Tetanus

Another day, another disease we rarely see in the USA...

I love learning and doing all that I am in Kenya, but the price sometimes seems too high. For every illness there is a patient in pain, and we cannot always help.

Everlyne is one of them. Seventy years old and of strong Luhya stock, she has worked every day since childhood in the shamba (garden) to grow food to feed her family: first her siblings; then her children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren.

Two weeks ago, Everlyne cut her shin with a hoe and ignored the wound. Nine days later, her worried family brought their beloved matriarch to Maseno Mission Hospital. Her neck was rigid, her body was stiffening, and she was experiencing repetitive spasms.

We administered tetanus toxoid (too late) and immune globulin (probably also too late). She is getting IV fluids and 10 mg. of diazepam (Valium) IV every four hours. But we are essentially watching her die, helpless here to do anything more.

It is heartbreaking to witness Everlyne's suffering and her family's grief. Please pray for us all.