Harriet in the hospital

So it was Thursday the 25th of April when we decided to take Harriet to Mulag hospital which was recommended to us by various people as the best place where she can be helped thanks to the specialists this hospital has.

We came to pick her to her home, informed her sister and brother, who decided to come along.

We arrived to the emergency department, and been seen quite quickly by the team. They did an x-ray of her scalp and her chest, so they could determinate a TB infection.

After some time waiting, and Harriet being seen some white medical students and hospital seniors, they told us she will be taking to the emergency department and in the evening doctors would pick her and admit her to the appropriate department.

We left Sarah (Harriet’s sister) with 50.000 UGX (approximately £13.15) for food for the next few days) and went back to Jinja with their brother. In Jinja we agreed, that the brother will come back to Kampala the next day and bring necessary things for Harriet and Sarah stay at the hospital. I gave him another 30.000 UGX for the transport.

The next day – Friday, Sarah called Hashim in the afternoon that up to then they were not seen by anybody, and that Harrietis still left on the same bed without any medication, pain killers, her wound not cleaned and she was truly suffering. I got pretty concerned, as this was not what we were told at first. So  I contacted certain Dr. Manjit who works at International Hospital in Kampala and informed him about Harriet and that we need somebody who could start paying attention to her. I also called one of the  medical student called Peter who would assess Harriet at first. I previously asked him if he could keep an eye on Harriet and the care she should receive.

Peter told me the hospital is overloaded and I should not expect sudden care since Harriet was with it for a year now. I was pretty unhappy and started to worry.

Meanwhile Dr Manjit was contacting somebody working in Mulago Hospital asking to go and check on Harriet.

I am not really sure what response this got, because the next day on Saturday the 27^th of April, we received a phone call from Sarah saying that nobody has checked on them since we brought them. Harriet cried to Hashim on the phone that she wanted to go home saying “Please come and pick me from here”.  

I tried to be really unhappy and worried, I blamed myself that we allowed Harriet to be neglected like that, and actually stopped believing that Mulago Hospital is the right hospital for her.

We again contacted several people asking for advice. Hashim finally found out the name of the doctor who was on the duty, managed to speak to him. He asked for 170.000 UGX for several tests such is biopsy, cultural sensitivity, some smear test of her pus. This was Saturday and Harriet claimed that she had no money for food. We sent another 50.000 UGX to her as well as we gave her money for the tests.

On Monday afternoon we visited Harriet and Sarah at the hospital. Sarah showed us the various number of antibiotics she needed to buy for her and Harriet was taking. She ensured us that she has the money for the tests and that they should be done on that day.  Harriet said that she does not feel much pain anymore – thanks to the strong painkillers and they also said that doctors cut part of the dead flash on her face.

On Wednesday we visited Harriet again just to find out that that no tests were taken on her as Sarah has missed the slot yet she was informed.

We found out that Sarah actually took no interest in getting the request forms for the tests. So after speaking to the nurse, we filled the request forms and got Sarah to the lab where she needed to pay for the tests.

We also read from her file that CT scan was suggested of her face. They told us that the CT scan in the hospital is faulty, and we had to look for it in private hospitals. We got the request form and said we would come back the next day on Thursday. After finding out the costs of the private CT scan, I kindly asked public on Facebook if they were willing to contribute towards the costs which was actually 400.000 UGX – to my surprise, great number of people sent us the needed amount so we could return back to Kampala. (Each time we go to Kampala, we have to fill the car with petrol 30 l at £25.

We came back on Thursday and by then Harriet became very weak – Sarah claimed she did not want to eat anything. When we got to her bed, we did not find Sarah there – and I just realized that every time we came to her bed, Sarah was not around.

It was around 2pm and Sarah said that Harriet did not eat anything yet…

I prepared Harriet fresh carrot and beetroot juice and made her to drink quite a bit.

We got Harriet into our car and drove to look for a hospital where they could do a requested CT scan. I felt very bad for Harriet, as she was so unwell and weak and it took ages to find a free and working CT scan. It was already 5pm and Kampala International Hospital agreed to do the scan the same day at cost of 400.000 Shillings. They also requested 3D reconstruction of her scalp.

Due to our busy schedule, we said we would return on Monday to pick up the CT scan results.

For our reassurance, Hashim took telephone number of the neighbors to communicate to them as he heard that her sister was not caring for her much.

The next day Sarah called Hashim – as he keeps communicating to her daily – saying that Harriet does not want to eat and she feels very weak – and that her condition has worsen. He called the neighbors at the same time who said that Sarah does not care for Harriet and that they are the ones giving Harriet food.

After sending another 30.000 shillings to Sarah for food on Saturday (as she called us the whole day she didn’t have any money but people telling us that Sarah would not give her any food - Hashim went to see the situation on Sunday the 5^th of May.

On Monday morning we got our volunteer Sienna Howell, who has been volunteering with Whisper since October 2011, to stay with her at the hospital and taking proper care of her…

This was the best choice we could have made as some shocking information has been passed on to me and it made me incredibly upset of how people can really be!!!

I started to receive horrific messages from Sienna.

Sienna said: “We just got in for dressing change. She is shivering quite badly. She has my red sweater.” She said she wetted her bed and her sister was far and would not change her. She also said that Harriet was not yet bathed. She smelled so bad, as well as her hair.

We got for her a new basic, skin doctor (herbal jelly), new sheets, so Sienna took the initiative and bathed her, put on her clean clothes and she called me and said “Now she smells nicely”.

After sending me a photo of Harriet’s face during the cleaning, I was shocked to see that doctors removed her right eye lid.

Sienna said: “I feel like I don’t know what. But what she really needs is some encouragement, some push to start fighting. Her whole body is void of muscle mass. She is skin and bones”.

Then she continued: “Sarah has skin doctor and soap. It pis*** me off that Harriet is left in her condition and she won’t help her. Earlier Harriet actually said she wanted some juice. So Sarah poured some for her and left it on her bed. Harriet didn’t have the strength to pick it up and hold it and she just left her there and went to sit on another bed. So I went over and helped her drink. Incredible. And they all keep f**king laughing at me and talking about me. Idiots” Sienna was pretty frustrated. I spoke to Hashim about that and he said that he will communicate to the people he had number for and ask what was going on… He also told me when he arrived with Sienna Harriet told him in Vanacula “she beats me, she beats me”.

I think having Sienna is absolutely a life saver. It seems that even doctors are now giving proper attention to her and things are moving better than before.

Sienna told me that Harriet had a bit of chicken and some beetroot juice before she went to bed.

Today, Sienna called me in the morning that Harriet drank full cap of porridge with lots of sugar – which made me happy. She also said that a team of doctors went to see Harriet and tomorrow morning they will take her to the optometrists as they assume that her right eye is blind, because the infection has eaten part of it.

She also said they had to repeat the biopsy tests and blood tests, because they were taken to the wrong lab… we had to pay for those again..

Sienna said she doesn’t want o eat much, she forced her to eat banana and some water. So I suggested Sienna to be giving her porridge since she likes it, with some g-nut paste and raw egg and if this is the only thing she would eat, the best for her as this is the nutritional food we are giving to our malnourished children – and it always proves to be right.

So seems we are starting from the beginning again as we still don’t know what we are treating, but having Sienna around has made a difference and I will be updating soon on happenings.

At the mean time, Harriet needs lots of prayers. It seems that her own sister would neglect her because she didn’t like her and the money she would get from us saved or use for other things. People at the home said that Whisper helped a lot because nobody would dare to enter the room where Harriet was staying – so in short , her real sister would also neglect her, letting her to trash on the bed, being thirsty and hungry and making her feel invaluable. No wonder Harriet pleaded to go home as there is her mother who seemed to only care for her. I am also finding out that people without money cannot succeed in any hospital care and the personal just let them die as any medicine patients require for must be bought. Apart of the medicine we had to buy simple things like cotton, disinfectant or cannula.