Community Voices: The Patients

Tero

Tero was very ill. She went to a clinic where x-rays were taken, and was informed she had TB and was HIV positive. She was put on a drip and found herself in a coma for 3 days.  She was then directed to Andrew Kasattiro, a traditional health practitioner trained by Theta, and told to go and ‘try him’.

Tero and the youngest of her children, Ivan. She has returned to her mother's home after being abandoned by her husband learning she was HIV positive.

The patient continues the story as translated by Rose.

So I went there, and he brought all sorts of medicines.  He used to come, counsel me, and give me medicine. He promised me I would be well soon.  He keeps on visiting me and now I feel fine. Now I am eating well, drinking liquids, and doing all the work I was doing some time back.  My name is Tero. I am 36 years old with four children. 

Tero called to her baby Ivan from the yard. She further explained she was on ARVs, and takes them regularly.  She gets them from Kamwokya Christian Caring Community, Theta’s sister organization. Ivan comes in crying, very scared of Caitlin.

Andrew: My first time to visit my client, she was so depressed, she had stress. She was thinking about her job, her job was taken by someone else. She had no hope of getting another job. Another stressor were her children and that her husband had gone off. The third was the pain, and sometimes, not eating because of the stress.  After providing her continuous counseling, she improved little by little.  I asked her what her biggest challenge was. And the parents didn't have the skills to handle a bed-ridden person. So I talked to the mother, providing counseling for the caretaker. We sat in a round table and discussed ways of dealing with problems.
 
Another challenge for the parents was how to prevent infections like TB.  Tero was sleeping in this room, the windows were closed all day, and that encouraged overheating in her body. We advised them to open doors and windows.  I encouraged her to eat, she had already lost weight. She had pain; you get pain from the TB tablets in your legs.  I told her that may be from the medicine. They do it like that because they don’t want you to move back and forth.  From there, I encouraged her to take all the treatment for TB.  When she took the tablets she sometimes vomited.  Even if you vomit, I told her, finish the medicine. 

So, after better treatment of TB, she got better. She joined the support group and the members came and visited her. She will have challenges, but she will never loose the support of our group.
Caitlin: When she came to you, and she was very depressed about loosing her job, what did you say to her?
A: First, I told her you have an opportunity, because you have a sister who can buy medicine for you.  Some don’t have that.  As for the job, there are some people who have an alternative for getting money, so if the job is taken, she should read the Bible, she is a Christian and get hope. She has HIV, yes,  but there are many people who die in an accident or in a plane crash. Those have no opportunity like you to prepare for the future. There are some who die in a car accident and it wasn’t the HIV that killed them. Some die in accident without being infected with HIV. Every creation in the world, its end is to die. We don’t know the time, the day, and the year.

A: She is serious about taking medicine.  When I first saw her I gave her five liters of herbal medicine every two weeks, but now it is a smaller amount for two weeks because now she has improved and her body’s immunity is better.
C:  Ask her, as a Seventh Day Adventist, was it difficult for her to ask for help from a traditional health practitioner?
Rose translated: At the beginning, it was not all that difficult. But what I needed to know is that for him, the healer, he doesn’t (make) requests for cocks or sacrifices. He only picks herbs when I am sick, and prepares them in broad daylight. I appreciate the kind of medicine he has been giving me. It is good, and I am improving. In my religion if the medicine is prepared in broad daylight and it is not associated with going to be cleansed (it is alright). But if there are sacrifices, that is when it becomes bad. But if it is just medicine that is prepared, they have no trouble.

Rose asks if the Arvs had an effect on her body in the first few days.
I got a headache, felt weak, vomited and had diarrhea. The doctor told me that I had to face that for two weeks.  Now I do not have to face all that.  Andrew brings medicine to boost my immunity and to prevent some other infection.

Andrew: She joined my support group. Then one member went with her to have a blood test at Kamwokya Christian Caring Community. She was then able to get ARVs.