患者さんのお母さんにお話を聞きました②
English follows Japanese
今回の第3例目は21歳の男子で、首都のルサカから約200km離れた南の町にお住まいの5人兄弟の2番目のご長男です。お母さんにお話をお伺いました。
＜昔からどのような症状があったのでしょうか？＞
他の子供は元気に成長したのですが、長男は小さい時から胸が苦しいということが多く、また走ったり歩いたり、ちょっとした活動でも非常に疲れやすく、他の子供のように運動ができずに大変心配でした。その後の入退院もあり、学校はGrade 9（中学卒業段階）でストップしています。
＜治療はどのようにおこなっていたのでしょうか？＞
6歳の時に（地元で一般的に行われている）呪術祈祷師に見てもらいましたが症状が良くならず、私達家族は途方に暮れました。その後、地元の医療機関に相談して紹介を受けて8歳の時に大学教育病院（UTH）にて診てもらい、リウマチ性心疾患（RHD）の診断を受け、抗生物質の処方を毎月受けるようになりました。その後、症状が悪くなってきて19歳の時に地元の病院に入院、その後UTHへ転院しました。
＜今回手術を受けて、息子さんのご様子はいかがでしょうか？＞
非常に順調に回復してきており、長年見ていなかった笑顔が息子に戻ってきました。以前のような症状に悩まなくても良いと思うと、本人も私達家族も本当に幸せです。日本とザンビアの医療チームの皆さんのおかげで、まさに奇跡が起こったと思っています。ご支援をいただいた日本の皆様に深く感謝いたします。
息子はこの件で医療の偉大さを実感し、自分でも将来は医学や医療に携わっていきたいと申しております。
[Transfer of Heart Surgery Technology to Zambia: We heard from the patient’s mother (2)]
The third case is a 21-year-old adult male who is recovering well. We spoke to the mother. The patient lives in a town about 200 km south of Lusaka and is the second oldest of five siblings.
<What symptoms have your son had for a long time? >
The other children grew up healthy, but my eldest son had a lot of chest pains from the time he was small. He also tired very easily from running, walking, and even small activities, and I was very worried because he could not exercise like the other children. He has been in and out of the hospital since then and stopped school at Grade 9.
＜What was your son’s treatment like? >
When our son was 6 years old, he was seen by a witch doctor (a common practice locally), but his symptoms did not improve and our family was at a loss. We then consulted a local health care provider and received a referral, and when he was 8 years old he was seen at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where he was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and started receiving monthly prescriptions for antibiotics. Later, when his symptoms worsened and he was 19 years old, he was admitted to a local hospital and then transferred to UTH.
<How is your son doing after this surgery? >
He is recovering very well, and the smile I had not seen for many years has returned to my son’s face. Both he and our family are truly happy that he does not have to suffer from the symptoms that he used to have. Thanks to the medical teams in Japan and Zambia, we believe that this is truly a miracle. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people of Japan for their support.
My son has realized the greatness of medicine through this case and says that he would like to be involved in medicine and medical care in the future.