Little Explorers!

I was on call a few weeks ago when a 3-year old boy who had ingested 10 capsules of Indomethacin ( popularly called Indocid in this part of Nigeria) was rushed into the ER!
I was angry and felt like scolding the parents, but my first priority was this cute child, so I got working! And he survived, just like the 2-year old boy that drank Kerosene a week earlier.

However, a 2-year old girl wasn't that lucky! She was rushed in dead because she drank Snipper, a poisonous substance used to kill pests like rats and cockroaches. Angrily, I held back tears; another preventable death- If only her caregivers were careful and vigilant!

Dear parents, caregivers and readers, we owe our little ones the responsibility of keeping them safe and this includes keeping the environment safe.

Poisoning amongst kids is almost never intentional: most times, it's an accident!
Once a child can move about ( either by crawling or walking), they become explorers; they are curious and their mouth is the first place they put ALL things because according to Freud, they are in the oral stage of development. They don't know better!

But you do!



Here are a few tips to keep your environment poison proof:

Store medicine, cleaning and laundry products (including detergent packets), paints/varnishes and pesticides in their original packaging in locked cabinets or containers, out of sight and reach of children.

Safety latches that automatically lock when you close a cabinet door can help keep children away from dangerous products, but there is always a chance the device will malfunction. The safest place to store poisonous products is somewhere a child can’t reach.  

Purchase and keep all medicines in containers with safety caps and keep out of reach of children. Discard unused medication. Note that safety caps are designed to be child-resistant but are not fully child-proof.

Never refer to medicine as “sweet or candy” or another appealing name.
Check the label each time you give a child medicine to ensure proper dosage. For liquid medicines, use the dosing device that came with the medicine‎.

Do not place poisonous products in food or drink containers.
Keep coal, wood or kerosene stoves in safe working order.

And if you realise that your child might have ingested anything harmful, PLEASE DON'T TRY TO INDUCE VOMITING!
RUSH THE CHILD TO A HOSPITAL!

Remember that your child doesn't know better, but you should!

I hate to see kids die! It's unacceptable and can be prevented.


#Keepthechildsafe! ‎ 

365 days plus 3!

It has to be Love

As I defied the rain and waded in dirty muddy waters from the Mpape slum, I asked myself what I was really doing.

It had to be love. That's the only explanation for this action.

After being coated in dust from the sand storm and drenched in rain from the showers that followed suit; after standing, freezing at the bus stop as the heavens let down her drops and drops of rain, I went back home to dry my dreadlocks  and change my wet clothes. 

And then headed out!  Again!

And oops I left my umbrella at home. So the drizzle after the storm found solace in me.

'Is this job really worth this?' I asked myself. Do my patients deserve this sacrifice? Should I be doing so much ( especially since I haven't been paid in the last 3 months)? Won't my patients survive in my absence? 

Will there be Chaos if I don't show up at work today? 

And I realised that even though I had not been paid for 3 months and even though there were other health workers that could attend to the patients, I did all I did cause I love what I do! 

I love my Job. I love being a medical doctor. I love saving lives, informing people, enlightening them, comforting them, making them feel better.

It has to be love for what I do.

 Cause otherwise, it doesn't make sense to go through all I went through today just to get to a job where my employers love to hold back what's rightfully mine. 

Exactly 368 days ago, I started publishing my musings and rants on this blog!
And this was my first official post! 

It's a year already and a lot has changed.

I'm back in my Lasgidi that I so love doing what I love to do and discovering more things about myself. 

I rant less now, and thus I publish less on the blog. But all that's about to change. 

In the place of ranting and venting and reacting i'll be sharing what I keep discovering as I take on the world. 

You'll be shocked at what lies out there free of charge that we do not know about and hence never utilise or under utilise! 

I am excited that B8's Soliloquies is a year! 

I am more excited about the coming posts!  

Bolu and Toba, your sabbatical break as my editor is over!  Get ready to do some more editing!  

Thank you guys for your comments and nice words!

Let's do this more often!