Kawuma Justine - Diagnoses/Treatment

About Kawuma:

Kawuma has been with Whisper since May 2012 - as some of you may know her story, she has been unfortunately neglected to the point where it left her totally dependent on people's help.

Only a week after we got Kawuma, she was diagnosed with Epilepsy in the Children's Ward in Jinja, and ever since attending regular doctor's check ups every  Wednesday of the month to see how she is reacting to the medication.

I remember the first month was so horrific with Kawuma.

We would sit with her days and nights as her side effects to the prescribed strong epileptic medication were too severe.

She would be in constant high fevers, vomiting salivas, she was just suffering and I thought it wasn't right.

Her fits wouldn't necessary decrease but she stopped urinating or defecating. I remember writing some blogs from that time, which may be found between one of our first blogs here.

We were constantly in touch with the doctors regarding her conditions. We would even call him up during the night.

Kawuma's fits would not stop, she would have fits still three time a day. No matter what strength of medication she would get. Doctors kept changing her medication and strength of her medication almost every one to three months, Kawuma wasn't really improving...

To us, when Kawuma started to take just a half of the pill every morning and every evening, she was the strongest - she could even crawl, she could sit upright, she could keep her head up - just like before she started to go on the epilepsy treatment. However she wasn't as she was when we first got her. We saw improvements only when we decreased the medication intake, however only improvements in her ability, not in the fits.

We thought right, lets leave Kawuma of all the medication. We just increased amount of her vitamin intake, milk and other feeding and had her physiotherapist coming to her to do exercises with her.

She became much better, the medication didn't make her feel dizzy and out of balance anymore, but either the constant fits or the medication left her still not being able to sit properly or do anything without people's support.

Her fits weren't as severe anymore, and they were days when we didn't notice any fits at all!

However we desired to find out more about how to help Kawuma. Unfortunately she wasn't accepted to the children's home for the disabled children where they handle cases like this, so we needed to do our own research. (Kawuma will need to be re-united with her grandmother soon, as she is now going to 10 years. Regarding her return to the home, we have improved the house, cemented the floor, made the rooms bigger, bought beds and mattresses and other necessities for her comfortable return. Kawuma's physiotherapist already agreed to be visiting her in her home and train her grandma to the physic exercises).

Finally our home was visited by a nurse who works in the home for children with epilepsy, and she suggested  there is a great way to diagnose her in Kampala, and she offered to take us there.


At the same time, I got the wonderful news from lady called Eva Andriessen who decided to fundraise money for Kawuma's treatment and diagnoses via her event "The life of Your Choice" in December 2013 in London. Her and her team of girls raised £500 to pay for some of the expenses of Kawuma's treatment.

For her new charity event in London, pls see the link here: http://thelifeofyourchoice.simplesite.com





Report:

On the 8^th of January, 2014 Whisper carried out a medical assessment on Kawuma Justine with an intention to resettle the child with her biological relatives. The medical assessment was aimed at finding out whether kauma Justine could fit within the community (family) depending on her physical multiple disability.

It is said by her grandmother that Kawuma Justine was born normally but along  her development stages, she developed  physical disability, medical personnel  are  yet to identify medical  cause of the disability.

Outcome:

Medical report                                                             8^th January 2014 

Child’s name:         Kawuma Justine   

Age:                         9 years  

Sex:                          Female

Village:                    Kagera

 Sub-county:           Budondo   

 District:                  Jinja    

Father:                     Reagan Alwilgo   Kalenzi  (RIP)

Mother:                   Naikoba Suzan 

With reference to the health information report dated 8^th of January, 2014 indicating  whisper’s engagement with  kauma Justine health status as proved by medical personnel.

Therefore, on the 8^th of January 2014 whisper carried out a massive medical examination from ST. CATHERINE’S HOSPITAL by GRACE technologist

kauma Justine had an EEG diagnosis as  reported 

Kawuma's final diagnoses :

Kawuma has left a temporal epilepsy & in in the statue "epileptics with underlying suspicious of Lennox Gastaunt". 

She needs sodium valporaote 10mg/kg (wc was given).

She needs physic and nursing care to notice improvements with an epileptic chart on a side.

Partial (focal) seiewes
                                           L )Temporo  central  faced with Sec  Gen.                            Comment from the doctor; she’s in status Gen at the moment
Grace (technologist)Consultant’s medication ; Tab; sodium  valaparale  100mg b.d x1//12She is on the recommended medication
=======valaparale====== Note : It is medical doctors who understand this I can’t fully understand it Readings : kauma Justine 9 years
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