This is an update to the skin grafting post I put up two weeks ago. The patient returned to clinic for review and to have the staples removed. The skin graft looks great and is healing wonderfully. She still has weakness in the extension of her fingers, but I could see some improvement. It is […]
C-section/Umbilical Hernia Repair
This morning I assisted Dr. Faile in the c-section for the woman with the pregnancy in her umbilical hernia.
Pregnancy & Umbilical Hernia
Several weeks ago I posted information about umbilical hernias and mentioned a very rare case we saw. A woman’s uterus had slipped into her umbilical hernia and she was 32 weeks pregnant. She was admitted to the hospital then and put on bed rest until a c-section could be done. I thought I would post […]
Incision & Drainage
We see many skin infections here at BMC. Many have progressed to abscesses and boils. These are collections of pus that have been walled off or encapsulated. They are usually exquisitely tender due to the pressure. The treatment for such is to lance it open – incision and drainage (I&D). Sometimes, there are loculated pockets […]
News From William
While William has been gone, I have been dependent on phone messages that get passed on to me, letting me know that William is doing well. The first message I got was from the Ozments. Dr. Faile came up to me in the wards during rounds. He told me that William had left Tamale for […]
Photo of the Day – By Heidi!
I took the afternoon off yesterday and went hiking with Elizabeth Faile and William. I got my hands on the camera for the first time in a long while and took some photos. William told me this shot was worthy to be “photo of the day.” In it you can see the haze and red […]
Spinal Anesthesia
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 […]