Wrapping things up

My time at Madwaleni is rapidly drawing to a close but before I wrap up this blog for good I'd like to feed back on some of the previous stories.

November 3rd 2007 I wrote about a man with HIV I had been looking after who was refusing to take his drugs even though his was likely to die soon and add another orphan to the pile in the Transkei. He put his faith in God to save him and nothing I could say made any difference. Then on February 14th 2009 I updated the story to say that the day had finally arrived when he was admitted to hospital with an extremely serious condition that he was unlikely to survive. It was cryptococcal meningitis which is a fungal infection of the brain which in my experience less than half of people survive.

Perhaps I wouldn't have written this follow-up otherwise but I am surprised and happy to say that he is currently alive and well. We treated the meningitis and he agreed to go back on to anti-viral drugs. He has now been stable on them for more than a year and is even working in our clinic as a volunteer. The chances are good that he will live a long and healthy life from this point on and most likely see his grandchildren grow up.

Whilst I wouldn't say that he is completely converted to idea of anti-virals (he is already complaining about the side-effects) he is doing well and has taken the tablets well. I did ask him if I could at this stage reveal his identity on my blog and even post a picture but things have not moved on that far yet. Maybe he'll give permission if I come back in a couple of years