Hospitals
Trip Start
Jun 19, 2009
1
16
21
Trip End
Sep 02, 2009
Lome, Togo
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Today (and yesterday), my task has been to accompany a staff member on visits to the hopsital, where one of our cases was having a tumour to remove a tumour from her face.
The hospital is... not a nice place to be. It looks more like our PE changing rooms at school than it does a hospital - the same lino designed to hide the dirt, the same used-to-be-white tiles... fine for a school (though even that has been demolished and replaced now) but not for a hospital.
Armand was laughing because I apparently looked terrified all day. I told him it was very different from hospitals at home.
Today I tripled the number of dead people I've seen in my life (it was only 1 to start with).
Today is the first time I've seen someone (barely) alive, and then seen them dead..; the woman in the bed next to our woman... You could tell when we came in that she was never going to leave..
Our woman (Eya)'s operation went smoothly, which is lucky, because we tried to buy her some blood (just in case) this morning - yes, you have to buy it in advance, and yes, you have to pay for it - and there was none left.
I asked Armand, though I knew the answer (I think I wanted him to tell me something else) - 'what would happen if there's a big road accident and someone loses lots of blood, and they come here, and there is none'. Armand answered, 'you die', and laughed 'ç'est la vie'.
