Thursday, Oct 10, Day 4

Today will be the 7th and 8th surgeries. The patients continue to progress. The ICU has moved out 3 patients to Telemetry and the fourth will be moved this afternoon. So ICU and Tele will each have 4 patients. Ten more patients await their scheduled appointments with the OR team. This year the patients range from age 13-46 and all the patients are women except for 1 male. Their physiques are generally short and very lean. Their disease is fairly straight-forward with classic symptoms which the physicians learn about but rarely see these days. The rheumatic heart disease, which has struck these patients, originated from strep throat at some time in their lives. Without antibiotic treatment, strep throat can transform to rheumatic fever. Damage of the heart valves, both mitral and aortic can then insue. Above photos: Patient in Tele unit holding her "heart" pillow. Patients hold the pillow close to their chest to decrease the pain when coughing or deep breathing. Three Rwandan nurses working in Tele unit.