Tammy - “What do you mean you won’t taste his pee?”
It’s no secret I’ve often been frustrated with our lack of diagnostic services at the clinic. Tests as basic as blood sugar would often be very helpful in properly diagnosing and treating my patients. After one patient I saw for a large slow healing ulcer to his ankle (see below) refused to see a doctor in Ziguinchor for some testing (because it cost too much), I was left searching for alternatives.
David Werner in his sometimes-overly-practical guide book “Where There Is No Doctor” suggests that “one way to test the urine is to taste it.” So I took it to ‘my boss’ who has expressed great interest in beefing up our lab services…but he wasn’t interested. Probably just as well…David also says that “If it tastes sweet to you, have 2 other persons taste it. Have them also taste the urine of 3 other people. If everyone agrees that the same person’s urine is sweeter, he is probably diabetic.” Looks like I would have been on the hook too!
No Hollywood make-up here...he's been dealing with this kind of 'sore' for years!
Other side of the same foot!
David mentions in the following paragraph that “another way of testing urine is to use special paper strips”. Why wouldn’t he have started with that option??
3 comments:
I'm with JP! I wouldn't taste it either. I'm glad there is another way to do the testing!
pjust a note to wish Tammy a blessed happy birthday!
Do you have test stripes? If I found some would it get to you if we were to send them?
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