Sometimes as a nurse and I'm sure it's the same for other professions, you meet people and they leave an impression. Working with refugees and hearing their stories is profound. I know as we continue this week and move to poorer areas, the stories will be more raw.
Yesterday we saw 143 patients. The providers worked as they said in 5th gear. I met this one family who have been here for eight months. The wife is pregnant. This will be her fifth child. Not uncommon in this part of the world. Her and her husband came to the clinic with their two youngest children in tow. They were 5 and 3 years old. His chief complaint, back and neck pain. He lost his arm in a battle just under a year ago and he thinks during that struggle he fractured some vertebra. The wife, she has had a headache for 4-mons. After some further questioning, that wasn't her chief complaint. My guess, she's depressed. She has a hard time getting out of bed, has no energy and a generalized headache. She saw her husband lose his arm, they left everything they have and are now living in another country and she is going to have another baby. They have very little.
Another gentleman we saw, his chief complaint: bilateral shoulder pain. We ask all the typical questions, how long have you had it, can you describe the pain and on and on. What were you doing when it started; for 20 days I was held in captivity and was hung by arms for hours at a time.
There are plenty of patients we treat that have similar concerns like we see back home.We have done education on hypertension, the importance of taking your medication, dental hygiene and how to prevent cold and flu. We've seen people with urinary infections, asthma exacerbation and scabies. But these two, these two stories will stick with me.
Yesterday we saw 143 patients. The providers worked as they said in 5th gear. I met this one family who have been here for eight months. The wife is pregnant. This will be her fifth child. Not uncommon in this part of the world. Her and her husband came to the clinic with their two youngest children in tow. They were 5 and 3 years old. His chief complaint, back and neck pain. He lost his arm in a battle just under a year ago and he thinks during that struggle he fractured some vertebra. The wife, she has had a headache for 4-mons. After some further questioning, that wasn't her chief complaint. My guess, she's depressed. She has a hard time getting out of bed, has no energy and a generalized headache. She saw her husband lose his arm, they left everything they have and are now living in another country and she is going to have another baby. They have very little.
Another gentleman we saw, his chief complaint: bilateral shoulder pain. We ask all the typical questions, how long have you had it, can you describe the pain and on and on. What were you doing when it started; for 20 days I was held in captivity and was hung by arms for hours at a time.
There are plenty of patients we treat that have similar concerns like we see back home.We have done education on hypertension, the importance of taking your medication, dental hygiene and how to prevent cold and flu. We've seen people with urinary infections, asthma exacerbation and scabies. But these two, these two stories will stick with me.
