Most surgical procedures at the BMC are done under either spinal anesthesia or with the use of ketamine (a dissociative anesthetic which blocks the connection between one’s consciousness and the pain). Rarely is a patient put under general anesthesia. Giving a patient spinal anesthesia is the same basic process as doing a lumbar puncture (aka […]
Cephalopelvic Disproportion (w/ slideshow)
This past week, a young first time mom had been laboring for a long time without any progress. She was a small-framed woman and finally it was determined that she had a cephalopelvic disproportion, meaning that the baby’s head was too big to pass through the mom’s pelvis. I scrubbed in acting as scrub-tech and […]
Uterine Rupture
The maternity ward here is staffed mostly by nurse midwives who assist laboring women in their deliveries. The doctors are called to step in only when there is a problem. Last week, a mother of 7 came in after being in the 2nd stage of labor, pushing for nearly 10 hours. She was exhausted and […]
Sickle Cell Disease
A 17 year old girl presented to me in clinic 1 week after giving birth to her first born child at home. She complained of fever, abdominal pain, bilateral hip pain and leg swelling. She stated that the pregnancy and delivery were without complications. She stated that there was no hemorrhaging after delivery and the […]
Yaws
A 30-something, 6-month pregnant lady came to clinic the other day with a complaint of having a rash on her abdomen. When she lifted her shirt, I saw three medium sized papillomas in a curved line on the right side of her pregnant belly. They appeared to be in 3 different stages of development, 2 […]
While Daddy is Away
Trey and I have been doing well so far while Daddy is away. For the first couple days we were both sick. Trey had a fever and a nasty sounding cough…and I had (of all things to get while in Africa) a nasty cold. I’m not complaining though. With a little extra rest and a […]
Umbilical Hernias
In Africa, many of the young children are running around with umbilical hernias (small defects in the abdominal wall at the belly button – AKA a big “outie”). Some protrude only a centimeter while others are considerably larger. Last week in clinic, Dr. Fort called Jessica and me into his examination room to examine an […]
Dealing with Death
In the past 3 and a half years of medical school, I have only witnessed/ cared for a handful of patients who have died. In the past two days, the number of deaths has surpassed that. The little newborn that I resuscitated yesterday had more respiratory distress this evening and the midwives were unable to […]