Dog-Eat-Dog.

For the first time a baby I resuscitated survived overnight! It was so exciting! I didn’t see one dead baby today! So I won’t write about babies (skip next paragraph to avoid medical mush about a toddler I treated).

Paragraph for doctors: I did see a 2-year-old code after doing an LP on her. I did the LP by myself (one-stick wonder)! I was scared because I thought I made her herniate…I mean…we didn’t do a CT scan first (there is none here)…but there was a low opening pressure…we didn’t check the opening pressure, I just think that cause the CSF didn’t come out forcefully…after some CPR she her heart was beating again...fingers crossed she survives. Her WBC count was 74.

Despite the life or death dog-eat-dog world Ghana can feel like, there was a little puppy that made me realize how socially minded Ghanaians are... He was the cook’s dog, no more than a few months old, tied to a mango tree by the food tent. I know I’m not supposed to pet the dogs (parasites, rabies, fleas, etc.) but this puppy was so darn cute I got up close to baby-talk it and scratch its ears (I washed my hands afterward! Swear!) The pup wasn’t playful though; he looked at me with big sad puppy dog eyes and quietly wagged his tail. I thought it was just the raging heat, because at 1pm when I’m outside all I want to do is nap in the shade too. But the cook looked over and saw me harassing his dog and said, “Eh, the dog, he was just castrated.”

Castrated? Really? Here in Kintampo? How…thoughtful. With all the chickens, goats (I’ve gotten really good at identifying when a goat is pregnant from at least 100 yards away), feral cats (some are in heat outside my window, chilling with my 4:30am crowing rooster) and sheep (very hard to tell the difference between a goat and sheep) I see roaming the street… …it just never occurred to me a man would think to neuter his dog. But it makes sense, there is no shortage of stray dogs running around…and female dogs with all their nipples engorged searching for food to support their pups. They can be aggressive…

I wonder if they spay…