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 […]
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 […]
The Medicine Man
Yesterday when I was climbing the mountain I came into contact with some sort of toxic plant. Today my arm has broken out with a hideous, raised, red rash. It itches like mad and doesn’t look very attractive either. Being market day, I headed into town and went by the medicine man’s booth. I showed […]
Pray for Heidi and a newborn
Today was Heidi’s first day on call. With Dr. Faile being gone, Dr. Hewitt has been on call for almost 5 days straight. He needed a break and Heidi was the only one available. It was a really rough day for her too because four patients died. Please pray for her as she deals with […]
Surgery in Nalerigu
Emergency surgeries happen at any time during the week, but as I mentioned previously, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the main OR days for elective surgeries. My first day in the OR was quite interesting. When I went to the sinks to scrub, I looked all around for scrub brushes like I am used to. Then, […]
The Theater
At the BMC, the theater is the location of the 2 operating rooms and the 2 minor procedure rooms. Tuesdays and Thursdays are surgery days. On Tuesday I saw 5 hernia surgeries, scrubbed in for 3. To see so many hernias in one day is not uncommon on a general surgery rotation in the States. […]