Praetor

Everybody seems very excited about the new hominid fossil that was discovered in SA with more to be recovered. As far as I can gather a hominid is something between a chimpanzee and a man. But I am somewhat confused. What are the scientists really saying to us. Some scientists are saying this is a step closer to the origins of man, others are saying it is the missing link.
Just take a closer look at the scientific name of this fossil, Australopithecus sediba. Australo = Southern, pithecus = ape, and sediba = fountain, spring in Sotho. Are they camouflaging the fact that they think it is actually an ape behind Greek terminology?

Really, if you look at the skull of the Au. Sediba (above) doesn’t it look more like that of an apelike creature in comparison to the Neanderthal man (adjacent) who clearly has a human skull? The saying, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, comes to mind. You see what you want to see depending on your point of departure, isn’t it?

When it was her time to return for the fifth chemotherapy they tested her blood as usual. Red alert! Her blood count was down (white cells, platelets and haemoglobin). The doctor postponed the procedure for a week. She had a rough time with many guests at the guesthouse so it can be that she is exhausted and her resistance is down. She takes lots of rest, taking health foods and drinks. With high expectation that everything will be OK she returns a week later. No, same problem and once again the chemo is postponed. This time the (same) doctor prescribes ampoules to be injected to boost her blood count, and an extra week’s rest.

I become the doctor administering the injections every morning. She cleans the area, presses her stomach skin together and I insert the needle and inject. Everything goes well. She improves. We see how her energy levels increase. She rests the extra week. Now everything will be plain sailing. No, again it is not right! A third time the doctor postpones the chemotherapy. “Your count is too low. If you get treatment now you will be very, very sick.” “Aren’t you going to prescribe anything doctor?” “No just eat healthy and come back in TWO weeks.” Dumbfounded my wife phones me to come and fetch her.

We go for coffee and she tells me what transpired with the doctor at the hospital. Surely this can’t be right. Since her previous chemotherapy seven weeks have gone by. If we wait another two weeks, the effect of the chemotherapy will be lost. The doctor can’t be serious! Yet, she sent my wife home for another two weeks empty-handed! Nothing, nada. How can a doctor do such a thing? With a shock I realise that the Hippocratic oath has “evolved”.

In order to accommodate abortion and whatever the oath had to evolve. The doctors used to take the oath saying, “I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of over-treatment and therapeutic nihilism.” It must be difficult to find the middle-ground. It seems to me that the oath has evolved beyond the interest of the patient. I try to understand, but I am up in arms. Experience has learned us get a second opinion.

We can’t just let the doctor send her to her death. (That is how we felt at this stage). So my wife phones the head of oncology, a Christian Ghanaian. He wants to see her immediately. He is very concerned about the postponements. They should have consulted with him long ago. Although her blood count is low, it is not too low. She must immediately get treatment. He also prescribes anti-nauseous drugs and ampoules for picking up the blood again after the treatment.

Strange, she never fell ill. A little bit of headache, a little bit dizzy once or twice, but else she is fine. Even though we did not administer the booster until the second day after the chemo.