Maxondie is a 25 month old girl who presented to clinic last month. She was extremely malnourished and had watery diarrhea. Her parents separated more than a year ago. Her father took custody of her and her mother took custody of her younger brother. Her mother had not seen Maxondie in over a year. But, just 2 days prior to coming to clinic, Maxondie’s paternal uncle carried her to her mother’s house because she was so sick.

Maxondie was extremely week on arrival. She couldn’t even hold her head up. Labs showed that her potassium was extremely low (<2.0), likely from the diarrhea. Potassium is an electrolyte that is used in many biochemical reactions in the body and it can cause heart arrhythmias if too low or too high. Maxondie was very dehydrated, which typically causes an increased heart rate, however, her heart rate was surprisingly normal, possibly due to the low potassium, which is an ominous sign.

We started giving Maxondie potassium with donated potassium powder (thank you for the donation) and giving her IV fluids. She made it through the night and the earthquake the following morning. She received antibiotics, zinc and vitamin A and the diarrhea stopped about 24 hours after admission. She was also treated with bananas. Bananas contain lots of potassium. I have never seen a person eat a banana so fast. She ate 4 bananas in less than 2 minutes. I had to pace her because I didn’t want her to throw up. Needless to say bananas and her ability to eat an amazing quantity of them, may have saved Maxondie’s life. She is recovering well. Walking, running, talking. And still eats bananas like a champ.