Social case: oxyuriasis and "the Toy Doctor"

korotkov (45)in #steemstem • 7 years ago (edited)

Social case: oxyuriasis and "the Toy Doctor"

This is a love story.
But not a conventional love story.

Thanks to @mike961 for the translate.

I present to you: Sinaí, aka “the Toy Doctor”

With her 9 years of age, she has been the protagonist of the most shocking fever related story I have ever lived.

And that impact is not due to the gravity of the pathology at hand, but to it´s context

An oxyuriasis has not killed anyone in a few decades by now, but it almost did it this time.

Name of the patient: Yoselin Pereira
1 year old
CC: (chief complaint) Severe Dehydration
Dx: Enterobiasis by Oxyuris

I´ll explain: I was just finishing my podcast on @mosqueteros when, at midnight, someone calls my name at the apartment door; a child´s voice shouting “Doctor! Doctor!”

-“I still just a student…” –I thougt. “Must I really go through this already?”

And it´s that inherent lack of humanity in every one of us, who perform social labors and serve on this priesthood that is medicine, what makes this type of posts truly necessary. An awakening of the conscience.

A Yoselin Pereira, along with her warrior sister, is needed on the gates of our professional life to soften the scientific souls and allow us to remember that we are human.

Sinai, with all of her nine years, was at my door with her little sister on her arms. She looked firmly at me while saying “Doctor, my sister won´t stop puking, she´s had diarrhea with little worms and hasn´t eaten a thing in two days”

How does one act on those cases? I asked her about her mother, and she answered me that she had been at a friend´s house the past couple of days. She had seen her little daughter on those conditions, and “gave a kiss to make her feel better”.

Apart from the fever, IV hydration was effective, nonetheless, the gaze of her worried sister never looked away from little Yoselin. Holding her hand with the peripheral line, not making a sound.

It was 3am, and she was still looking after her little protégé

Today, social cases are an everyday more frequent reality on countries like Venezuela.

Being a father has more to do with giving life than with having children.

Any heart softens and humanizes by living this, and there is no fever with greater importance to me than that of the little girl who stood at my doorstep that day.