It's SteeTime!

I have almost always began these blog posts with an apology. What is new? It has been a long time, I have been awfully busy. [insert any other plausible reason here] The truth is life sometimes does not allow for pleasurable pursuits like updating blogs, which I do love to do. I apologize all the same. I am embarrassed to say I have only written here once this year. You hadn't noticed? Oops! So, I am currently experiencing my third strike by doctors as a doctor ever since I graduated  in 2010. The first two were in Kenya; firstly when I was an intern at a government hospital, the second when I worked at a mission hospital. The present one is happening right now in Zimbabwe. (I work at one of the main referral hospitals in the country) Medical doctors are undergoing industrial action, asking for just about the same things they always ask for - better working conditions, better remuneration and benefits fitting for the irreplaceable professionals of society that we are. Docto

Today, Baby Ivy Chiromo* is going home. We have been with Baby Ivy since she was born 3 months ago as a preterm with severe respiratory distress. Her mother has been through it all, collapsed baby needing resuscitation, apneic attacks, jaundice, neonatal sepsis..basically everything that could go wrong...yet here she is going home, with a satisfactory 1.8kg baby girl. There are many challenges at my hospital. We don't always have all the basic medicine, sometimes we cannot transfuse a baby because there is not enough blood or we need surgery that cannot be performed in the country. It is frustrating to know what is needed and yet unable to provide it. So, on a day like this where it is good news you realize that it is all worth it. Just because Baby Ivy is going home it does not mean that the journey is over. Looking after a preterm at home can be just as challenging. She will need what we called Kangaroo Care. Yes, just like the kangaroos Down Under. Even Father's