I was picking at my call meal and complaining of how I always get the chicken bum on the few days we are served chicken in our meals when, a middle aged woman walked into my office with a child. I hurriedly suspended eating, unhappy that she didn’t knock before entering.
I tried to give a warm smile as I do with all patients and asked how I could help. She came for a post transfusion PCV, from the paediatric ward.
I had a good look at the child she came in with; dull, thin, and patchy hair, swollen abdomen and who cringes at the slightest touch.
I asked why the child was so irritable and she told me her story.
Her 2 year old son started complaining of abdominal pains and was always crying unnecessarily, she assumed it was “uma afo” and decided she was going to take the child to a traditional medicine practitioner. However, due to the nature of her work, she couldn’t make out time to take the child there and assumed since uma afo is common with children, it isn’t something to worry about.
As days went by the child’s pain and irritability got worse and his abdomen started enlarging and she had to make out time and take him to a hospital. There, the child was diagnosed of liver cancer and was booked for surgery.
Due to financial constraints, they (the lady and her husband) couldn’t pay for the surgery immediately and had to source for the needed funds. Getting the sum must have taken a long time because when they came back to the hospital, tests showed that the cancer had spread to the surrounding organs. The child was admitted and her husband advised her to abandon her job and stay at the hospital with the child for as long as it took.
As at the time I met her, they had spent two months in the hospital and according to her, several blood transfusions and chemotherapy had been done. She had already spent a lot and they had borrowed heavily.
She said she was thankful that her child wasn’t receiving as much blood transfusions as other children with similar worsening cases in the ward. I could see she was in distress already. However, I felt sad that the parent’s initial neglect of the situation had led to a worsened clinical state for the child.
I took the boy’s blood sample and ran a PCV test, his PCV was okay and she was glad. She had learnt to rejoice in her little wins.
Dear readers, assumptions are not allowed, especially with a child’s health.
Mothers, if you notice your child is unwell, take the child to a good hospital (on time) and meet a paediatrician NOT a traditional medicine practitioner or a chemist shop and most importantly, do not self medicate.
I will write a follow up post on uma afo: its meaning, causes, symptoms and what to do. We would also compare its presenting symptoms with that of liver cancer and see why she easily mistook it for “uma afo”.
Stay Alert!
Maureen.
Medtrix 