Tuesday July 8th
A little past 11 P.M. on Saturday July 5th, my abdominal pain suddenly worsened until it was unbearable. I could not move without experiencing incredibly sharp, heavy pain in my lower abdomen. I had the emergency doctor come to my house and evaluate me, which took about 30 minutes, because of my house’s obscure location and Senegal’s generally disorganized healthcare system which I will discuss later. He said I needed to go to the hospital to get an X-Ray right away, called the ambulance, and put an IV in my arm. 20 minutes later, the ambulance arrived and I was taken to the downtown hospital, Clinique de la Madeleine. The hospital seemed absolutely deserted when I got there, as I noticed no doctors or nurses in a dark hallway leading to mostly empty rooms. After placing me into room that had air conditioning and television, a nurse informed me that I had to wait until 8 A.M. to get the X-Ray test because the specialist was not on duty. My home-stay <<Mama>> was very upset at this but there was nothing we could do. <<Mama>> and my friend Yelena returned home while I waited for the morning. Thankfully, the IV eased the pain in my stomach but being hospitalized in a foreign country with no remaining credit on my cell phone produced some of my loneliest hours.
Around 9 A.M., I received my X-Ray test and an hour later, the specialist told me that I had an umbilical abscess in my abdominal wall, which was not too serious but required surgery right away in lieu of complicating other vital organs. He recommended that I have the surgery with anesthesia at 11:30 AM. I reached the US Embassy and Northwestern but I could not get a hold of my family. Given the circumstances, I decided to go ahead with the surgery. In the operation room, the anesthesia knocked me out and they surgically removed the bacteria from my abdomen. I rested the entire day, had some visitors and reached my family. On Monday afternoon, I was discharged and returned to my Senegalese home.
High prices make Senegal’s healthcare system virtually inaccessible to most of the population. I am extremely lucky because I was treated a premier hospital in Dakar covered completely by Northwestern’s travel insurance. Even so, I experienced very long waits for the neighborhood doctor, ambulance, and hospital treatment. To get an idea of the costs, my ambulance ride alone was $60. As I witnessed an eerily empty emergency room wing, I realized that most Senegalese, without hospital treatment as a viable option, opt to treat medical emergencies on their own. Pregnancy deliveries and basic child immunizations are provided at cheap prices at local medical clinics but other than that, the average citizen cannot afford treatment. I was told by a local that when people get malaria, they almost never go to the doctor and instead, take increased dosages of the preventative malaria pill.
I am now on the road to recovery. My stomach still hurts but mainly because of the incision and no longer because of the infection. The pain has been alleviated by the day and my constipation is also going away. The doctor said I should be fully recovered in two weeks and that I cannot do any work for one week. My research plans are on hold for now and once I see how my recovery progresses, I will have a discussion later on with my family about whether I should stay as originally planned or return home early. Meanwhile, I will be reading some books, catching up on Game of Thrones, and loitering on Facebook. I certainly hope I can complete what I came here for, and see more of this country. Yet health comes first. Sometimes, there is nothing one can do but hope for the best. I trust everything will work out.
