Stones and Stomach Aches: 10-12

Today Leann and I joined the medical clinic at Babandogo to help out. In the morning we worked in the pharmacy with two American pharmacists. We counted, poured, and bagged meds. After lunch I got to work in triage.

Triage rocks my world. I love greeting people, taking their height, weight, temp, and blood pressure. I even got to take chief complaints today. It is always quite fascinating. Timothy translated for me. A father brought in his daughter because she had been having seizures. She also faints sometimes. One woman came in and told me that she has had a productive cough since 2006. Another lady was complaining of a stomach ache. I asked her more about it and she told me that she eats stones. I looked at Timothy inquisitively, but said nothing and just wrote it down.

I asked him about it later and he said that there are certain stones that contain calcium that women are taught to eat when they are pregnant. However, the calcium in the rocks cannot be used by the body and the rocks actually deplete the body of calcium. This makes the women crave the stones more because they are craving calcium.