Supergirl and Supermom

I really think that each patient’s story is sad, but I haven’t really sympathized with any of my or my groupmates’ patients… until today.

We are currently interning in the Pediatrics Ward of our School’s Mother Hospital. Since it is a General Hospital, we face all sorts of problems, from the common pneumonia to all types of cancers, and all imaginable and indiscernible accidents and mishaps.

My patient today is a little girl. She’s turning 3 on March 19.

She once was able to walk, move her right extremities and even talk. Sadly, she cannot do those things anymore. She can’t even cry even with the excruciating pain that her brain tumor bestows upon her tender age. She just holds her left skull and whimper.

Our first meeting was not very promising. She removed my stethoscope when I tried to listen for her Cardiac Rate. Her father suddenly ran away so I was left with her doing nothing. How would I suppose to take her vital signs if she doesn’t have anyone with her that she can trust? I stood beside her despite her disapproving look. Her squinted eyes (a complication of her left brain tumor) were maniacally mad at me… observing every little move I did. She doesn’t want to be touched by anyone. Until finally her mother came and at last I was able to get her precious Vital Signs.

I asked her mother if I can do a morning care for her child. She eagerly agreed saying that the girl has not yet taken a bath since the last two weeks of her confinement. I prepared the basin and rubbed her body. Her mom was right.

The girl caught a bronchopneumonia in the hospital so I have to suction her mouth and pharynx every now and then since she can’t cough out. This was the hardest part. I know that the girl was crying in her little moans but a tear cannot fell from her eyes. She cannot open her mouth. She only bit the tip of the suctioning tube as her way to fight me.

The mother first noticed last December about the little girl’s eyes crossing. She thought that there is something wrong with the girl’s eyes so she went to a couple of Ophthalmologists who didn’t give a concrete diagnosis of her condition. The mother noted that her child started limping last January. Until finally, she refused to eat. This was then when they went to the hospital. A CT scan was immediately ordered and it was found out that there is a 2.8 x 34 cm. of mass developing on her left parietal lobe.

The squinting of her eyes worsens. Her right leg and arm stiffened though she can still feel some stimulation.

She has not yet eaten since the time of her admission until today when her mother and I asked her. Feeding her presents another problem. The girl cannot chew nor sit. She is at risk of aspiration. It was a difficult job, but I can still see the girl struggles to swallow. She’s really strong… and also was her mother.

Her mother had a fight with her father this morning. The father was such a whiner. The mother was ranting about her husband’s laziness and the nerve to complain. The mother has to go to work while the father has to, supposedly, attend all the girl’s needs. The girl got the pneumonia because the father didn’t turn her from side to side. Whenever the girl perspires, the sweat is just left there to dry by itself… ergo BRONCHOPNEUMONIA.

The mother is doing all she can to accumulate as many financial help as possible. I saw how much she cares for her child. I was with them from 6AM to 2PM without break and nor lunch. But though I was hungry, I was very much happy to help them. The child, although is very keen to trust me, has grown in me for such a small time. I really pray for her health. The mother was miraculously met by a foundation organizer and is bound for Philippines Children’s Medical Center next week.