday.  Last night they found candidis in his blood, not good.  This morning I tried to get him to eat and he couldn't swallow or suck, no good.  Prior to discussing options with his parents, we found he had another fungus growing in his lungs. 

His mother finally came to see him (because we're in a war zone, it's very difficult for family members to visit regularly).  She showed up in her burka and when she saw him lying in the bed, she pulled the burka back and climbed next to him in bed, trying to wake him.  It was a heart-breaking moment.

Regardless of what we did, we were not going to get this kid on his feet.  I dressed him gently and placed him on the gurney so the ambulance could take him to the gate.  I have lost another kid, but this one wasn't as traumatic as little Feisl. 

We work so hard to get these kids back on their feet but the downside is this country does not have the medical capabilities needed to care for these kinds of injuries.  I know people complain about the health care system in America, but really, you need to experience being in a third world country before you complain. 

We are a 13 bed trauma ICU and we take care of so much more than trauma.  We, unfortunately do not have the resources to take care of everyone and sometimes difficult decisions have to be made regarding continuance of care, such as Feisl and Iman.

I worked at Creighton for about two years before coming in the Air Force and I distinctly remember a drug addict getting an implanted defibrillator.  Because of her drug abuse her heart would go into very dangerous arrythmias and without this implated device, she would die.  This device costs about $30,000.00 and she received it for FREE, because she was on medicaid.  Not a bad health system considering these people here can't even get the medications they need to cure a simple infection.  Our military will go home and receive artificial limbs and get tons of help to recover.  These people will have a limb amputated and there is no system to give them artificial limbs or rehabilitation.  It's a shame and it makes me so sad.  I wish we could do more, but I know we can't save the world when we're drowning ourselves.