Nicholas Comninellis

My Posts

2018 Angola

2018 Angola

Bragging On My Colleague – Angola Day 32

  Abundantly illustrative: Oscar Paulo and I,  saying farewell at the International Airport in Lubango, southern Angola. I am returning to the US until I journey back next July. Oscar is soldiering on here in his home country.   Let me give you a glimpse into the character of Oscar Paulo: Professional. Oscar completed specialty […]

2018 Angola

Chinese In Africa? – Angola Day 30

  “你们为什么在非洲?”是因为我们在这里工作!Twice this month I enjoyed caring for patients from China here at CEML Hospital. It’s an understatement that they express surprise to hear their native language spoken by a North American on location in southern Africa. The even greater surprise may be that they are even here to begin with, and here by the

2018 Angola

Where There Is No Doctor – Angola Day 26

  Pictured here with me are 37 nurse practitioners from the rural clinics associated with Kalukembe Hospital – CEML‘s sister facility. Many of these health posts are not connected by road, function without electricity, and are chronically short supplied. Yet these are were most Angolans first present with obstructed labor, convulsions, cerebral malaria, and all

2018 Angola

How Would You Manage This Fascinoma? – Angola Day 20

  Not every person coming for consultation has a significant illness. Indeed, Angola has a striking number of worried well afflicted with simple body aches and allergy symptoms. But roughly every other individual I examine presents with a strange diagnosis or very advanced pathology.   What is this fascinoma? A 35-year-old woman with a mass

2018 Angola

Theirs Is the Kingdom of Heaven – Angola Day 18

  Even after thirty years of communist indoctrination, today’s Angolan people remain inherently spiritual. They readily assure that  there is indeed a God and exist powerful spiritual forces. To say otherwise, in this country, is folly.  What’s more, even after the rapid exit of most all international Christians during the war years (1976-2002), indigenous Angolan

2018 Angola

What Is Your Diagnosis? – Angola Day 16

  This 63-year young woman arrived at CEML Hospital 3 days ago with large, full-thickness pressure ulcers of her entire buttock and hips. She was febrile, unconscious, and with a leukocytosis. Her lower extremities were both flaccid and without reflexes. We immediately initiated sepsis treatment with IV fluid and antibiotic therapy.   The patient’s family

2018 Angola

Music Therapy – Angola Day 12

  Angolans love to sing in harmony, with vibrant gestures and expressive smiles. Last night, when I brought my travel guitar to the CEML Hospital ward and began to softly play Latin and classical tunes, I was immediately accompanied by their vocal improvisation. Next, without my lead, they launched into familiar hymns, like A Deus

Scroll to Top