TB Clinic
January 13th, 2009 Posted in UncategorizedI saw several interesting things today. There is one young boy admitted right now who the doctors suspect has polio. Polio was once almost eradicated from Ghana, but Nigeria decided to quit vaccinating because it was thought that the vaccinations were leading to sterility. Now there has been a growing incidence of polio over the last few years.
There is a man who suffered a stroke in the hospital now. Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot that we can do for these types of cases. Many of the necessary medications are not available here and the care is mainly supportive. This man does not have a good prognosis. I also saw a couple of cases of severe liver failure too.
I assisted in some interesting procedures too. One of them was a finger amputation. A young man had lost much of his finger in some kind of traumatic accident last night. I assisted Dr. Hewitt in breaking off portions of his exposed bone and then he stitched it up. I scrubbed into another c-section and was able to close again. Dr. Dickens let me try to pull the baby out (my first attempt at this), but I was unsuccessful. Not to worry though, he quickly pulled him out!
I also had the opportunity to observe at the TB clinic. I saw a couple of very unusual presentations (for the U.S.) which was good. I also learned a lot about the logistics of treating TB in Ghana. The government pays for all of the treatments, but the Baptist Medical Centre requires a deposit since they house the TB patients and provide food, etc. This helps to ensure that the patients will stay for the full duration of the treatment, or six months. There is one tribe in the area, the Felani, that are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis because they are cattle herders and more nomadic.
I also watched another skin grafting and a hernia surgery. I gave the spinal anesthetic for the skin grafting. The procedure is very similar to doing a lumbar puncture, you just inject the anesthetic into the spinal canal. I scrubbed into a lipectomy (removal of a benign, fatty mass) and was able to close the incision then too. I am grateful for the exposure in suturing and being able to observe and perform many ultrasounds too. These things take lots and lots of practice!
Meet Nayiri Abdulai Mahani Siriga, king of the Mampruli!
Pet antelope in Nakpanduri.
One Response to “TB Clinic”
By Betty Marrandino on Jan 16, 2009
Dear Sarah,
We appreciate your taking the time and energy to post the narratives and pictures on the web for those of us across the world. I am glad you are feeling much better and hope you have no more illness. It’s humbling to hear the difference in the facilities and care there and we are grateful for your giving of your skills and learning/practicing there. On a different note, we woke to -20 F temps here, not counting the wind chill! School has been cancelled since noon on Wed. due to the dangerous wind chills and blowing snow. There is at least 21 inches accumulated in our yard now.
Love and prayers,
Aunt Betty