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| Asive |
Just thought I'd post about one of our long term inpatients who recently passed away. Asive was a thirteen year old girl who originally came in with severe burns on her leg. There wasn't really anyone to look after her at home and she had some level of intellectual impairment so she ended up staying for a long time. She really became a part of the furniture of the hospital and would wander around everywhere, turning up in the pharmacy, in ARV clinic, wandering through OPD, even in and out of labour ward while women were giving birth. She sometimes followed us on grand rounds and would sit and watch as the doctors gave their presentations. It was interesting to see her develop over her 4-5 months with us [and I didn't even see her very often] – just spending so much time with people made her infinitely better at interacting with people socially and by the end I'd often see her sitting with other patients who would share their food with her and chat to her even though she didn't really chat back, a far stretch from the start when she would try and escape the hospital and walk around screaming at people!
So it was a sad day when we returned from Durban and Jo told us the news that she had died after having an epileptic fit that she never woke up from. Even though I had no real personal experience with Asive [except for one or two occasions when I caught her trying to escape and took her back to the ward] she was still a familiar face around the hospital and it was weird to think that we wouldn't be seeing her around anymore. I guess it’s yet another example of how transient life can be, particularly here in Zithulele.
Rest in peace
X
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