April 2007

This week I had a lady come into the clinic claiming that she was 7 months pregnant. She actually didn’t know her age (a very common thing here) but from all I could decipher she was at least in her 50’s. Of course I did check her out and although her abdomen was rather large it obviously wasn’t a fetus that was making it that way.

So I went on to explain to her that she wasn’t pregnant, and I advised her that she would probably never again carry a baby in her uterus except through a miracle. I then advised her that I wasn’t in the practice of miracles today so I went on to find out why she did think she was pregnant. The reason was that she had missed periods for seven straight months and there was no other reason for that that problem then pregnancy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen this number of times since I’ve begun working here but it never stops blowing my mind that someone in this lady’s life has never explained the simple basics about what lays ahead for her. Has she never seen this happen in others around her and question it? Did her mother do nothing for her other then teach her how to wash clothes? Does she communicate with nobody intimately enough that they would discuss such things? Do people talk in this country? Got me!

And so it goes!

John