Saturday July 18, 2009
OK so I haven’t been faithful in keeping up this blog. Those who know me will not be surprised. It is a challenge to get home late, write, and then go to one of the missionary houses to get on a very slow internet service, so please excuse my delays.
Our first weekend was pretty quiet; we had a church service/devotional/prayer time at Keith Coleman’s house.
Keith is a dentist in his 30’s that practiced for about 5 years in the Nashville area. Since that time, he and his family have served aboard the Mercy Ship, a mobile hospital which travels worldwide providing healthcare to desperate countries. The ship was here for about 3 years and Keith decided he would join with SIM and ELWA hospital and stay. Liberia only has a very few dentists and he is providing excellent care to the people of this area. Wednesday I helped him drain a large abscess from a young man’s face. Sunday afternoon we went to the TB hospital with an independent missionary Patricia Anglin from Mason Wisconsin. She runs an orphanage and does much for the children here. Her passion is for the special needs children. We went to the TB hospital to see a young man, 14 years old, who had developed Potts Disease (TB of the spine) and became paraplegic. Since that time he has developed huge bed sores. I have never seen any like it, with one hip completely exposed the thigh bone out of the socket. This desperate boy is ready to die; he is so tired of the struggle. Patty is looking for any possible help, so I agreed to evaluate him. In the states, he would need comprehensive care, best from a spinal cord rehab center. He needs orthopedic and plastic surgery. Here, I can offer an amputation of the worse leg, use the skin to try grafting the other ulcers and push nutritional improvement. Keep this situation in your prayers, I have moved him to ELWA, and am working with wound care and nutrition now. Patty’s web site is http://www.acresofhope.org/.
During this past week Mary and I have been able to help care for many different problems. Some have been inguinal hernias, pretty much like we deal with at home. More complex cases have included a 20+cm abdominal mass arising from an ovary on a 19 yo girl. This was a locally aggressive tumor which had involved both ovaries, the uterus, the bladder and was stuck to the colon. We were able to remove it but unfortunately required a hysterectomy. This will be devastating to her and her family, as her worth is in having children. We have done several other hysterectomies for huge uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus which cause heavy bleeding and pain), two cholecystectomies (gall bladder removal), prostatectomy for obstruction (more scheduled), thyroidectomy for a large goiter (more scheduled), appendectomy for what appears to be typhoid, lymph node biopsy for probable TB and today we amputated the left thumb for gangrene for a 3 week old human bite. Surgery is just like at home except for – bad light, worse instruments, hodge podge of suture, and drapes with holes in them. The cautery machine works but we reuse the grounding pad and the wire has to be taped up to the top of the machine to keep it from faulting (shorting out).but the staff want to do right and the care is compassionate. The patients are tough and their immune systems must be superhuman. Pain medicine is minimal, the only by mouth pain medicine is extra strength Tylenol. Overall the patients do well and go home quickly. An average surgery costs the patient about $100 USD, a lot when you consider the average income is +/- 100 per month.
I do have the privilege to work with a Liberian physician who has self specialized in surgery. Dr. Queye like most of the 40 other physicians in Liberia (pop. 3.5 million), did an internship after medical school, and then went into practice. He works for ELWA and does most of the day to day surgery, and also has a clinic of his own. He is actually very good and sure with his hands. The Liberian medical school is getting back into full swing. This year they graduated a class of 4, but admitted 50 to start, so they should start getting to the population in about 5 years.
Today Dr. Sacra is going to give us a tour of Monrovia, tomorrow we are going to church with Monjue, the wife of the Samaritan’s Purse security chief. She works with the deaf and is developing a deaf ministry. Her church has about 40 deaf. It is a big problem here due to Malaria and the high fevers that are associated with the disease.
That’s all for now. Take care. Mark and Mary
OK so I haven’t been faithful in keeping up this blog. Those who know me will not be surprised. It is a challenge to get home late, write, and then go to one of the missionary houses to get on a very slow internet service, so please excuse my delays.
Our first weekend was pretty quiet; we had a church service/devotional/prayer time at Keith Coleman’s house.
Keith is a dentist in his 30’s that practiced for about 5 years in the Nashville area. Since that time, he and his family have served aboard the Mercy Ship, a mobile hospital which travels worldwide providing healthcare to desperate countries. The ship was here for about 3 years and Keith decided he would join with SIM and ELWA hospital and stay. Liberia only has a very few dentists and he is providing excellent care to the people of this area. Wednesday I helped him drain a large abscess from a young man’s face. Sunday afternoon we went to the TB hospital with an independent missionary Patricia Anglin from Mason Wisconsin. She runs an orphanage and does much for the children here. Her passion is for the special needs children. We went to the TB hospital to see a young man, 14 years old, who had developed Potts Disease (TB of the spine) and became paraplegic. Since that time he has developed huge bed sores. I have never seen any like it, with one hip completely exposed the thigh bone out of the socket. This desperate boy is ready to die; he is so tired of the struggle. Patty is looking for any possible help, so I agreed to evaluate him. In the states, he would need comprehensive care, best from a spinal cord rehab center. He needs orthopedic and plastic surgery. Here, I can offer an amputation of the worse leg, use the skin to try grafting the other ulcers and push nutritional improvement. Keep this situation in your prayers, I have moved him to ELWA, and am working with wound care and nutrition now. Patty’s web site is http://www.acresofhope.org/.During this past week Mary and I have been able to help care for many different problems. Some have been inguinal hernias, pretty much like we deal with at home. More complex cases have included a 20+cm abdominal mass arising from an ovary on a 19 yo girl. This was a locally aggressive tumor which had involved both ovaries, the uterus, the bladder and was stuck to the colon. We were able to remove it but unfortunately required a hysterectomy. This will be devastating to her and her family, as her worth is in having children. We have done several other hysterectomies for huge uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus which cause heavy bleeding and pain), two cholecystectomies (gall bladder removal), prostatectomy for obstruction (more scheduled), thyroidectomy for a large goiter (more scheduled), appendectomy for what appears to be typhoid, lymph node biopsy for probable TB and today we amputated the left thumb for gangrene for a 3 week old human bite. Surgery is just like at home except for – bad light, worse instruments, hodge podge of suture, and drapes with holes in them. The cautery machine works but we reuse the grounding pad and the wire has to be taped up to the top of the machine to keep it from faulting (shorting out).but the staff want to do right and the care is compassionate. The patients are tough and their immune systems must be superhuman. Pain medicine is minimal, the only by mouth pain medicine is extra strength Tylenol. Overall the patients do well and go home quickly. An average surgery costs the patient about $100 USD, a lot when you consider the average income is +/- 100 per month.
I do have the privilege to work with a Liberian physician who has self specialized in surgery. Dr. Queye like most of the 40 other physicians in Liberia (pop. 3.5 million), did an internship after medical school, and then went into practice. He works for ELWA and does most of the day to day surgery, and also has a clinic of his own. He is actually very good and sure with his hands. The Liberian medical school is getting back into full swing. This year they graduated a class of 4, but admitted 50 to start, so they should start getting to the population in about 5 years.
Today Dr. Sacra is going to give us a tour of Monrovia, tomorrow we are going to church with Monjue, the wife of the Samaritan’s Purse security chief. She works with the deaf and is developing a deaf ministry. Her church has about 40 deaf. It is a big problem here due to Malaria and the high fevers that are associated with the disease.
That’s all for now. Take care. Mark and Mary
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