Anaemia

8.15 PM

Sheba just went over to the centre. We have admitted a lady who we will call Lalita. Lalita has suffered from excessive bleeding for years now. Not unlike a woman in the Bible who met Jesus.

She is a widow and estranged from her in-laws. None of her family remains. She is alone with her two sons. All three members of this little family have HIV.

Lalita has been talking to her sons. These 8 and 9 year old boys are aged beyond their years. Their mother's only confidantes, they have had far more than their share of sorrows.

Yesterday Lalita was so weak that one of our nurses - Sandhya - took her to JJ Hospital (where she is getting her HIV medicaitons from) to be seen by the staff there. They urged admission. But Lalita has no one to look after her. Her stay at JJ would not be a holiday. It would probably mean being evaluated for a possible hysterectomy. With no one there to look after her it was a heart-breaking choice. Against medical advice she came back home.

Lalita is severely anaemic. Her haemoglobin is a shockingly low 5. The constant bleeding has taken its toll. She finds it hard to speak and has no energy.

This morning, when our staff visited her she was lying alone in bed. Her sons had left the house for school. She had not cooked for them or for herself. Our staff made some chappatis from the Jowhar (sorghum) flour she had in the house. She ate. When one son came back from school he ate too.

At noon we made a call. We would admit her at JSK and arrange for blood to be transfused early tomorrow. We will try to see if we can get volunteers to be with her in the hospital. A big step of faith - given our limited resources of people.

And so Sheba paid her night call to Lalita. We have had her cross-matched and have purchased 2 units of blood. Tomorrow the blood transfusion starts.