Mosquito Consequences...the end.

Me saying Good-bye.

The short and the long of the story is that everything got worse before it got better. I stayed by her side through her deliriums, dialysis, delusions and fear. In a foreign hospital on the other side of the world is not where anyone wants this to happen. The malaria reeked havoc on her body before it got under control. It was terrible to watch & made me thankful that my decision not to take any preventative medicine myself didn’t result in a similar situation.

She is the only student for ages with this program to have contracted malaria. While the risks are present where we travel, they are still very low. Is it just about bad luck? No. partly, she didn’t take her preventative medicine correctly (as most of the ship didn’t, as well, I’m sure) and partly….just poor luck.

Mother's first job: de-'rats nest' her hair.

Our first night in the ER, she had a dialysis catheter placed in her neck because her lab worked already showed her kidneys shutting down. Kidneys, Liver, Lungs, Brain…every day, more complications presented themselves.

Bad luck would also have it that all of this started on a weekend – and as we all know, the world runs slower on weekends. Initially, I didn’t support her parents making the trek to India; we all thought it would be much less complicated than it turned out to be. By the end of the second day, the decision was made that they needed to come. Getting them to India, though, was not an easy feat. Consulates are closed on weekends and Indian visas are nearly impossible to get quickly – even on weekdays!

After MUCH effort from them, the consulates on both sides of the oceans, State Representatives and some good karma, they were able to arrive 4 days later -- the morning that we were due to sail. By this point, their daughter was starting to respond to treatment, but was still far from recovered.

Her father was cashed by mid-morning!

  

My ICU skills were invaluable during all of this. Having been on ‘the other side’ for many years, I had a special understanding of ICU culture, norms and routines. It was fortuitous to know who to speak to about what, what time rounds normally happen, how decisions are made in the hierarchy of residents/consultants/fellows/nurses, and how much ‘the little things’ count, i.e. bringing boxes of my favorite sweets from the local bakery I frequented! (big brownie points with the nurses)

 

I met her parents at the hotel early that morning and took them to the hospital. Watching them enter into this foreign world and see their daughter – swollen, jaundiced, sick and dirty – was a sight to behold. I love this part of nursing – the intimacy of the hearts of people. They wept and couldn’t stop saying 'thank you' while hugging their daughter. It was a moment I'll never forget. We also arranged for the deans on the ship, as well as her best friends from the ship, to visit her in the ICU on the last day. She was so grateful!

We sailed on and she had another 2 weeks in the hospital. It was a complicated course for her and she wasn’t able to rejoin the voyage. Only now - 6 weeks later, she is planning to meet us in San Diego.

I feel bonded to this girl forever.