Cameroon #13 09-28-2005
“Where’s the mother of this 7 day old infant?†I said
as I entered the room. This is a continuation of the
story of last time. “She said she went to the river
to wash.â€Â Three hours later she was still nowhere to
be found. Only the child was on the bed without
anything but the hospital sheet around him, now laying
in his own vomit. The nurse cleaned him up at my
request and it was decided at that point that the
child had been abandoned. His intestines still
haven’t started working yet so we cannot start working
on formula yet. So we started new things with the
child since we cannot start an IV. We placed a
subcutaneous catheter and are infusing it. This
gradually will replace the fluid lost/ dehydration.
This raised a few eyebrows but is working.
(A few days later)Â The child started to move his
bowels and everything appeared to be starting to work.
We purchased a bottle and used some of the donated
formula for the child. I was starting to get hopeful
that the child would actually make it. The following
day we entered to see him and he was distended and
breathing terribly. His incision had opened more with
the distention. He looked terrible. So the ethical
question was: do we start an IV again and give him
antibiotics for the very small chance that this would
help, or make him comfortable for the inevitable?
After much discussion we made him comfortable. Audrey
held him for more than an hour. And he was comforted
some. We had to continue with work and the child died
a few hours later.
Ohh, the smell was awful. Before me sat a 50 year old
man with a tumor on the side of his face the size of a
basketball but not as pretty. He had had a small
lesion under his chin ever since he was 15 but in the
last two years it had grown to this. Unfortunately
people were covering their faces when he was near or
leaving the room. He had wrapped a shirt around it to
cover the sight and to catch the drainage of pus. I
was amazed in many ways. How could he live like this
these past two years? I felt sadness, suspecting how
he must be scorned. Intrigue on what should I do with
him. Dream of a pathologist once again!  Fortunately
my own nose doesn’t work real well and I was glad for
that at this time. (Later you may see pictures on the
website in about a month when I can get them back to
the US. www.missiondocs.org) We continue to go well
beyond anything we have been trained for. At times we
wish for the more straightforward US pathology and
excellent diagnostic techniques, at others we are
happy to be learning still more, entirely different,
medicine. In the mean time I think that Burkett’s
Lymphoma is most likely or a salivary cancer. Either
is difficult to do anything with here. He however
doesn’t want to go back to the village. He says if he
goes back that the people will all be talking about
how even the doctors have no hope for him. He has
chosen to stay here and wait for me to try to find a
solution. I will continue to try to find a
pathologist to be able to send a biopsy to. I will
also try to send a picture to my ENT colleagues in the
US to see if they have any ideas. I guess the good
thing about seeing all we see here is that it teaches
us to depend more on God. Only He can lead us in the
things we have never seen before. We are constantly
praying for His guiding and wisdom. God is blessing
this hospital. We started with about 15 inpatients
when we came and currently have more than 50. Today,
Sunday, is our busiest day. We admitted about 10
people and saw another 6 in clinic today. God is
blessing!! Please continue to pray for wisdom and
patience for us as we continue to work for HIM. We
miss you all. Also whenever any of you want to come
to Cameroon and visit you are welcome. We do have
some extra room in the house for visitors and would
love to have more visitors. God bless you also as you
serve Him in the US!
In His Grasp, Shanks