Today I woke up sick. I felt achey and my throat hurt. I was going to go running, but decided to sleep in instead. As I was walking to class it started sprinkling. I did not wear my raincoat to classes today. After class got out it was absolutely pouring! (I think this is the kind of rain that so many people warned me about as the Cape Town “winter”) I was very much underdressed, and thus by the time I had walked half of the way my pants and shoes were totally soaked. I stopped by the Student Y anyways, and played the piano and talked with some friends. After that, I ran home and quickly put on warm clothes.
Once I had warmed up I decided to go down to Main Street to do some grocery shopping and buy more Corenza C. (Corenza C is the meds that helped me get better with impressive rapidity three weeks ago, hopefully it works again!) I purchased some much needed chocolate, milk, and banana bread (among other things), and hauled my heavy groceries up the hill to my house.
After putting away all of my laundry I did some reading and homework until 6 pm, which is when I left to go volunteer for a SHAWCO adult’s clinic. This was my first Adult Clinic, and I was seriously considering skipping it because I still didn’t feel that well. It is a good thing I didn’t skip it though, because it was another great SHAWCO experience. It is amazing the cases we see at these clinics. Among a lot of minor cases a man came in complaining of chest and back pains. He was extremely weak, dehydrated, and his skin lacked elasticity. We found out that he had already been treated for TB multiple times and that he had been diagnosed with HIV a year ago. He hadn’t been taking his medications, and was in a bad state. The doctor classified him as having State 4 HIV, which is the most developed form of AIDS, and he probably only had a week to live. We had our driver take him to the hospital ER where with help he might live for another year. It was a very sad situation. It was hard to see that someone would let HIV progress so long without being able to do something about it. So that is what I saw at SHAWCO today. It was definitely something I would never see in the US, but is a very common medical experience here in South Africa. I am thankful to be able to help out with the SHAWCO clinics, and look forward to learning more about what it means to be a doctor in poor urban township communities.
Oh, and hopefully I will get better soon so I can go surfing :)
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