Mama Karen

Mama Karen, originally uploaded by momentswithmichelle.

I met Mama Karen before our wedding in December. She is quite a lady!! She has had chronic leg wounds (venous stasis ulcers) for several years now. She believes that the wounds are due to a dog bite to that leg 20 years ago. She has asked me several times now "Are you sure I don't need rabies shots?"

My friend Adele took pictures the first day her treatment began. Thanks to a generous medical supply donation from a friend in the USA we have had some high end products to use in her wound care. She is seriously the most compliant patient I have ever encountered. She does exactly what I tell her to regarding her wound care. And she has had amazing results because of it!!

On Thurs she came to see me for one of her dressing changes. She comes every two weeks and does the dressing changes herself in between visits. I was so excited to see her progress!

Just as we were celebrating the victory she mentioned that she had been having severe headaches and was not feeling well. When checking her eyes we realized that she was incredibly pale. Well it turns out that her hemoglobin was 4.8!!! That is incredibly low!!! She had to be sent to Eldoret for a referral. I'm not sure why she is so severely anemic. I thought she would be transfused. But when I checked up on her this AM she told me that she refused hospital admission because she didn't think she could afford it. I told her just how dangerous her situation is and she promised to go back to the doctor. I'll give her a call tonight to see how she is doing.