We seem to be a pediatric ETC right now, which is a special kind of awful given children do not do well with Ebola. We have 8 that are 13 or younger, and half of those are one year old or less. Hearing the babies crying Thursday afternoon was heart-breaking. We have survivor caregivers for them, but the fatality rate of the under 5s is extremely high. Two of the small ones are in confirmed, where we currently have TWELVE patients:(
Ebola is currently on the rise again. The surveillance teams identified about a dozen unsafe burials recently.
Just about every day I get asked if I am extending my contract. Most days I really want to--this disease needs fighters and needs to be stopped. But I also hear that March is one of their hottest months, and if so, PPE in March sounds horrific. This is their "winter" season, and 80-95 degrees is the "cool" part of the year. (It's all about perspective!!)
Thursday my co-workers shielded me graciously from high risk to help my cough; Wednesday I had gotten a face-full of chlorine during doffing and my cough got significantly worse. By Thursday evening, with just 24 hours away from the fumes, my cough was much better. It will be interesting to learn what the long-term effects of prolonged exposure to highly concentrated chlorine vapors are!
I wish I had more positive things to say about our ETC and our census. We are here to get the people with Ebola out of the communities, so that is a positive thing. But it is very hard to have so many children. Not that watching adults die is pleasant; it is horrific as well, but children...they should be playing football in the streets. They should be learning spelling and math and spending time with their families and friends and dreaming about their futures.
Some common names in Sierra Leone: Aminata, Mariatu, Mohamed, Ibrahim, Kadiatu, Abubakarr, Saliaman, my personal favorite (and the name I gave myself) Sadiatu, and Isata. I also like Philomena but I have only met one lady with that name. She is wonderful though!!
Praises: my health! My cough is better!
One of our newest nurses is a peds ER nurse! (I will not draw blood nor place an IV in a one month old! So grateful she is here and can!!
Prayers: continued opportunities to be a testimony of Jesus; to be His hands and feet
My co-workers as we take care of suffering children
Asante, friends. Asante.
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Hey, I can be helpful as far as chlorine exposure! according to the World health organizations guidelines, your .5% solution is a 1/10 mixture of household bleach and water. the .05% solution is 1/100 household bleach and water. household bleach is 5% chlorine. so you should be fine. as far as acute symptoms, you're right on target since it's a respiratory irritant. as long as you aren't breathing it all day long, at those concentration levels you're under the exposure limit. the chronic symptoms don't typically come into play unless you have a pretty strong reaction to a higher concentration exposure.
ReplyDeletelong story short, I think your cough will clear up when your exposure goes away. drink lots of water.
disclaimer : your body may vary from whoever the EPA/CDC/WHO based all their stats on. And I suppose it's occasionally possible for me to be wrong. maybe.
Thanks Jay!! Good to know that there shouldn't be long term effects!!! Hopefully during quarantine the cough will clear since the irritant will be absent! Hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl! And I laughed at the disclaimer! Oh!!! And there is a nurse here who makes me laugh until
DeleteI cough! I can't get away from you hilarious people! But they say laughter is the best medicine...as long as the coughing fit doesn't do you in!;-)