Letter to the Neonates

I know you will probably never read this, but I hope you will one day grow to be able to read. I hope that you will attend a school that has electricity and running water and teachers that love their job. I want you to know that you inspire me. When I see you in

I was a patient

Yesterday I was a patient at a local casualty. I had been rolling around with the worst abdominal pains ever, and eventually decided that I couldn’t wait for our GP to start his day. I thought I was dying. Things I learned: IV lines really hurt – I get really annoyed when people act like

Paediatric Oncology in a South African Hospital

I’m spending some of my elective-time at a Paediatric Oncology ward. It was the thing (and incidentally also the exact ward) that started my tentative steps into the world of medicine many years ago. In South Africa, common childhood malignancies include ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukaemia), Wilm’s Tumours (Nephroblastoma), malignancies of the CNS and Retinoblastoma. I

A whole new challenge

We are starting to see more and more teenagers with so-called “congenital” HIV – those who were born to HIV-positive mothers and have thus been HIV-positive their entire lives. Young people who had the least amount of say in how they would be born, and the cross they would bear.

A week in a township hospital

Remember how my elective in Kolkata completely bummed out? It was then organised that I do my elective at a public hospital complex in my home town. The hospital I have been at this week is situated in a large township. I won’t lie – I was particularly worried. It is very scary adjusting to

War Stories: OSCEs

Did I ever tell you about the paediatric OSCE that went horribly wrong? I think I might have alluded to it once or twice. The Paeds Rotation is possibly the scariest rotation at our school – stories abound of students who passed their final year rotations with honours, but had to repeat Paediatrics. So we

Dahl’s Contribution to Medicine

My fascination with author Roald Dahl is well-documented throughout this blog. One of my friends on campus, who shares my love of reading and history (and is a fan of QI) recently increased my esteem for Dahl even more. You may remember that on Roald Dahl Day I posted about the author’s interest in the

Women in Medicine: Maria Montessori

The Google -doodle (I love that thing) informs me that today is would have been Maria Montessori’s 142nd birthday. I have visited some Montessori schools in South Africa, but I’m not well acquainted with the life of Ms Montessori. Lo and behold, it turns out that Montessori was first and foremost a medical doctor, and

Toddlers and Intimate Matters

When a mother brings her little girl to the hospital with a concern of an intimate matter, it always opens a can of worms. Rashes and vaginal discharges happen, but we are taught always, ALWAYS to investigate for the possibility of sexual abuse.

The Hallucinating Child

One of the scariest parts of Paediatrics was the time a little child was brought in for hallucinations. She had no fever, no fits, no suggestive medical or family history of psychiatric or organic causes.