DURBAN - It was meant to be a year of new and exciting beginnings at high school for 13-year-old Mhlengi Dumisa, but he is instead struggling to learn to live without his feet, an arm and four fingers.
They were amputated after things went terribly wrong after surgery.
Mhlengi, from Lindelani, near KwaMashu, was admitted to Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital in December after being transferred from a local clinic suffering from severe stomach pains.
Surgery revealed a burst appendix and the horror journey began, leaving him and his mother, Nqobile Dumisa, devastated.
Dumisa said when Mhlengi was admitted, she was told he had bile obstruction and needed surgery. However, on operating it was found that Mhlengi’s appendix had burst.
“After this operation, his stomach was bandaged and not stitched. He was also not taken to high care because the lift wasn’t working so he was taken to a ward.”
On December 9, four days after the surgery, he was stitched “and the days that followed after that my child seemed to be recovering, he was eating and doing well”.
SHATTERED DREAMS: Towards the end of last year as schools closed, Mhlengi Dumisa was looking forward to starting high school this year with his friends.
She said it was on December 13 that things turned bad.
The hospital called her and told her that Mhlengi was sick and couldn’t breathe.
She said a doctor told her Mhlengi had a ward infection in his chest and needed to be operated on again.
“The next day, after this operation, Mhlengi became worse and they (the doctors) wanted to send him back to theatre again but they didn’t, saying the last operation was unfruitful, they had no diagnosis on what was making him sick.”
Dumisa says after the second operation, she noticed Mhlengi’s hands and arms were turning blue and doctors told her this was because not enough oxygen was circulating in his body.
“His hands, arms, legs became worse - they were blue, dry and looked like they were burnt. The doctor said it was adrenalin that was causing this.
“He also had sores on his arm on top of them changing colour.
“A few days after this we were in a meeting with the doctor who told us Mhlengi’s limbs may need to be amputated and we should go home and think about it before taking the decision.
“On January 3, I got a call from the hospital to come and sign off on Mhlengi having to have his limbs amputated immediately - and it was urgent.
“Before the amputation his left arm had sores on and had become worse, having maggots on it, and at some point Mhlengi could see his bone on this arm.”
Last month, her son was transferred to Clairwood Hospital and he was discharged yesterday.
The teen, who celebrates his birthday on Christmas Day, now has prosthetics and was last at school before they closed for the end of the year.
“I still can’t understand how my son’s legs and arms were affected by his operation. At the beginning, soon after his amputation, I thought to myself, how was I going to live with my son like this now, I just couldn’t cope,” said Dumisa, who worked as a waitress but has had to quit her job to look after her now disabled son.
“It’s hard to face people and smile when something like this has happened to you. My son went to hospital having stomach problems and today he has no feet and arms,” she said.
TRAUMA: Mhlengi Dumisa,13, still can’t deal with talking about his amputations, often crying when asked about them.
While Mhlengi was doing well in physiotherapy and adjusting to using his prosthetics, the root causes that led to his amputation were still a mystery. Dumisa said she had been told it was adrenalin, a ward infection and, more recently, that it was septic shock.
Dumisa told The Independent on Saturday she was taking legal action against the Department of Health for negligence.
Department spokesperson Ncumisa Mafunda said it was aware of this matter.
“Regarding confidential clinical information and management of a patient who received health care at one of its health facilities, the department is not at liberty to discuss this with a third party, including the media, because this would be in violation of the law,” Mafunda said.
However, she said management of the hospital had “an engagement with the parent of the patient concerned to give an explanation of the circumstances regarding this matter.
“Should the parent require further engagement, she is welcome to contact hospital management, through the office of the public relations officer.”
She said the situation was extensively explained to the mother by the attending surgeon and she was also counselled by ICU clinicians.
“In a bid to help find redress, hospital management is arranging a formal meeting where all stakeholders and family members will be present,” said Mafunda.